Recap: Cyclones Leap Frogs for Fourth Conference Victory

In a truly odd game that featured a total of 41 turnovers between the two teams, the Iowa State Cyclones defeated the TCU Horned Frogs 73-60 today to improve their record to 4-3 in the Big 12. TCU, on the other hand, falls to 1-6 in the conference.

ISU turned it over a season-high 23 times, but offset that poor stat by shooting 54% from the field and 53.3% from long range.

For the first 10 minutes of the game, Iowa State struggled to put points on the board. With 8:51 left in the first half, two consecutive Matt Thomas jumpers gave the Cyclones 15 points, and a jump shot from TCU's Malique Trent put the Horned Frogs up 19-15.

However, the ISU defense kept TCU scoreless for just over five minutes straight and built a 26-19 lead until J.D. Miller scored on a layup for the Horned Frogs to stop the 11-0 Iowa State run.

With just under two seconds left in the half, the Cyclones held a 34-28 lead and got the ball from the sideline after it went out of bounds off a TCU player. Steve Prohm called a timeout to draw up a play, and Abdel Nader received an inbound at the top of the key, sidestepped a defender, and launched a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer just before half to give ISU a nine point lead at halftime.

A jumper from Georges Niang and a 3-pointer from Monte Morris to start the second half caused Trent Johnson to call a timeout. The largest lead of the game came after consecutive 3-pointers from Thomas with 14:44 left in the game, which catapulted the Cyclones out to a 52-34 lead. TCU would answer with five straight points of their own though to cut the lead back to 13.

The closest the Horned Frogs got to the lead for the rest of the game came with 2:23 left after Chauncey Collins threw in a shot from long range. A Deonte Burton dunk with one second left in the game gave ISU the 13 point, 73-60 win.

Morris was the leading performer for Iowa State, scoring 18 points and dishing out 6 assists to only 1 turnover. Thomas also had a nice game in the backcourt, complimenting Morris with 15 points of his own and going 3-4 from 3-point range.

This was the first game in Big 12 play that Steve Prohm elected to go eight deep, as Burton, Hallice Cooke and Jordan Ashton all got playing time. Burton was the leading bench scorer with 10 points, while Ashton hit a 3-pointer and Cooke went scoreless.

Iowa State's next game is on Monday night against Kansas in Hilton Coliseum. The Big Monday game will tip at 8 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN.