Iowa State Defeats Baylor

AMES, Iowa - A 21-point victory wasn't enough to impress Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy.

Jake Sullivan and Kantrail Horton negated Baylor's zone defense with their outside shooting as No. 17 Iowa State beat the Bears 72-51 Thursday night. But Eustachy thought his team took the easy way out by tossing up 3-pointers instead taking the ball to the basket.

"It was as bad execution as we've had this year," Eustachy said. "This team is getting softer by the minute. That's because the coach has been too soft on them and we need to change that."

Eustachy said he would start by calling a practice for 6 a.m. Friday.

Sullivan, who led Iowa State with 19 points, said he spends a lot of extra time at the arena anyway working on his shot, just not at 6 in the morning.

"I'm always in there in the afternoon," he said. "But if that's what coach wants to do, we're going to do it. We'll be there ready to go."

Sullivan and Horton both went 4-for-8 from 3-point range as Iowa State (16-3, 4-2 Big 12) won its 31st straight home game. Horton finished with 14 points, Paul Shirley grabbed 12 rebounds - nine on the offensive end - and Jamaal Tinsley had eight assists.

"We didn't catch Baylor at their best," Eustachy said. "I told our guys we could play them in the (Big 12) tournament and we'll see a different Baylor team then. I just thought they missed shots and dropped the ball."

Baylor (13-4, 2-4) never recovered from a first-half cold spell and did not reach 40 points until 2:36 remained. The Bears shot only 37.4 percent, committed 20 turnovers and were outrebounded 43-29.

Terry Black led Baylor with 17 points. He was contained for most of the game by Horton and Shane Power and got eight of his points in the final 2 1/2 minutes. DeMarcus Minor added 13 points for the Bears.

"Sullivan caused us problems early and Horton caused problems late," Baylor coach Dave Bliss said. "We had to change defenses to kind of get back in it and they handled it."

Iowa rarely got the ball inside in the first half and did not get a basket in the paint until Sullivan scored on a baseline drive with 8:40 left in the opening half.

Not that it mattered. Iowa State made eight of its 16 3-point shots in the first half and also converted two three-point plays to take control early. Baylor, meanwhile, went 7 1/2 minutes without making a basket.

Still, Eustachy felt the Cyclones should have worked harder at getting the ball inside.

"We should take 3s, and a lot of them, when we've got the right guys shooting them, but not 16 in a half," Eustachy said. "We need to penetrate, take it at people, get fouled, drop it off to the post and not just stand out there and click your heels and shoot it."

After Minor hit a spinning jumper to cut the lead to 13-11 with 15:01 left in the half, Baylor went 0-for-8 with five turnovers before getting its next field goal - Black's putback at the 7:26 mark.

Iowa State had built a 10-point lead by then, and it quickly grew from there. Sullivan and Horton each hit a 3-pointer in a 10-0 run that made it 32-16. It was 41-21 after Tinsley's 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in the half.

Iowa State started the second half with a 13-3 run to go up 54-27. Baylor got no closer than the final margin after that.

"I think we came out slow tonight and didn't have that fire," Black said. "At certain points we ran good offense, but we just weren't sharp."

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Players Mentioned

Kantrail Horton

Kantrail Horton

Shane Power

Shane Power

Paul Shirley

Paul Shirley

Jake Sullivan

Jake Sullivan

Jamaal Tinsley

Jamaal Tinsley

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