A solid start for West Virginia went to waste in the latter stages of the first half, and Iowa State made 10 of its last 16 field-goal attempts over the opening 20 minutes to build a 13-point advantage in what amounted to an 80-59 victory at Hilton Coliseum.
“The first half, we executed defensively well and didn’t rebound, and in the second half, we didn’t execute well defensively, but rebounded the ball better, and you have to put it all together,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said on postgame radio.
The Cyclones (14-0, 1-0) are one of six remaining unbeaten teams in college basketball and claimed an 11th victory by at least 20 points. The Mountaineers (9-5, 0-1) remain winless away from home.
WVU’s largest lead was at 9-4 and the Mountaineers were on top 19-15 when Chance Moore put down a dunk with 9:22 left in the first half.
Iowa State had its way the rest of the night and utilized a pair of three-pointers from Jamarion Bateman over a 40-second stretch to go in front by two.
The Cyclones never trailed again.
Tamin Lipsey’s jump shot 3:54 before the break left ISU with a 30-23 advantage, and Joshua Jefferson added a conventional three-point play on a second chance 57 seconds later to make it a double-digit margin for the first time.
Although Treysen Eaglestaff stopped the Cyclones’ spurt momentarily with a triple, Lipsey and Milan Momcilovic ran off the next six points on separate treys and the home team went to the break on top 41-28.
After making only 5-of-16 shots to start, the Cyclones were shooting a tick under 50 percent (15 for 32) at halftime, thanks in large part to the 11 offensive rebounds that produced 11 second-chance points.
“They did what good teams do — they made you pay,” Hodge said. “In the first half, they converted them.”
After the Cyclones were whistled for one first-half foul and the Mountaineers failed to attempt a free throw, WVU made 6-of-7 foul shots over the first 3:08 of the second half and was to within 43-34 after Moore converted two attempts.
But starting with a Dominykas Pleta dunk on the next possession, ISU outscored WVU 16-4 over a stretch of 5:07, with Momcilovic accounting for half of his team’s point total and a pair of treys during that time.
He made another three with 9:35 remaining that left the home team with a 62-40 advantage and the Cyclones cruised from there.
Moore started in place of an injured Brenen Lorient and led the Mountaineers with 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting.
“He was decisive and drove close outs and finished around the rim,” Hodge said. “For his first start, he was good. He did a pretty good job defensively. I was pleased with that.”
Freshman DJ Thomas scored all 10 of his points after halftime.
The Mountaineers entered 39 for 83 on triples over their previous three games, but were 7 for 24 Friday.
“When you get open shots against a top 5 team in the country, you have to make them, and have somebody go off,” Hodge said. “We just didn’t have that tonight.”
Momcilovic made 8-of-10 threes and led all players with 26 points. Buchanan followed with 14, Lipsey scored 12 and Jefferson recorded a triple-double of 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Cyclones recorded 26 assists with only nine turnovers and made 29-of-55 shots, including 13 of 25 from distance.
WVU totaled 13 assists with 12 turnovers.
“I put the turnover total around 12,” Hodge said, “and thought if we took care of the ball in that manner, we would be where we needed to be.”