The Cyclones got a little healthier on Tuesday night, adding Solomon Young and Jalen Coleman-Lands back to the mix, and it nearly led to their first Big 12 victory of the season. But it was not to be, as 17th-ranked West Virginia escaped 76-72 in Hilton Coliseum.
It was the second time this season that Iowa State nearly pulled off an upset of the Mountaineers, as it dropped a five-point decision in Morgantown on December 18th.
Trailing by two points, the Cyclones had the ball with a chance to tie or win, but an offensive foul was called on Jalen Coleman-Lands as Rasir Bolton drove into the lane. That led to a pair of free throws by Taz Sherman which gave West Virginia the final four-point margin.
After a miserable past week that included blowout losses at home to Oklahoma State and on the road against Mississippi State, the Cyclones showed some life in front of a slimmed-down Hilton Coliseum crowd.
I-State faced a 67-55 deficit with just 7:47 remaining before going on a run to get back into contention.
Two minutes later, the Cyclones went on a 10-2 run to close to within 69-65 with 4:39 left to play. That forced a Mountaineer timeout. The four-point margin was as close as the Cyclones had been since the 7:04 mark of the first half.
Four minutes later, Harris nailed another three to cut the margin to three, 71-68, with 3:37 left to play. After a defensive stop and defensive rebound from Bolton, Solomon Young followed with a layup to cut it to one 45 seconds later.
However, ISU couldn’t get any closer than one and dropped another close one to the Mountaineers.
Things didn’t start off well for it in the return to Ames, as Bob Huggins’ club opened by scoring 10 of the game’s first 12 points.
The Cyclones responded positively after facing the early deficit just minutes into the game, going on an 8-0 run to tie the game at the 16:06 mark of the first half. Jalen Coleman-Lands hit a pair of 3-pointers during the early stretch.
Four minutes later, Solomon Young’s pair of free throws gave Iowa State what would be its biggest lead of the game, 24-17. He added another jumper later to extend the lead to 26-20 with 8:55 remaining in the half. It was the senior forward Young’s first action in more than three weeks, as he was out due to Covid-19 protocol.
However, West Virginia answered in a big way, scoring 16 unanswered points over the six and a half minutes to open up a 36-26 lead with 4:05 to go in the half. That would be the Mountaineers’ biggest lead of the game until Taz Sherman’s bucket with 34 seconds left made the halftime margin 42-31.
Coleman-Lands led the Cyclones in scoring during the opening 20 minutes, but also didn’t score a point in the final 15:18 after his early 3-point shooting barrage.
The trio of Bolton, Young and Tyler Harris each led the way for ISU with 15 points. Bolton added six rebounds and posted a respectable 7:2 assist-to-turnover margin. Young played 29 minutes in his first game since January 9th against Texas Tech and added five rebounds. Harris did all of his damage from deep, hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers to account for his scoring.
The Cyclones were out-rebounded 45-32 by West Virginia.
Iowa State fell to 2-10 on the season and is now 0-9 in Big 12 play with a road trip to ninth-ranked Oklahoma on tap for Saturday.
