Knocked Out in Norman: Oklahoma 94 - Iowa State 83

The score was 42-32 in favor of Iowa State. The Cyclones had just spent the last five minutes approaching NBA Jam mode and while it was still the first half, it looked like Iowa State was well on its way to scoring a big-time road victory against #17 Oklahoma. Then, it all came crashing down.

The Sooners knotted things up at 46-46 to end the first half and from there ran a dazed and staggered Cyclone team out of the Lloyd Noble Center in the second stanza, scoring a dominating 94-83 win.

Fans and media alike will probably be quick to point out that the law of averages simply wouldn't allow for Iowa State to keep up its scorching first half shooting, but that would be a disservice to the Sooner explosion, which Iowa State simply had no answer for. If you're looking for a silver lining, I suppose that it's that Kansas still has play in Norman and I'm not sure anyone not wearing the crimson and cream is going to win in that building the rest of this year.

That defensive progress made against Texas Tech on Saturday? A wheel barrow of fool's gold. Oklahoma shot 50.6% from the floor, 10-21 from deep and feasted off second-chance opportunities and as a result, attempted 12 more shots from the field. Oklahoma also dished out 17 assists and turned it over only 7 times.

Iowa State's offensive numbers weren't awful on the surface, hitting on 47.7% overall, including 14-29 from outside, though most of those long-balls came in the first half. Unfortunately, the Cyclones also turned it over 14 times (including 4 from Georges Niang) and only dished out 12 assists, completely getting away from the tenets of "Hoiball" in the second half.

Dustin Hogue had the best outside shooting game of his career, hitting 4-5 from deep while leading Iowa State with 19 points. Naz Long and Bryce Dejean-Jones both shot 4-7 from 3-point range and both scored 14 points. Jameel McKay poured in 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while shooting 8-11 from the floor.

After playing so well of late, Niang visibly struggled throughout the night and was downright awful at times. Aside from the 4 turnovers, he shot 3-9 from the floor and picked up 4 fouls while only scoring 7 points. Monte Morris also played far from a clean game, dishing out only 2 assists while also coughing it up twice and shooting just 3-10 overall.

With the loss, Iowa State falls to 17-6 on the year and 7-4 in Big 12 play and now sits half a game behind the second place Sooners and a game and a half behind Kansas. The Cyclones will look to bounce back on Saturday as they return home to host #21 West Virginia at 3 PM.