Iowa State loses 79-64 at No. 9 Baylor

WACO, Texas — Even when Iowa State started making shots, the Cyclones never really had a chance for an upset at No. 9 Baylor.

Mainly because they were unable to have a repeat performance on defense.

Perry Jones III rediscovered his shooting touch with 18 points for the Bears, who rebounded from two big losses last week with a 79-64 victory Monday night.

"They're the longest team we'll play against and probably the longest team in the country, and that poses problems for any team that plays against them," Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I just thought our overall effort on the defensive end was pathetic. We couldn't find a way to get stops."

Baylor (22-4, 9-4 Big 12), which is undefeated against everybody its played except No. 3 Missouri and No. 4 Kansas, shot 60 percent with 24 assists on its 33 baskets and had only eight turnovers. They were plenty of dunks and layups.

All that came two days after Iowa State (18-8, 8-5) beat Texas A&M 69-46 while allowing the Aggies to shoot only 36 percent.

"We were great, had probably our best effort against A&M on Saturday, and that's got to be the constant," Hoiberg said. "You have to defend every night to give yourself a chance to win. I don't get how we defended as well as we did on Saturday and turn and come back tonight and have the type of effort that we did."

Jones already had 10 points by halftime, one more than he had combined last week when Baylor lost to Kansas and Missouri in consecutive games for the second time in a month.

Melvin Ejim had 17 points to lead the Cyclones, who had won four its last five games to match Baylor for third place in the Big 12 behind Missouri and Kansas.

"We definitely needed to bounce back," Baylor freshman Quincy Miller said. "Our confidence was still up, but those were very hard blows."

Miller, who matched Jones with 8-of-13 shooting, added 16 points for the Bears. Anthony Jones had 12 points and Quincy Acy 11.

Jones, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, was a combined 3 for 20 in the two games last week.

"The coaching staff and my teammates kept me confident even though my shot didn't fall the past week or so," Jones said. "They still kept me shooting the ball."