The Iowa State Men’s Basketball team started out Big 12 play on Saturday with an 87-83 loss to the third ranked team in the nation, the Oklahoma Sooners.
Georges Niang appeared to be ready for the prime-time matchup against reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, Buddy Hield. The all-american took the game into his own hands, tallying 29 points, eight rebounds, and effectively hitting the mute button on the Sooner faithful whenever he got the chance.
Cyclones handed first Big 12 loss
The performance familiarly starred Georges Niang, but rather than an, “also featuring” game from either Jameel McKay or Monte Morris, it was Deonte Burton picking up the slack. The Marquette transfer played in just his fourth game due to the NCAA’s transferring rules.
Burton hit three of four longballs while contributing of 19 points…that’s in just 20 minutes of play. He made his presence felt on Saturday and has been a nice sort of replacement for Naz Mitrou-Long on an already shallow Cyclones squad, but we will hear more about that later.
The current starting five features Niang, McKay, Morris, Abdel Nader, and Matt Thomas. Those first three are not going anywhere, but which of the latter gets pulled for Burton?
It does not matter.
At 6’4″ 240 pounds, Deonte Burton may be Iowa State’s most versatile player. He proved it with his combination of three point shooting and down-low play against Oklahoma: he is a threat anywhere on the floor.
Or maybe coming off the bench is a weapon that Head Coach Steve Prohm wants to have in his back pocket. Just know that Nader and Thomas both have history of being Iowa State’s sixth man and have played fantastic before off the bench.
The positives outweigh the negatives.
Now back to the lack of bench Iowa State has. Prohm is limiting the Cyclones to seven guys. Do not ask why, what is beyond the seventh man is a work in progress.
Playing in a gauntlet of a conference, it is a big challenge to win games with seven deep, let alone six.
The seventh player not yet mentioned in this piece is Oregon State transfer, Hallice Cooke. Cooke is in his first season with the Cyclones is averaging just 13.9 minutes per game. That average dipped below 14 after he had just three minutes on Saturday Night.
If the Cyclones are serious about contending, they can not lean too much on everyone on the team contributing, someone is going to have an off night. Simply put, Cooke needs some minutes.
Meanwhile, it is an 0-1 start for Iowa State in Big 12 play, but not one to be worried about. This team has a lot of promise, and will have the opportunity to show it Wednesday. ISU hosts a much-improved Texas Tech team on Wednesday for their Big 12 home opener, trying for their first conference win.
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