Iowa State blows 2nd-half lead in loss to Kansas
Iowa State controlled much of the game against No. 10 Kansas, taking an early double-digit lead and extending it to as many as 12 early in the second half.
Royce White said a lot of it had to do with a new offense.
''I'm sure they didn't know what they had scouted because this is our first game running it,'' the Cyclones forward said. ''We have nobody in motion. The whole point of that is to keep the spacing, real wide and high and leave the lane. I thought we did a pretty good job of that in the whole game.''
Not so much in the second half.
Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 of his 28 points in the second half, leading the Jayhawks on a big charge that resulted in an 82-73 victory - their 13th straight over the Cyclones.
Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said his team didn't continue to do the things that got it the lead when it went on its second-half scoring drought.
''We didn't lose this game because of lack of effort. Our effort out there was outstanding,'' he said. ''We lost the game because we lost our focus there for a stretch.''
White said the team focused on guarding All-American candidate Thomas Robinson and providing help - which left Jeff Withey open at times. Withey finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks.
''Then again, that's how a guy like Tyshawn gets 28,'' White said. ''You worry so much about (Robinson) and then somebody else gets loose and has the opportunity to hit big shots, even though he wasn't shooting well coming into this game. Next time, we might play everybody straight up and see how that works. It's just a mix and match type of deal.''
White finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, Chris Allen added 17 points, Melvin Ejim had 12 and Scott Christopherson 10 for the Cyclones, who shot 9 of 28 (32 percent) from the 3-point line and just 16 of 25 (64 percent) from the foul line.
The Jayhawks, who haven't lost to Iowa State since February 2005, will carry plenty of momentum into a marquee showdown Monday night with undefeated and fourth-ranked Baylor, which romped to a 106-65 win over Oklahoma State earlier Saturday.
The Cyclones stuck to their scouting report at the start.
White hit his first 3-point attempt of the season, and Ejim added another 3 moments later as a team known for the long ball built a 17-7 lead over the first 5 minutes.
Kansas went on a run of its own to close within 18-16, but the Cyclones extended the lead back to 27-18. They took their largest lead of the half at 39-28 when Christopherson hit a 3-pointer and Allen a pair of free throws with 4:43 remaining, quieting the crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks went on a late run to get within 43-40 at the break, but Iowa State scored the first nine points of the second half as Kansas missed four consecutive free throws.
That's when Taylor and the Jayhawks went on their game-turning run.
Withey started it with a basket that got the crowd stirring, and Johnson added another basket to trim the lead to 52-45 with 14:43 left. Taylor got in the act with a basket of his own, the first of three consecutive field goals the senior guard scored for the Jayhawks.
''He hit some big-time shots,'' White said. ''Some of it was from our blown coverage and you still have to knock down the shots. He played a big-time game down the stretch. He's probably the reason they won the game.''
The Cyclones still led 59-53 with 11:50 remaining when Withey converted a three-point play, the start of a 17-2 run. Taylor added a 3-pointer to draw the Jayhawks even, and back-to-back baskets by Kevin Young and Withey gave them their first lead since 7-6 with 17:29 left in the first half.
By the time Withey scored off a feed from Johnson and Taylor knocked down another basket, the Kansas lead had swelled to 70-61 and Hoiberg was begging for a timeout.
It managed to settle the Cyclones a bit. They closed within 72-70 with 6:35 remaining on consecutive baskets by Ejim, but Young and Taylor answered and Iowa State never threatened again.
The Jayhawks, coming off an 81-46 win at Texas Tech, have won the last 13 meetings with Iowa State. They've also won 16 straight games at Allen Fieldhouse.
''We talked a lot about that the last two days. If you come into this building and have that kind of drought, and you let it bother you and effect you, it's hard to win,'' said Hoiberg, who had some of his best - and worst - games as a player at Iowa State against the Jayhawks.
''I've been seeing those runs in here for years,'' he said. ''It's a very tough place to play.''