'Everything’s not gonna be perfect'

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Good morning! Hope you’re in the mood for a LOT of college hoops this weekend.

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1. Iowa State stays unbeaten after rivalry win

Leave it to an in-state rival to give No. 4 Iowa State one of its toughest games of the season.

The unbeaten Cyclones were sluggish early against Iowa, then had to make a couple of late defensive stands in a 66-62 win on Thursday night in the Cy-Hawk Series.

“Everything’s not gonna be perfect,” coach T.J. Oztelberger said afterward. “We knew they were going to come in here and give us a great shot. We have to expect that from teams now. When you’ve done the things that we’ve done to this point, everybody circles the game on the schedule.”

The Hawkeyes (8-2) sure looked ready. It led by 13 at one point in the first half, and 33-25 at halftime. It was hitting from outside (5-of-7 from deep) and pretty much everywhere else (64% overall in the first half).

Iowa State (10-0) put a stop to that in the second half, holding Iowa scoreless for more than six minutes to start the second half. The Cyclones took the lead with 12 minutes to play after a 22-3 run that spanned both halves.

Iowa did creep back in the game and was down by just one possession after a Bennett Stirtz 3-pointer with 1:38 remaining, but couldn’t get over the hump.

Joshua Jefferson led all scorers with 24 points.

When the Cyclones were down early, it was the senior forward who had 13 of the team’s 25 first-half points. Milan Momcilovic chipped in with 10 points, while Blake Buchanan was essential in other facets. 

Otzelberger said postgame that Buchanan “has as much impact as anybody that entered the game and potentially more… he met the standard immediately from a toughness, competitiveness, from a mindset.”

Considering the double-digit lead, it’s a tough loss for Iowa. But considering that their best player (Stirtz) had just 10 points and four assists in all 40 minutes played on the road, that seems like a positive sign entering Big Ten play.

Other notable Thursday results:

Virginia Tech 96, Western Carolina 74: A hot offensive start gave Virginia Tech (9-2) an early big lead, and it never looked back. Freshman Neoklis Avdalas led all scorers with 30 points.

Missouri 85, Alabama State 77: The final score doesn’t indicate how much Missouri (9-2) controlled the game as it was never in danger of losing. Jacob Crews scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from deep.

Syracuse 71, St. Joe’s 63: Still without leading scorer Donnie Freeman (lower leg injury), Syracuse (6-3) managed to keep St. Joe’s (6-4) at bay, led by 16 points off the bench from Tyler Betsey. Deuce Jones led the Hawks with 18 points.

Wagner 95, Bloomfield 93 (OT): It was near disaster for Wagner (3-6), which needed extra time to beat a non-D-I program.  

Bryan Akanmu scored a team-high 18 points.

North Dakota State 80, Cal State Bakersfield 69: It’s now eight wins in the last nine for North Dakota State (8-3), led by 21 points from Damari Wheeler-Thomas, with 14 coming from the free-throw line.

Green Bay 85, IU Indy 75: Coach Doug Gottlieb gets his second career true road win, thanks to 52 second-half points by Green Bay (5-7, 1-2 Horizon League). Three different players scoring 20 each . IU Indy (3-9, 0-3) is last in the Horizon. 

Appalachian State 67, East Carolina 54: Jordan Riley (26 points) was great for ECU (3-7). The supporting cast (28 combined points) was not. Kasen Jennings had 20 for App State (6-5), which won despite turning it over 16 times and shooting just 5-of-21 from deep. 

2. Rick Pitino’s finally relenting at point guard

After playing four straight high-major matchups, St. John’s (5-3) will have an easier matchup on paper this weekend, taking on Iona (7-3) at home. And coach Rick Pitino is making a notable change at point.

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