AMES, Iowa - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team was blitzed by one of the nation's top teams on Monday night (Nov. 18) as No. 5 Iowa State rolled to an 87-52 victory inside Hilton Coliseum. Graduate transfer
Paul Zilinskas was the lone Jaguar to finish in double-digits with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and
Jarvis Walker added eight points and five rebounds.
Curtis Jones came off the Iowa State (3-0) bench to tally a game-high 20 points, including four treys, to key the victors. Tamin Lipsey added 17 points and five steals and Joshua Jefferson contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting.
Iowa State had the game in hand rather quickly, building a 27-5 lead in the opening eight-plus minutes, fueled in part by three early Jones threes. The Jags closed within 14 on multiple occasions before the Cyclones tallied the final six points of the opening half to take a 49-29 lead into the locker room. ISU proceeded to score the first five points of the second half and the Jags got no closer than 18 the rest of the evening.
After shooting 58 percent from the floor in the opening half, the Jaguar defense stiffened after the break, holding ISU to just 42 percent and 2-of-15 from deep in the final 20 minutes as the hosts closed at 50 percent overall and 7-of-25 (28 percent) from three. However, the Jaguars struggled to muster much against one of the nation's top defenses, finishing the game at 34.6 percent from the floor and 9-of-28 (32.1 percent) from three. The Jags were also harassed into a season-high 19 turnovers, leading to 26 ISU points.
The hosts finished the game with a 44-12 margin in points in the paint and 17-2 margin in fast break points. The Jaguars relied heavily on the three-point line with more than half their hoists coming from deep. Both Walker and
Timaris Brown made a pair of treys and seven different Jaguars made at least one attempt.
The starting frontcourt of
Sean Craig and
Keenan Garner shot just a combined 2-of-11 from the floor against ISU's much taller front line. Craig grabbed a team-high six rebounds off the defensive glass and Garner had two of the team's four steals.
The Jaguars will return to action later this week when they participate in the Bulldog Bash, hosted by Alabama A&M. IU Indy will face Coastal Carolina on Friday (Nov. 22) and South Carolina State on Saturday (Nov. 23). The Jaguars will remain in Huntsville to face AAMU in a true road game on Monday (Nov. 25) to cap the three-game trip.
