Joshua Jefferson scored a career-high 30 points and Keshon Gilbert added 21 points with eight assists as No. 3 Iowa State bounced back from its second loss of the season with a 108-83 rout over visiting UCF on Tuesday at Ames, Iowa.
Curtis Jones added 19 points with eight rebounds as the Cyclones (16-2, 6-1 Big 12) won after dropping one spot in the Associated Press Top 25 following a 64-57 loss at West Virginia on Saturday. The defeat ended the nation’s longest winning streak at 12 games.
Iowa State scored a season high in points while shooting 56.3 percent from the floor. They improved to 11-0 at home and scored at least 100 points in regulation during a Big 12 game for the first time since January of 2001 against Oklahoma.
Jordan Ivy-Curry scored a season-high 24 points and Keyshawn Hall added 13 as UCF (12-6, 3-4) lost consecutive games for the second time this season. The Knights entered off a 69-68 loss against then-No. 10 Houston on Saturday.
Moustapha Thiam added nine points with nine rebounds for UCF, which shot 42.9 percent from the floor while falling to 1-4 against ranked teams this season.
Iowa State trailed with less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half before taking control with a 20-8 run to grab a 35-26 advantage with 6:05 remaining before halftime.
The Cyclones led by as many as 19 points in the opening 20 minutes and were up 54-36 at halftime by shooting 54.3 percent and nearly matching their season-low point total for an entire game in the loss to West Virginia.
The Knights cut the deficit to 61-50 with 16:50 remaining after a 3-pointer from Ivy-Curry before the Cyclones regained momentum. Iowa State went on a 19-10 run to take their first 20-point lead of the game at 80-60 with 11:42 remaining and cruised to the victory from there.
It was just the second all-time game between the teams and first on Iowa State’s home floor after the Cyclones earned a 60-52 victory at UCF last season.
–Field Level Media