Iowa State basketball’s first-ever trip to the Huntsman Center was a successful one.
The Cyclones left little doubt in a bounce-back win over host Utah, leading for a majority of the 75-59 win on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Advertisement
Iowa State built a 41-31 lead at halftime and pulled away in the second half.
Joshua Jefferson finished with a game-high 21 points, with six rebounds and three assists. Milan Momcilovic had 14 points. Jamarion Batemon added 13 points off the bench, while Blake Buchanan had 10.
Here are five standout stats from the Cyclones’ win:
More: Iowa State basketball vs Utah score, recap of Cyclones’ win
104 — Milan Momcilovic single-season 3-pointers for Iowa State
There’s a new single-season 3-point king at Iowa State.
Momcilovic entered Tuesday’s game with 100 made 3-pointers this season. With 10:59 left in the game, he drilled his third 3-pointer of the contest and broke the program record for most 3-pointers in a single season.
Advertisement
He surpassed the late Dedric Willoughby, who had 102 3-pointers as a senior at Iowa State during the 1996-97 campaign.
Momcilovic finished the game with 14 points and shot 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. The single-season record is now 104 and counting for Momcilovic, who still has three regular-season games remaining and whatever comes in the postseason to build on his mark.
9:14 — Second-half drought without a single made shot for Utah
The Utes had their moments where they stayed within range of the Cyclones, but a nine-minute shooting drought for Utah allowed Iowa State to push its lead into double figures for good.
Advertisement
Keanu Dawes had a dunk with 16:51 remaining to trim the deficit to a 45-40 game. The Utes proceeded to miss each of their next seven shots as a team. They got a few free throws during this stretch, but went empty-handed on the floor.
Dawes finally broke the slump with a 3-pointer to make it 62-49 with 7:37 left, but the Cyclones’ lead never dipped to single digits for the remainder of the game.
18 — Utah turnovers
After getting 11 turnovers against BYU, which turned into only eight points the other way, the Cyclones were able to return to a level of disruption that they were looking for.
They generated 18 Utah turnovers and converted those into 20 points on the other end.
Advertisement
Iowa State took good care of the ball, only turning it over nine times.
+24 — Iowa State’s Jamarion Batemon plus-minus rating
The first-year guard continues to contribute and evolve for the Cyclones.
His ascent over the last month has been a welcome boost for his team. He was a bright spot in the loss to BYU, where he had 14 points and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench. He’s also hit several big shots to energize his team throughout conference play and has had a couple of standout games since January.
Batemon enjoyed another quality outing off the bench Tuesday. He scored in double figures for the second game in a row, which marks the first time he’s strung together back-to-back double digit performacnes this year. However, he was a weapon on both ends of the court.
Advertisement
He provided scoring plays but also great effort and hustle on defense.
Batemon finished with 13 points and two steals in 23 minutes, and he also had a team-high plus-minus rating of +23.
38.1% — Utah’s second-half shooting percentage
The Cyclones held the Utes to 59 points, marking the fourth time they’ve held a Big 12 opponent to 60 or fewer points.
Utah shot just 8-of-21 (38.1%) overall and 2-for-8 after the halftime break. A lot of the production came from Dawes, who had a double-double in the second half alone.
However, if you take Dawes away (who shot 4-of-8 in the second half), the rest of his teammates shot only 4-for-13 combined in the second half.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 5 standout numbers from Iowa State basketball’s win at Utah
