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MVSU vs. Iowa State basketball: Fred Hoiberg wins 100th game in rout

By Brian Spaen

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Mississippi Valley State was no match for Iowa State basketball on New Year’s Eve. Head coach Fred Hoiberg cruised to his 100th victory and the Cyclones had their 500th win in Hilton Coliseum as we turn the page to 2015 and get closer to the Big 12 conference season.

As expected, the game was over well before halftime. Iowa State started pulling away after the first TV timeout. Naz Long hit three 3-point shots inside the first seven minutes and put the Cyclones up 18-7. That forced MVSU to call a timeout. After the next ISU possession resulted in a rare Monte Morris turnover, Long would steal the ball and made another 3-pointer to get it up to 21-7.

The Delta Devils could not match up physically to the Cyclones. Their gameplan was clear — run the clock as much as possible and shorten the game. The problem was they couldn’t run anything on offense to get into position to make a good shot. A lot of attempts were off-balance, widely inaccurate, or just plain bad decisions. Ultimately, MVSU finished the game shooting just 24.1 percent from the field and made just one of 17 3-point attempts.

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Iowa State hit the MVSU defensive average in points allowed with 83, but it could have been a lot more if the Cyclones took better care of the ball. They had a total of 15 turnovers, and there were plenty of moments in garbage time during the second half where there was a ton of sloppy play. Neither team could really gain control offensively.

Overall, that’s about all that went wrong for the Cyclones. They shot 50.8 percent from the field, Long hit seven of the team’s nine made 3-pointers, the team had 25 assists on 32 field goals made, and 50 rebounds, 10 steals, and five blocks. With all those 3-pointers, Long naturally led the way with 24 points and five assists.

The starters didn’t get a lot of time on the court outside of Long — Georges Niang, Dustin Hogue, and Bryce Dejean-Jones didn’t have more than eight points. Both Jameel McKay and Matt Thomas hit double-digits (10 and 11, respectively) off the bench and also reeled in six rebounds. McKay, the tallest guy on the court, took advantage of his size and had three blocks. Abdel Nader had an all around good night with four points, four assists, and five rebounds, but did have a team-high three turnovers.

Hoiberg wins his 100th game as Iowa State head coach and is now the fastest head coach to reach 100 victories in team history.

Hoiberg wins his 100th game as Iowa State head coach and is now the fastest head coach to reach 100 victories in team history. The win came on a night that certainly had emotion — the anniversary of Hoiberg’s mentor, Johnny Orr, passing away. The Cyclones also won their 500th game inside Hilton Coliseum and move to 500-166 all-time in the building. Congratulations to Hoiberg and the men’s basketball program for the incredible milestones reached as we close the book on 2014.

Iowa State returns to the court this Saturday in Brooklyn, New York, to take on South Carolina. Tipoff is at 5:00 PM Central time and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. It will be the team’s final non-conference game and Big 12 play will finally start up next Tuesday.

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