Texas Tech Defeats No. 9 Iowa State, 78-73

Saturday, January 24

Lubbock, Texas

3:00 PM

Iowa State

14-4, 4-2

Texas Tech

11-9, 1-6

Team	1	2	F
Iowa State	25	48	73
Texas Tech	36	42	78

Texas Tech Defeats No. 9 Iowa State, 78-73

01.24.2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: cyclones.com

LUBBOCK, Texas – A slow start plagued No. 9 Iowa State (14-4, 4-2 Big 12) in its 78-73 loss to Texas Tech (11-9, 1-6 Big 12) Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas.

Falling down by as much as 19 points in the first half, the Cyclones could never climb out of the hole they dug. ISU crawled back to a three-point deficit in the final minute, but the Red Raiders made their free-throws down the stretch to stop ISU's comeback attempt.

The Red Raiders hit 11-of-24 from 3-point point range in the win. Devaugntah Williams had 22 points and Toddrick Gotcher tallied 17 points behind a 5-of-9 effort from downtown to pace TTU.

Monte' Morris led the Cyclones with a career-high 20 points and Matt Thomas came off the bench to score 12 points.

How it happened…
A poor start was something Iowa State wanted to avoid, but unfortunately it's exactly what they got. While ISU was missing shots, the Red Raiders were scorching the nets, making 10-of-16 field goals to begin the game.

ISU held a brief 7-6 lead, but TTU then went on a 23-3 run to break open the game at 29-10 with 7:32 left in the first half. Robert Turner and Gotcher combined for 6-of-8 from beyond the arc to pace the Red Raiders in their hot start.

TTU held a pair of 19-point leads in the first half and went into the break with a 36-25 advantage. Two 3-pointers by Thomas in the final 1:11 allowed the Cyclones to go into the half down by only 11 points.

It was a 10-point TTU lead with less than two minutes left in the game until the Cyclones tried to make a late rally. Back-to-back conventional 3-point plays by Morris and Dustin Hogue closed it to four points (72-68). Georges Niang then cut it to three points on a triple with under 0:30 left.

ISU had a chance to tie the game, but a Morris trey with 0:05 seconds left was off the mark. TTU made all six of its free-throws in the final minute and was 23-of-28 for the game.

The #cyclONEgameball goes to…
Monte' Morris. Monte' Morris was a bright spot in the game for the Cyclones, finishing the contest with a career-high 20 points. Morris was 2-of-4 from 3-point range and 6-of-11 from the field. He also led the Cyclones with three steals.

Next Up
The Cyclones play host to No. 17 Texas on Monday (Jan. 26). Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Game Notes
*Monte' Morris led the Cyclones in scoring for the second time this season with a career-high 20 points.
*Morris registered three steals to give him 31 on the season.
*ISU's 25 points in the first half equaled a season low (South Carolina- 2nd half).
*Georges Niang scored 10 points to move past Dean Uthoff to No. 22 on ISU's career scoring chart with 1,251 points.