By: Garrett Kroeger
The Steve Prohm era at Hilton Coliseum kicked off with a bang Monday night against the Chicago State Cougars of the Western Athletic Conference.
The first half was a little closer than the No. 7 Iowa State Cyclones preferred.
Heading into halftime, the Cyclones were up 49-35 over the Cougars. Half of Chicago State’s points came off three-pointers, as they drained six threes in the first compared to Iowa State’s two threes.
But after halftime, the Cyclones blew open the scoring in the second half.
Iowa State scored the first 13 points in the second half which senior small forward Abdel Nader had eight of those 13.
The Cyclones outscored the Cougars 57 to 29 in the second half. Â Against Chicago State, Iowa State had six players score in double digits.
Jameel McKay ;led the way with 25 points. He also had 11 rebounds to give him a double-double. After McKay the scoring went like this: Nader 17 points, Monte Morris with 14, Naz Mitrou-Long with 14, Georges Niang with 11 and Hallice Cooke with 10. The Cyclones also shot 59.4 percent from the field and 32 percent behind the three point line.
“I remember my freshman opener and we had like maybe 11,000 people here,” Niang said at the after game press conference. “But today felt like [ISU] were playing Kansas.”
Iowa State will retake the court on Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. at Hilton, as they take on the Chattanooga Mocs in the second game of Emerald Coast Classic.
