No. 18 Iowa State 81, No. 25 Oklahoma 75: Melvin Ejim tied a season high with 22 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds as the host Cyclones avenged an earlier loss to the Sooners to get back to .500 in the Big 12.
Georges Niang poured in a career-high 27 points before fouling out for Iowa State (16-4, 4-4 Big 12), which won for only the second time in six contests – a stretch that started with a five-point setback at Oklahoma on Jan. 11. Freshman Matt Thomas tallied 13 points to pick up second-leading scorer DeAndre Kane, who had nine assists but matched a season low with five points.
Buddy Hield exploded for a career-high 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting and added seven rebounds while Isaiah Cousins posted 13 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma (17-5, 6-3), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped. Jordan Woodard recorded 10 points and seven assists while conference-leading rebounder Ryan Spangler collected 12 boards.
Hield scored 18 points in the opening 20 minutes to allow Oklahoma to go into the break tied at 37. The sophomore added seven of his team’s first nine points of the second half to keep the Sooners in the game, but Iowa State held him scoreless for the next 13 minutes and built its biggest lead of the game at 62-52 with 8:44 left as Ejim, Niang and Thomas combined for the final 11 points of a 14-4 burst.
Cousins and Woodard each drained 3-pointers as Oklahoma got as close as 69-68 with 2:48 remaining on a pair of free throws by Hield. Ejim scored the next four points for the Cyclones and Niang drilled a 3-pointer with just under a minute to go to give Iowa State a six-point margin before Kane and Monte Morris closed it out with three free throws over the final 27 seconds.
GAME NOTEBOOK: With his 10th rebound, Ejim – the conference leader with 28 career double-doubles – became the 11th player in Big 12 history to grab at least 900 career rebounds. … Iowa State did not grab an offensive rebound in the first half, but finished with six. … The teams combined to shoot 31 of their 33 free throws in the second half; the Sooners did not attempt their first foul shot until there was 10:12 to go.
Oklahoma | Iowa St. | |
Buddy Hield 30 | Scoring | Georges Niang 27 |
Jordan Woodard 7 | Assists | DeAndre Kane 9 |
Ryan Spangler 12 | Rebounds | Melvin Ejim 16 |
Buddy Hield 5 | Free Throws Made | Melvin Ejim 6 |
Buddy Hield 3 | Steals | Melvin Ejim 2 |
Cameron Clark 2 | Blocks | Dustin Hogue 4 |