Ames, Iowa—-Iowa State have been playing outstanding basket of late but taking on No. 12 Baylor was going to big challenge. They took this game personal and played sixty minutes hard nose basketball.
Gabe Kalscheur drained five 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead Iowa State (10-2, 1-0 Big 12) to a 77-62 win over No. 12 Baylor (10-3) at Hilton Coliseum. Caleb Grill chipped in 18 points and grabbed seven boards while dissing out four assists.
Baylor had a major issue with the Cyclones’ zone while found gold beyond the arc hitting 8 of 15 attempts from downtown.
A fallaway jumpshot by Adam Flagler gave the Bears an early 25-16 lead. Baylor drained nine of their first 16 shots but ended the half on a 2 for 11 skid, missing their last seven attempts from beyond the arc.
The Cyclones went on a 10-0 run to take a 30-29 lead on a Robert Jones putback in the first half. Iowa State went up 34-31 at the break and had forced Baylor to turn the ball over 11 times.
Flager led Baylor with 20 points, with 18 coming in the first half.
It was head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s seventh victory over a ranked opponent in his two-year tenure with Iowa State.
The Cyclones opened the second half with a 9-1 run and took a 43-32 lead on a Kalscheur long trey.
Iowa State led 66-54 with under six minutes left in the game after Jones converted a conventional 3-point play after being fouled on a bunny. The crowd went bonkers when Kalscheur hit his fifth triple to put ISU ahead, 69-54, with 5:22 left in the game.
Minutes later, Grill’s full-court pass to Holmes off a defensive board, hit him in stride for a lay-up to upped the lead to 74-56 with 3:09 left.
The Cyclones had 19 points off 19 Bear turnovers in the contest. The turnovers was the difference in the game.
Next Up:
Iowa State travels to Oklahoma to face the Sooners on Wednesday (Jan. 4). Game at 6 P.M. CT on ESPN2.
