Iowa State stuns Houston 57-53 to hand Cougars first loss of season

Maybe it was the massive winter storm rolling through the Midwest or a resurgence of “Hilton Magic,” but No. 2 Houston was unprepared for its first trip to Ames since joining the Big 12 Conference.

Unranked Iowa State cruised past the Cougars early and held on late to earn a 57-53 upset victory Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum, marking Houston’s first loss of the season. The Cougars (14-1) were the last undefeated team in Division I men’s basketball. Iowa State now has seven wins against top-10 opponents over the past two seasons, the most in the country.

The victory was sealed by a wild shot from freshman Milan Momcilovic. After going scoreless in the second half, Momcilovic caught a pass in the corner with the game tied and drilled a ridiculous, fadeaway, contested bucket with 31 seconds left to put the Cyclones back up 55-53.

He then made two free throws after Houston missed a 3-point attempt at the other end, which sealed the four-point victory.

Momcilovic finished with 11 points and three rebounds and shot 4 of 8 from the field for the Cyclones (12-3). Tamin Lipsey led Iowa State with 14 points. They were the only two to score in double figures for the Cyclones, who shot 3 of 15 from beyond the arc as a group.

Iowa State took over early. He opened the night on a 14-0 run and held Houston to single digits for the first 12:30 of the game. The Cougars were also plagued by early turnovers, which is very unusual for Kelvin Sampson’s group. They had eight of their 16 turnovers on the night in the first 10 minutes of the contest, although they have averaged just 9.1 turnovers per game this season. They had 12 in the first half.

Iowa State took a 31-21 lead into halftime, marking the first time the Cougars had trailed at the break this season and by far the fewest points they had scored in the first half. Star LJ Cryer was held scoreless in the first half.

Houston finally came back to life in the second half. The Cougars tied the game after outscoring Iowa State 20-10 to start the second period, a run capped by Jamal Shead when he made a second straight block and dropped it on the other end.

Shead then gave the Cougars their first lead of the night, 51-50, with a jumper from the free throw line with just over three minutes remaining. Yet that was all they could do. The Cyclones quickly regained the lead, and after Shead briefly equalized, Momcilovic made his clutch shot.

Emanuel Sharp led Houston with 20 points and five rebounds on the night, and he shot 5 of 10 from the 3-point line. Shead finished with 14 points. Cryer, who entered the game averaging over 17 points per game, finished with just five points and shot 2 of 9 from the field.

The Cougars’ schedule, after a relatively easy start, was always going to get much tougher once conference play began. The Big 12 had six teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this week, which is the most in the country. Houston plays TCU – which played No. 3 Kansas last week – next Saturday.

The Cyclones are now 12-3 on the season. The win followed an eight-point loss to No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday and marked their first victory against a ranked opponent this season. They will host Oklahoma State on Saturday before traveling to No. 18 BYU next week.