AMES, Iowa – The UCF men’s basketball team was unable to snap No. 3/4 Iowa State’s impressive winning streak at Hilton Coliseum Tuesday night, as the Cyclones registered their 29th consecutive victory at their place, topping the Knights 108-83.
The Knights started the night going stride for stride with Iowa State, but in the end, one of the nation’s elite teams proved why they belong near the top, scoring 54 points in both the first and second halves.
Iowa State held UCF without a rebound through the first media timeout just past the four minute mark, holding a 7-0 edge on the glass, including four offensive boards. Down 9-6, a Jordan Ivy-Curry three-pointer rattled in and out, but Keyshawn Hall collected the offensive board and put it back for two.
A 7-0 UCF run gave the Knights an 18-15 lead, starting with a layup from Hall, followed with a Darius Johnson kiss off the glass to level things at 15-15. Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman earned a pair of fastbreak points with a quick layup and was fouled, converting on the and-one chance to give UCF the three-point lead.
Iowa State clanked in a pair of triples, going up 21-18. Johnson answered with a three-pointer of his own for the tie, but the Cyclones pieced together a 7-0 run of their own, going up 28-21.
After a timeout, the Knights scored the next five thanks to a JJ Taylor layup on the fastbreak plus Johnson’s second triple of the contest to make it 28-26. At this point, the Black and Gold had forced the Cyclones into seven turnovers in the ballgame. UCF forced just three more turnovers the rest of the way.
Iowa State began to separate themselves from there, going on an 11-3 run over the next two and a half minutes to go up 10 at 39-29. A Taylor bucket plus an and-one stopped the run, only to see Iowa State rip off 11 straight to take an 18-point lead. The Knights went to the locker room down by that margin at 54-36. The Cyclones came into the contest averaging just 7.1 three-point makes per game, a mark that was 244th in the nation. They almost made that many in the first half alone, burying six triples. Two of the long range makes came from Joshua Jefferson, who had only hit five all season before finishing the night three-of-four from distance with a game-high 30 points.
After missing the first shot of the half, the Knights got their next five to go down, chopping the deficit to 11 at 61-50, forcing Iowa State to spend a timeout with 16:48 to play. A dunk from Moustapha Thiam got the 14-7 run started, followed by a make from Hall and three triples, one from Coleman and two from Ivy-Curry, who went on to tie a career-high with six made triples in the game.
The next three possessions saw UCF lose the ball, resulting in four more points for the Cyclones.
Iowa State built the lead back up to 18 with a dozen minutes to play before growing it to 24 with just under eight left. UCF got it back as close as 16 points with 4:40 to play but saw Iowa State go up 27 in the final minute before all was said and done.
The Cyclones hit 100 points with 2:50 to play, surrendering a Benjamin on the scoreboard in regulation for the first time under head coach Johnny Dawkins and the first time since Florida hung 100 on UCF in Gainesville on Nov. 18, 1997. The 108 points Iowa State finished the contest with was the most in regulation since Southern scored 127 on Feb. 24, 1993.
Iowa State finished the contest shooting 56.3%, making more than 54% of their shots in each half. The Knights shot 42.9% on the night but coughed the ball up a season-high 19 times. The Cyclones outrebounded UCF 43-29, including a 15-11 edge on the offensive glass. Iowa State tallied 41 points with their advantages in those categories, scoring 25 points off turnovers and 16 on second chance opportunities.
The Knights are in arguably their toughest stretch of the season, having wrapped up playing six quad one opponents in their first seven games. Tuesday’s contest in Ames was the second straight game against a top 10 opponent after falling to No. 10/8 Houston 69-68 on Saturday. UCF will host TCU on Saturday before returning to the road to face another top 15 foe, taking the program’s inaugural trip to Allen Fieldhouse to face No. 12/11 Kansas.
UP NEXT
The Knights return to Addition Financial Arena for a 4 p.m. tipoff Saturday against TCU. It will be the Horned Frogs’ first time playing UCF in Orlando and the first of two meetings against TCU this season. The Black and Gold won last season’s lone meeting 79-77 in Fort Worth to wrap up the regular season campaign.
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