Iowa State rebounds from loss thanks to Abdel Nader's big shot
Iowa State coach Steve Prohm watched his team take and early lead on the road at Cincinnati on Tuesday night and control the contest for nearly 35 minutes. The 11th-ranked Cyclones finally gave up the lead in the 36th minute and most might have expected Prohm to be upset.
Instead, he said it was an almost ideal scenario.
The Cyclones were coming off their first loss of the season and Prohm said he liked what he saw when his players' backs were against the wall in a hostile environment as they fought to escape Fifth Third Arena with an 81-79 victory over the 22nd-ranked Bearcats.
[UConn loses starting center Amida Brimah to a broken finger]
"We found a lot about our whole team and that's what I'm really proud of," Prohm told ESPN in his postgame interview.
Forward Georges Niang led all scorers with 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. His only assist in the game came in the final 13 seconds when he drove from the left side toward the top of the key and found Abdel Nader open for a 3-pointer than put the Cyclones on top for good with 11 seconds showing. Nader scored 11 points.
The Cyclones lost on a neutral court Saturday to Northern Iowa in their first game playing without their emotional leader Naz Mitrou-Long, who is out for the season. But they also played for the first time with Deonte Burton, who came up big off the bench in his second outing Tuesday scoring 12 points in 16 minutes.
Jameel McKay just ran by reporters and said, "Are we good again?" Pretty quotable group.
— Travis Hines (@TravisHines21) December 23, 2015
[Oregon hasn't let a flurry of early injuries derail its season]
Cincinnati has to be frustrated after coming up just short again. The Bearcats have lost three of their four toughest games of the season so far, including a two-point loss against Butler and a 10-point defeat against crosstown rival Xavier.
Four players scored in double figures for the Bearcats led by guard Troy Caupain who had 18. But the Bearcats went cold after taking the lead, making just one field goal in the final four minutes.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
