AMES — Following an emotional win over Iowa on Thursday night, the No. 3 Cyclones came out of the gates slow against Omaha, but were able to turn it around and secure a dominant 83-51 victory.

While Iowa State may have pulled away, it faced its fair share of struggles to start the game. 

With just under seven minutes remaining in the first half, the Cyclones found themselves tied with Omaha at 21 a piece. During that span, Iowa State turned the ball over eight times, just four shy of its season-high of 12 turnovers, all in the first 13 minutes of the game. 

“We were impatient and that put us in a bad spot,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We had a good practice yesterday, so I don’t know why it didn’t carry over the way we would have liked to start the game.”

This is the second straight game that the Cyclones have struggled early. Against Iowa, the Cyclones trailed by seven points at halftime and trailed by as much as 13 points at one point in the game.

But, just like against the Hawkeyes, Iowa State turned it around. 

After the score became tied at 21, the Cyclones went on a 20-2 run to end the first half leading Omaha 41-23.

In the second half, Iowa State continued its strong play, outscoring the Mavericks by 14 points. 

Iowa State turned the ball over just four times after the first 13 minutes, which played an important role in it being able to pull away.

“We settled down, controlled the ball, just getting to the sets we wanted to get to, not letting them ramp us up,” Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson said. “They did a good job of speeding us up in the first half.”

The Cyclones’ turnaround was aided by a balanced attack, as five Cyclones scored in double figures. 

“I think we got a team this year that everyone can score the ball, so I think you’re gonna see a lot of games that we gave five, six guys in double digits,” Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic said. 

Iowa State was led in scoring by senior guard Keshon Gilbert. Gilbert scored 16 points, while shooting 66% from the field, 50% from 3-point range and 100% from the free throw line.

Both Momcilovic and Jefferson scored 13 points. 

Jefferson went 5-of-9 from the field, 1-of-2 from 3-point range and finished just two rebounds shy of a third consecutive double-double. 

Momcilovic shot an efficient 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range, while also grabbing five rebounds. 

Guards Tamin Lipsey and Nate Heise rounded out the five Cyclones who scored in double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points respectively.

This was the second consecutive game Heise had scored 10 points, his first two times scoring in double digits as a Cyclone. 

“He’s just continuing to grow as a player in this system. He’s being more aggressive which is good, taking more shots,” Momcilovic said. “He’s a good 3-point shooter so it’s good to see him knock down two today.”

As the Cyclones creep closer to conference play, it will want to get out to better starts, but for now, they keep rolling, moving to 9-1 on the season.