ISU Men’s Basketball: Cyclones Upset 11th-Ranked Kansas State Wildcats 73-67

As bad as the midweek loss to Texas Tech feels for Cyclones fans, there’s nothing better than getting a rebound at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State did just that, extending their home winning streak to 18 games and grabbing their biggest marquee victory of the season over top-25 Kansas State.

Will Clyburn scored his second-straight double-double this season in Iowa State’s 73-67 win over Kansas State Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

The Cyclones (14-5, 4-2) hit 50 percent of their three-point shots, the majority of them were made in the second half. Tyrus McGee led the way off the bench as usual going 3-4 from the perimeter. However, it was Will Clyburn that was the player of the game, notching his fifth double-double of the season finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He hit two of the teams’ 11 made 3-point shots. Melvin Ejim tied Clyburn with 10 rebounds and also had six points.

Korie Lucious improved dramatically from his performance in Lubbock, going +5 in the assist-to-turnover ratio with eight assists and three turnovers. He finished with 10 points, including what proved to be the game winner by going right to the basket with under a minute left and extending the lead to 72-67. Georges Niang hit a couple 3-point shots and finished with 15 points and five rebounds.

Despite having some foul trouble early, Kansas State responded to every Iowa State run. The Cyclones were pulling away late in the first half, and the Wildcats (15-4, 4-2) responded with a 12-2 run to take a one-point lead into half. That’s when ISU started getting hot from 3-point range, but every time the Hilton crowd went nuts KSU was able to silence them.

Will Spradling led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points and went 4-5 from 3-point range. Rodney McGruder finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. The team shot 50 percent from the field, but couldn’t get to the free throw line, and only made 4-9 in the game. ISU didn’t fare much better going 10-22 from the stripe.

Michigan, who’s soon to be ranked number one in the nation come Monday, was the only other team to score over 70 points against Kansas State. This marks the biggest win so far for ISU, and this team has reinstated motivation for the fans.

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