Iowa State Men’s Basketball: Grades Against Oklahoma Sooners

The Iowa State men’s basketball team routed Oklahoma in an 83-64 blowout at Hilton Coliseum, good for the team’s 20th straight victory in the arena. The Cyclones move to 16-6 overall and 6-3 in the Big 12 conference. Here are the grades from last night’s performances, judging each starter individually and the bench overall.

Feb 4, 2013; Ames IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Will Clyburn (21) drives for the dunk past Oklahoma Sooners player Amath M

Will Clyburn (19 pts, 7-10 FGs, 5 rebs) A-

He scored 13 points in the first half, helping the team build their comfortable margin they held for the majority of the game. With another efficient night from the field and making all four of his free throws, only the lack of boards was the problem in his game.

Korie Lucious (6 pts, 8 asts, 3 TOs) B+

Even on a lower night scoring the ball, the key for Iowa State to win on the road is a clear difference in assists to turnovers for Lucious. Now that he’s put on repeat performances, the team has to step up with him spreading the ball well.

Chris Babb (12 pts, 4-5 3PTs, 4 rebs) B+

When the Cyclones got cold collectively from 3-point range, it was Babb who was able to bail them out multiple times. He also had great hands picking up a few rebounds from the free-throw line and even added a couple of assists.

Melvin Ejim (12 pts, 7 rebs, 4 PFs) B-

With foul trouble, Ejim was still able to have a productive night. It’s clear he’s becoming frustrated with the foul calls as he slammed his chair on the sideline late in the game.

Georges Niang (9 pts, 6 rebs, 4 PFs) B-

Another Iowa State big that has to be frustrated with foul trouble is Niang as well, hit with two of them before the first media timeout of the game and only played 17 minutes as a starter. Without him, Oklahoma had the size to take advantage of the rebounding.

Bench: C+

Tyrus McGee led the bench thanks to being apart of the amassment of 3-point shots in the first 12 minutes with 11 points. But he finished just 2-8 from the perimeter and the bench just didn’t do anything offensively productive to help the Cyclones. However, Percy Gibson and Anthony Booker had three blocks each compared to the Sooners that just had two as a team.

Overall: B+

Rebounding was a problem all night long for the Cyclones with Niang and Ejim suffering with foul trouble, but the 7-10 start from the 3-point line turned this game into a rout early. That will help me avoid nitpicking their game on the boards and congratulate them on a dominating performance against one of the better teams in the Big 12.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter.