The Iowa basketball team’s first trip to the Huntsman Center was a success.
The Cyclones bounced back to beat host Utah State 75-59 on Tuesday, February 24th, leading for much of the game without any doubt.
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Iowa State led 41-31 at halftime and pulled away in the second half.
Joshua Jefferson scored a game-high 21 points, along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Milan Momchilovic scored 14 points. Jamarion Bartmon came off the bench to score 13 points and Blake Buchanan scored 10 points.
Here are five standout statistics from the Cyclones’ victory:
More: Iowa basketball vs. Utah scores, Cyclones win recap
104 — Milan Momchilovic’s single-season 3-pointer for Iowa State
Iowa State has a new single-season three-point champion.
Momchilovic entered Tuesday’s game having made 100 3-pointers this season. With 10 minutes and 59 seconds left in the game, he hit his third three-pointer of the game, breaking the program’s single-season record for three-pointers made.
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He passed the late Dedric Willoughby, who made 102 3-pointers as a senior at Iowa State in 1996-97.
Momsilovic scored 14 points in the game and made 4 of 8 shots from beyond the three-point line. The single-season record now stands at 104 games, and it’s also important for Momchilovic, who has three regular-season games remaining to keep his record alive no matter what happens in the postseason.
9:14 – Utah goes scoreless in the second half
Utah was within shooting range of the Cyclones for a time, but Utah’s nine-minute shooting drought allowed Iowa State to extend its lead to double digits for good.
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With 16 minutes and 51 seconds left in the game, Keanu Dawes dunked to tie the score to 45-40. The Utes missed each of their next seven team shots. They got a few free throws in the stretch but came up empty handed.
Dawes finally broke the deficit with a 3-pointer to make it 62-49 with 7:37 left, but the Cyclones’ lead never dropped to single digits the rest of the game.
18—Utah turnovers
The Cyclones returned to the level of destruction they were looking for after committing 11 turnovers against BYU, while in turn holding their opponent to just eight points.
They forced 18 Utah turnovers and turned those turnovers into 20 points on the other end.
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Iowa State ran the ball well and only turned the ball over nine times.
+24 – Iowa State’s Jamarion Bartmon plus-minus rating
The first-year guard continues to contribute and improve for the Cyclones.
His improvement over the past month is a welcome boost for his team. He was a bright spot in the loss to BYU, scoring 14 points and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench. He’s also made several big shots throughout league play to energize the team, and he’s had a few standout games since January.
Batemon came off the bench on Tuesday and enjoyed another quality game. He scored in double figures for the second straight game and first time this year. However, he is a weapon on both ends of the court.
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Not only can he score, but he also puts in a lot of effort and fight on defense.
Bartmon played 23 minutes and scored 13 points and 2 steals. His plus-minus value reached a team-high +23.
38.1% — Utah’s second-half field goal percentage
The Cyclones held the Utes to 59 points, marking the fourth time they held a Big 12 opponent to 60 points or fewer.
The Jazz shot 8-for-21 overall (38.1%) and 2-for-8 after halftime. Most of the contributions came from Dawes, who notched a double-double in the second half alone.
However, if you take away Dawes (4 of 8 in the second half), the rest of his teammates totaled 4 of 13 in the second half.
This article originally appeared in the Des Moines Register: 5 standout stats from Iowa basketball’s win over Utah State
