Tigers too much for ISU to tame

AMES — He's a ballhandler. He's a passer. He's a rebounder. He's a scorer. He's a special player.

But what Iowa State's Royce White isn't is a free throw-shooter. And that hurt his team badly Wednesday night.

White shot eight free throws in his team's 76-69 loss to No. 9 Missouri in a highly charged contest at Hilton Coliseum. He airballed as many as he made, which was two.

Had he made six instead of missing that many, the game would have been up for grabs. Given Missouri's foul problems, with two members of its 7-man rotation fouled out and center Ricardo Ratliffe playing with four personals, an overtime might have been tilted toward the Cyclones.

This is written with the realization the Cyclones (12-4 overall, 2-1 in the Big 12) would be run-of-the-mill at best without the 6-foot-8, 270-pound talent from Minneapolis. But White is now 12-of-29 from the line in league play, a pretty glaring problem considering ISU's offense goes through him.

Cyclones Coach Fred Hoiberg, who seldom saw a free throw he didn't couldn't make as an ISU player, saw a bigger problem for his team. Scott Christopherson sank a half-court shot to end the first-half and give Iowa State a 38-36 lead, but the 3-pointer didn't put as much as a hint of a smile on Hoiberg's face.

"I thought that shot was fool's gold," Hoiberg said. "I almost broke the (locker room) door down. I was furious. They made every hustle play in the first-half. We made one. That's not good enough against a Top Ten team that has the confidence like they do."

Hoiberg said his guys executed his game plan, but were woefully lacking when it came to chasing down rebounds and loose balls. Missouri entered here a 41 percent-shooting team from 3-point range, but was a chilly 5-of-21. However, the 15-1 Tigers made play after play, smart ones as well as the aforementioned hustle plays.