Cyclones suffer ugly loss at West Virginia

You want some analysis from Iowa State’s Monday night road trip to West Virginia?

Move on. Quickly. 

Letting a 102-77 loss linger would be a very, very bad thing for any basketball team. Look for Fred Hoiberg to preach “short memory” to his team from now until Texas Tech invades Hilton Coliseum on Saturday at 12:30.

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It was a game in which Iowa State couldn’t do anything right. In return, West Virginia didn’t do anything wrong. The Cyclones turned the ball over 14 times compared to eight by the Mountaineers. Iowa State went 4-for-23 from 3-point range while West Virginia shot an unreal 59 percent from long range (13-22).

Melvin Ejim followed up his Big 12 record 48-point performance vs. TCU last Saturday with six points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field. Georges Niang led the Cyclones with 17 points before fouling out midway through the second half. Dustin Hogue had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. In what was somewhat of a homecoming for DeAndre Kane, the senior and former Marshall player committed five turnovers while scoring 14 points in the defeat.

Big 12 Player of the Year candidate Juwan Staten nearly recorded a triple double with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. West Virginia forward Remi Dibo went 6-for-9 from 3-point range.

It was ugly. I mean, UGLY. But it was just one game, on the road, against a good team.

The key here is not letting it linger. Iowa State’s next three games are against Texas Tech (home), Texas (home) and at TCU. After that, this same West Virginia team will come to town on Feb. 26. After what went down on Monday night (Hogue kicked a guy, a West Virginia player got tossed, Kane was taunted every time he touched the ball), that game will likely be a heated affair.