The national analysts were wrong this time. Iowa State avoided being upset today by the Iona Gaels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and will advance to play the winner of Purdue and Arkansas Little Rock on Saturday after coming away with a 94-81 victory.
The Gaels scored the first five points of the game (causing all Cyclone fans' hearts to start beating a little faster), but then Iowa State went on a 11-0 run behind 3-pointers from Matt Thomas, Abdel Nader and Georges Niang to go along with an alley-oop in transition from Monte Morris to Nader.