The inexperienced youth of the Teenage Maryland Basketball Turtles outshot a (near historically) bad shooting performance from Fred Hoiberg's experienced Cyclones in the finale of the CBE classic on Tuesday night. The friendly confines of the Sprint Center did not help on this night, as Maryland took the lead with 14:07 left in the first half and never looked back while Iowa State had several 4+ minute stretches without a field goal made.
The game started with Iowa State cold from the field and without the efforts of Daniel Edozie (9 points, 5 rebounds, 2-3 from the field) and the semi-maligned Bryce Dejean-Jones (17 points, 6-12 shooting), the game might have been over before halftime. The normally consistent duo of Georges Niang and Monte Morris struggled, as Niang went just 4-14 from the field and was in foul trouble most of the game, while Morris went just 1-8 with his shooting and finished with just 2 assists to one turnover, a far cry from his 12:1 ratio thus far this season.
Maryland stole a page from the Cyclones' book of balanced scoring as Jake Layman, Dez Wells, Melo Trimble, and Jared Nickens all finished in double figures. The size of the Terrapins looked to be troubling to Iowa State all night and perhaps should serve notice to the Big Ten that the now 5-0 Maryland squad is on the way back to prominence.
If it seemed like nothing would fall for Iowa State last night, it might be because the 29.7% shooting display was the second worst outing by a Fred Hoiberg coached team since 2011 vs. Missouri, a game in which the Cyclones shot 27.1% and were routed by the Tigers by 33 in Mayor McDreamy's first season at the helm. If there's a silver lining to last night's disappointment, it should suffice to say that there's a very small chance Iowa State will be as cold as last night again this season.
Next up for Iowa State is a home date next Tuesday with the Fightin' Lamar Odoms, who will take a break from trying to get Khloe Kardashian back to enjoy some Clone Cones in Ames.