Iowa State basketball: Cyclones take over second half, roll TCU

A slew of turnovers and a great effort by TCU kept the game close in the first half, but Iowa State basketball finally cleaned up their act with Monte Morris and Georges Niang leading the way to a victory.

Niang eclipsed the 20-plus point mark for the first time since the win over Arkansas. He nearly had a double-double, finishing with 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists.

However, it’s hard to not give the game ball to Monte Morris. He kept Iowa State afloat early and took over offensively when he needed to — and delivered. He made 7-of-9 field goals and finished with 16 points and 6 assists. Two other starters — Dustin Hogue and Bryce Dejean-Jones — finished in double digits with 12 and 16 points, respectively.

Iowa State finished the first half with five assists and eight turnovers as a team. It was uncharacteristic, but they played right to the game TCU was playing. They usually hold opponents to a negative-4 assist-to-turnover mark per game. The Cyclones still finished with just 14 assists to 31 field goals made, and many of those late assists took place in garbage time.

Feb 22, 2014; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Monte Morris (11) shoots the ball against the TCU Horned Frogs during the first half of a men

The bigger key was limiting turnovers and the huge offensive production by Niang and the supporting cast of Hogue and BDJ following Morris’ move from the first half. It gave fans an easy-to-digest game without the worry of blowing a lead.

Iowa State now will have another quick turnaround and head to Lawrence to take on the red-hot Kansas Jayhawks on Monday night. Tipoff is at 8:00 PM Central time and it will be broadcast on ESPN and the WatchESPN app.

Other notes

• TCU had 14 assists to 6 turnovers.
• Kyan Anderson started on fire and had five assists early in the contest, but finished with just six and went just 3-for-13 from the field.
• Jameel McKay had an off-day offensively. He gathered in three boards but went just 1-for-5 from the field and missed some easy shots at the basket.
• Abdel Nader nearly scored double-digits in limited action. He finished with nine points and drilled a 3-pointer to keep TCU from having any hopes of coming back late.
• Iowa State went 16-for-20 from the free throw line. They shot 50 percent from the charity stripe at halftime (4-8) but made all 12 attempts in the second half.