AMES, Iowa, Sporting Alert – Monte Morris flirted with a double-double and four starters scored in twin-digits to lead No. 14 Iowa State to an 85-72 win over No. 4 Kansas in college basketball action on Monday night. Replay: WatchESPN | Stats Link Box Score (.pdf)
Morris scored 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while dishing out nine assists and pulling down four rebounds for the Cyclones (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) to secure their fourth straight win, as they have now beaten teams ranked No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 in the current AP Top 25.
Georges Niang had 19 points on his way to passing Victor Alexander for fourth on Iowa State’s all-time scoring list.
With his total on Monday night, Niang, who also grabbed six rebounds and three assists, now has 1,895 college career points.
“We needed to get our best player going, and that was Georges,” Morris said. “When he gets it going, he’s hard to guard.”
Abdel Nader joined the 1,000 points club for ISU on the night as well after hitting all three of his 3-pointers in scoring 17 points. He also had four steals, three assists and three rebounds, while Matt Thomas finished with 13 points, six boards and four steals.
Perry Ellis led Kansas (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field.
Frank Mason III added 16 points and six rebounds, but had six turnovers in the game.
“I don’t think I did a good job of getting my teammates easy shots,” said Mason.
Wayne Selden Jr. ended with 11 points for the Jayhawks, who were suffering three successive Big 12 road losses for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
“We didn’t show much composure when it got hot,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “That was disappointing.”
He added: “We haven’t played with a lot of poise away from home.
“The things you have to do away from home, I don’t think we’re very good at doing them yet.”
As a team, Kansas shot 50 percent from the field on 29-of-58, while Iowa State went 51.6 percent from the floor on 32-of-62 shooting attempts.
Kansas led 43-36 at halftime, but was outscored 49-29 in the second half, as the Cyclones shot 64.3 percent in the final 20 minutes and hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
“We weren’t good enough defensively to win the game in the first half. They changed their mindset in the second half,” coach Steve Prohm said.
Up next for the Jayhawks is a date with No. 20 Kentucky on Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence for the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Iowa State will next face No. 5 Texas A&M at Reed Arena, in College Station, Texas, on Saturday.
Officials: Joe DeRosa, Mike Stuart, Kipp Kissinger
Technical Fouls: Kansas-None. Iowa State-None.
Attendance: 14384
Fouled Out: none
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