The Iowa State men squandered a 21 point first half lead and lost to Texas A@M 73-69 at the ESPN Events Invitational.

That’s ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger who says 16 turnovers hurt their cause.

The Cyclones are 5-2 and visit DePaul Friday night.

For the 19th straight time the Cy-Hawk wrestling dual goes to Iowa. The Hawkeyes won six of 10 matches to edge Iowa State 18-14.

That’s Iowa coach Tom Brands who says the Hawkeyes have a lot of work to do.

A big turning point came at 174 pounds where Iowa State’s M.J. Gaitan had a late rally for short in a 14-13 loss to Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy. The ISU coaches were confused about the score in the waning seconds.

That’s Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser who called it a big moment in the dual.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Drake women’s basketball capped the inaugural Vibrant Thanksgiving Classic with a wire-to-wire victory, getting production throughout the lineup in beating Maine 72-56 at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon.

Courtney Becker drove for a layup off the opening tip, Taylor McAulay followed with a three-point play for a 5-0 lead and the Bulldogs (5-2) stayed on front the rest of the way to finish 2-1 in the holiday weekend event.

Anna Miller topped off a solid homestand with 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting to lead the Bulldogs, who shot 54.7 percent and enjoyed a 44-26 margin in points in the paint by taking the ball aggressively to the basket. Miller averaged 15 points and 7.3 rebounds and shot 60.6 percent in the round-robin tournament, scoring in double figures every game — the third time in her career she has done that for at least three straight games.

Grace Berg added 15 points and moved up three more spots on Drake’s career scoring list to No. 22, running her total to 1,362. Katie Dinnebier posted another strong line with 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. She and Miller were named to the all-tournament team.

McAulay finished with eight points and freshman Shannon Fornshell scored six on a couple of three-pointers. Berg led the Bulldogs with eight rebounds and five assists while going 6-for-11 from the field.

The Bulldogs went 2-1 in the tournament, beating Louisiana Tech on Friday and losing to Richmond on Saturday. Richmond went 3-0, Maine 1-2 and Louisiana Tech 0-3.

This was just the fourth meeting between the two programs and the first since Drake beat Maine 94-62 on Nov. 30, 2019 at the Gulf Coast Classic in Estero, Florida.

“It was fun to watch us start like that in the first quarter,” Suzie Glazer Burt head coach Allison Pohlman said. “Everyone was just ready to go. We were a proud group to realize we had won the second quarter especially considering that we’d given up a lot of offensive rebounds. We were able to manage the game well…Katie [Dinnebier] did a nice job, Ava [Hawthorne] had a solid game today. Taylor [McAulay] and Courtney [Becker] combined to go 5-for-7 from the field and played well defensively…just another example of our group being ready to go today.”

The Bulldogs will have a chance to catch their breath this week before heading north to play at Minnesota on Saturday, Dec. 2. The game tips at 1 p.m. Drake then has consecutive home games with North Dakota State on Dec. 8 and Creighton on Dec. 17.

Iowa is a massive underdog as the 18th ranked Hawkeyes prepare for the Big Ten Championship against second ranked Michigan. The Wolverines are 12-0 and crushed the Hawkeyes 42-3 in the title game two years ago.

That’s Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz who says being an underdog in a big game is nothing new for the Hawkeyes.

Despite injuries to several key players and an offense that only scored 11 touchdowns in nine conference games the Hawkeyes scratched and clawed their way to a 10-2 record.

Ferentz expects Drew Stevens to resume the kicking duties against Michigan. Marshall Meeder kicked the game winning field goal at Nebraska after Stevens had two field goals blocked and had two kickoffs go out of bounds against the Huskers.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh returns to the sideline after a three game suspension from the Big Ten in the midst of a sign stealing scandal. He was also suspended by the school for the first three games due to an NCAA investigation.

Harbaugh says the Big Ten title game is the next step for his team.

Harbaugh was asked about playing an Iowa team that is known for winning ugly.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Iowa State (2-3, 0-0 Big 12) dropped game two at the South Point Shootout against Syracuse (5-1, 0-0 ACC) on Saturday afternoon.

The Cyclones battled with the Orange, trading leads throughout the first half and entering the halftime break tied, 39-39. But Syracuse opened up an 11-2 run to start the second half that ISU could not come back from.

Audi Crooks led the Cyclones with 23 points, tying her season-high for the second 20-point game of her career. Addy Brown finished with her first career double-double, adding 19 points and 10 rebounds to the Iowa State cause.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Following a Syracuse basket, Crooks and Brown made buckets on back-to-back trips down the floor. Neither side was able to get a comfortable lead throughout the first quarter, as Iowa State held the largest lead of the period at three points. Nyamer Diew led the Cyclones with seven points in the quarter while Audi Crooks and Addy Brown each chipped in six apiece. ISU shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the period. The first quarter featured seven ties and six lead changes.

After trading scores for the first three minutes of the second period, Syracuse went on a 6-0 run to lead 31-26 with 5:57 left in the half. The Cyclones rallied with 10 of the next 15 points with 3-pointers from Arianna Jackson and Brown and two buckets from Crooks. Following a three-point play by Syracuse, Brown knocked down her second triple of the day to tie the game heading into halftime.

Iowa State fell victim to an 11-2 Syracuse run coming out of the break. Hannah Belanger knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Cyclones within 50-44 before another five-point spurt put the Orange back up by nine. Isnelle Natabou’s layup followed by another Brown triple got ISU within six with just under five minutes remaining in the quarter, but the two teams traded baskets the rest of the period to leave the Cyclones trailing, 65-59.

ISU showed signs of fight throughout the fourth quarter, chipping away at the Syracuse win to get within four points twice, including late in the period. After Crooks made a free throw to open the frame, Jalynn Bristow knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Syracuse lead to 67-63 with 8:41 remaining. Crooks broke up an Orange run with three baskets down low, keeping Iowa State within 73-69 with 3:07 to play. Syracuse held the Cyclones scoreless for the final three minutes of play and score the final eight points to take the 81-69 win.

TOP PERFORMANCE

Addy Brown recorded her first career double-double and the first double-double of the season for the Cyclones with season-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds. She also passed out five assists.

UP NEXT

Iowa State travels to meet St. Thomas on Wednesday, November 29th. The Cyclones meet the Tommies for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off in St. Paul.