College Basketball

Battle of unbeatens: No. 21 Iowa State, Miami tangle in AdvoCare Invite

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:44 a.m. ET

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No. 21 Iowa State got away from what it does best, but still managed to survive in a two-point win over Indiana State on Thursday in the opening round of the AdvoCare Invitational.

Cyclones coach Steve Prohm is hoping his squad finds its flow in Friday's second-round showdown with Miami in an early Big 12-ACC battle of unbeatens at HP Field House in Orlando, Fla. The game tips off at 11 a.m., so it'll be a quick turnaround for both.

Iowa State arrived in Florida averaging 112.2 points and with three wins by an average margin of 42.3 points per game. The high-scoring Cyclones were coming off a 130-point outburst in a win over The Citadel but never found their touch in Thursday's 73-71 win over Indiana State.

Iowa State (4-0) shot a season-worst 34.2 percent from the floor against Indiana State. Even the Cyclones' biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer by Matt Thomas with 58 seconds to play, bounced off the rim and hit the backboard, before falling.

"We know we can make shots," Iowa State star senior point guard Monte Morris told reporters after the Indiana State game. "Just have to adapt to the atmosphere."

Miami (4-0) adjusted to the holiday tournament atmosphere much quicker than Iowa State and pulled away from Stanford for a quality 67-53 win Thursday. The Hurricanes were down 27-23 at halftime, but got going in the second half, behind junior guard Ja'Quan Newton.

"It wasn't frustrating at all in the first half," Newton told reporters after the win. "It was more, we've just got to play better, play harder. We knew on the offensive end we weren't playing as good as we're capable of. We decided to keep it going on the defensive end. We kept doing that, and that led to our offense."

Miami held Stanford to 41.2 percent shooting.

Iowa State barely shot 50 percent from the foul line against Indiana State, hitting just 15 of 29 free throws. Even Morris, who was coming off a triple-double and scored 20 points, wasn't able to get his teammates going. He had just one assist.

Prohm said his team's shot-selection and ball-movement was "awful" against Indiana State.

"We were just facing guys up and sizing guys up, and that's not what the strength of our team is," Prohm said in the post-game press conference. "We've got to move the ball and play off the extra pass."

In contrast, Miami had good flow to its offense against Stanford. Newton finished with 20, and sophomore forward Anthony Lawrence scored all 18 of his points in the second half. The Hurricanes shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second half.

"I think they were just giving me the ball in the right moments," Lawrence said. "My teammates were penetrating, kicking it to me. Once I hit the first one, I felt like I was on fire."

Iowa State reserve forward Darrell Bowie had 13 points and 11 rebounds against Indiana State, the senior's fourth career double-double.

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