North Dakota vs. Iowa State recap

I know all you die hard bloggers were dying to read last night's recap. Due to some problems with the Daily's web site, it was unable to be posted. Because I didn't make it into the game, I did write a story. Here it is.

By: Tommy Birch
Daily Staff Writer
There were no lions, tigers, or bears, in Hilton Coliseum Saturday, just Cyclones.

The (10-5, 0-0) Cyclones closed out their non-conference schedule with a 77-51
victory over (10-4, 0-0) North Dakota at Hilton Coliseum.

"I thought that first half we didn't look like a circus in transition, where
we're throwing the ball all over the place" said Cyclones' coach Greg McDermott.
"Our passing was pretty precise."

And pretty accurate. In the first half, the Cyclones forced 16 turnovers on the
Sioux before an announced crowd of 13,104. The zero turnover margin was marked by a 7-0 run to start the first half,capped off by a Wesley Johnson jump shot to make it 7-0.

On Wednesday the Cyclones turned the ball over 17 times against USC-Upstate.

"We felt like we needed to control the ball a little bit more," said senior
forward Rahshon Clark. "Take pride in our possessions and that's what we did
tonight."

They also made the best of their times with the ball. Following a Travis Bledsoe
basket, Johnson answered back with a three to put the Cyclones up 16. They would
eventually build a 26 point lead by the half and added on to that with a 12-0
run to open the second half.

"We always talk about how important the first five minutes are of each half and
I really felt that in each halves we executed to start the game and to start the
half second half on both ends of the floor," McDermott said.

The execution stopped any offensive runs North Dakota tried to put together,
holding the Sioux scoreless for the first three and half minutes of the game.
Their 51 points tied a season low they set on December 11 against Upper Iowa.

"We knew what they were going to do and we tried our best to stop them from
getting back door layups and easy passes," Clark said. "Our scout team did a
terrific job with that."

Most of the easy baskets came from Iowa State. The Cyclones built up a 40 point
lead with 13:59 remaining in the second half when junior Alex Thompson connected
on a three pointer from the top of the key.

Thompson finished with six points while Johnson steadied the offense shooting
4-of-6 from the field in the first half. He finished the night with game high 13
points and showed some of his explosiveness from last year, driving to the lane
for a layup to put the Cyclones ahead by 11 in the first half.
"It's finally starting to show itself in practice with some of the tip dunks
he's had or plays that he's made in transition," McDermott said.

The Cyclones travel to Baylor January 12 for their first Big 12 conference game
of the year, winning seven out of their last eight games following a 79-44 loss
at Drake.

"I think we've made progress," said senior center Jiri Hubalek. "We've got
better every game. I think that was the main thing."