KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points as No. 7 Iowa State dominated No. 1 Houston 69-41 Saturday night in the Big 12 tournament final in front of a largely partisan Iowa State crowd.
Iowa State is the only school to have played in the tournament title game and never lost. The Cyclones are now 6-0 all-time in tournament championship games.
It was expected to be a defensive struggle between the two best scoring defenses in the Big 12 and two of the top five in Division I, but this game was all Iowa State. The Cyclones held Houston to just 26.8 percent shooting (15 of 56) from the field.
The Cyclones shot 25 of 50 against the nation’s best field-goal percentage defense.
No. 2-seed Iowa State (27-7) also got 16 points from Keshon Gilbert and 13 from Hason Ward. Gilbert was named tournament MVP.
“The ceiling is the best team in the country,” point guard Tamin Lipsey said of the Cyclones, per the Des Moines Register. “Obviously, we just took down Houston, who was the previous No. 1 in the country. Obviously, our goal is a national championship.
“We know that there’s a lot more to go in March.”
Houston (30-4), the top seed in the tournament and likely still a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, was led by Jamal Shead with 10 points.
While the game was played at a neutral site, the majority Iowa State crowd certainly had an effect on the game, according to Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.
“Very seldom do you play a road game in the championship of a tournament, but you know what? Hats off to Iowa State’s fans,” Sampson said in the postgame news conference.
“I’ve known how great Iowa State’s fans are for a long, long time. That’s not the first time I’ve lost to them in the championship. But don’t lose sight of how good you have to be to get here.”
Iowa State scored the first 10 points of the second half to turn a seven-point halftime lead into a 17-point margin. The Cougars never got within single digits the rest of the game, and the Cyclones extended the lead to as many as 32 points.
Iowa State controlled the first half, both on offense and defense.
In their first two games combined, the Cougars outscored their opponents 37-8 in the first 10 minutes of the game. But Saturday night, it was Iowa State that opened an early lead. The Cougars’ last lead of the half was at 11-9.
The Cyclones led by as many as nine points at 30-21 with just over a minute remaining in the half before taking a 30-23 lead into the locker room. Iowa State was led by Gilbert with nine points. Shead and LJ Cryer led Houston with seven points each.
The Cyclones held Houston to just 28.1 percent (9-of-32) from the field before halftime, including just 2-of-11 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, the Cyclones connected on 12-of-26 (46.2 percent), including 5-of-11 from long range.
–David Smale, Field Level Media
