Iowa State knocks off No. 12 Baylor, 77-62 in Big 12 opener

By ANDREW LOGUE
Associated Press

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Gabe Kalscheur and Caleb Grill combined for 41 points as Iowa State toppled No. 12 Baylor 77-62 in a Big 12 opener Saturday.

Kalscheur finished with 23 points, including a 3-pointer to give the Cyclones (10-2, 1-0) a commanding 69-54 lead with 5:22 left to play.

Grill had 18 points and seven rebounds with four assists.

“You love seeing those guys have success,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Gabe, as many great games as he’s played for us, that may have been his most complete on all fronts.”

Adam Flagler led Baylor (10-3, 0-1) with 20 points, with 18 coming in the first half.

Baylor struggled with Iowa State’s zone, while the Cyclones found their shooting touch, at one point hitting 8 of 15 attempts from 3-point range.

The Bears shot 37.7% from the floor and committed 19 turnovers.

“You can’t have seven assists and 19 turnovers and let the other team shoot 50%, 44 from 3 and win,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “A lot of things we’ve got to do better.”

Iowa State opened the second half with a 9-1 run and took a 43-32 lead on a Kalscheur 3-pointer.

“I thought we did a really good job toward the end of the first half of getting stops,” Grill said. “Once we started pulling some stops together, the offense flowed better, because they weren’t getting back and setting their defense every time.”

A fall-away shot by Flagler gave Baylor an early 25-16 lead. The Bears hit nine of their first 16 shots, but ended the half on a 2 for 11 skid, missing their last seven attempts from 3-point range.

Iowa State went on a 10-0 run to take a 30-29 lead on a Robert Jones putback. The Cyclones were up 34-31 at the break and had forced 11 Baylor turnovers.

“We kind of came back and we weren’t uneasy,” Kalscheur said. “We weren’t worried about things not going our way. We stayed collected and stayed focused on doing what we need to do.”

BIG PICTURE

Baylor will likely make its 65th consecutive appearance in the Top 25, the second-longest streak nationally behind Gonzaga’s 122. Iowa State should return to the Top 25 after dropping out earlier this month.

UP NEXT

Baylor: Hosts No. 18 TCU on Wednesday and Kansas State on Saturday

Iowa State: Visits Oklahoma on Wednesday and TCU on Saturday

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