AMES, Iowa—One thing Iowa State hasn’t done for much of the season is deliver the knockout punch. Facing a Nebraska team that had wiped away their 13-point deficit, the Cyclones finally landed a finishing blow.
Craig Brackins scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Iowa State beat Nebraska 65-53 Wednesday for its fifth win in six games.
Lucca Staiger added 18 points for the Cyclones (12-5, 1-1 Big 12), who blew a 39-26 lead before closing the game with a 10-0 run.
Ade Dagunduro’s 3-point play brought Nebraska within 55-53 with 2:12 left. But Staiger followed a jumper by Brackins with a 3, and Brackins slammed home a dunk off of a turnover to give Iowa State a 62-53 lead with 55 seconds left.
Staiger, named the Big 12’s Rookie of the Week on Monday, went 6-of-12 from 3-point range.
“We are having hard time doing that,” Brackins said about putting teams away. “I felt like we did a real good job handling ourselves in the last two minutes.”
Dagunduro had 13 points and Cookie Miller added 11 for Nebraska (11-4, 1-1 Big 12), which dropped its conference road opener for the third straight season.
Nebraska “coach (Doc Sadler) told us not to leave Staiger. Don’t leave Staiger,” Dagunduro said. ” But we kept leaving him wide open and he kept knocking down his shots.”
The Cornhuskers got back in the game by using a full court press, momentarily sending Iowa State’s offense into disarray. Nebraska took advantage with a 19-6 run that tied the game at 45 with 6:26 left.
Miller hit a layup in traffic that brought the Huskers within 41-39, and Paul Velander buried back-to-back 3s to tie the game.
But Dagunduro then missed an easy layup that would have given the Huskers the lead, and Staiger answered with a 3.
Alex Thompson followed with a crucial tip-in off a missed free throw, and Brackins hit a pair from the line to give the Cyclones a 52-48 lead.
With the win, Iowa State snapped a seven-game conference losing streak dating back to last season.
“We were very timid. We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” McDermott said. “It’s something you have to learn from, and we adjusted our press break and put them in a little bit better position and we attacked them better after that.”
Staiger had a rough start to the season, missing most of fall practice and playing sparingly early on because of knee surgery.
But the knee appears fine—and so does Staiger. He’s averaging 16.5 points in two Big 12 games, providing a much-needed complement to Brackins offensively.
“He’s grown by leaps and bounds since he first put on the uniform,” McDermott said. “As he gets more game experience, you’re going to see him get better and better.”
Iowa State went on an early 15-1 run and led by as much as 27-14 in the first half. Staiger hit a 3 to give the Cyclones the lead, and layups by Justin Hamilton and Diante Garrett helped push Iowa State’s lead to 13 with 6:59 left before halftime.
The Huskers missed 23 of their first 30 shots—hitting just two field goals in the final 11:06 of the first half—and Bryan Peterson’s long 3 at the buzzer put the Cyclones ahead 32-20 at the break.
Nebraska was held to 20 points or less in the first half for the second time in four road games this season and shot just 34. 5 percent from the field.
But what left Sadler most concerned was the Huskers defensive effort on Staiger.
“We’re going to give up points to Brackins inside. We know that. But now you add 18 points to it? That’s why they won the basketball game. They executed better than we did,” Sadler said.
