Iowa State Cyclones vs Oklahoma Sooners Match Player Stats On Feb 06, 2021

Elijah Harkless scored a season-high 19 points to lead No. 9 Oklahoma to a 79-72 win over Iowa State in a Big 12 contest Saturday afternoon in Norman, Okla.

Umoja Gibson also hit four 3-pointers, helping the Sooners hold off a pesky Cyclones team that wouldn't go away until late.

Oklahoma (12-5, 7-4 Big 12) won for the sixth time in seven games. Iowa State (2-11, 0-8) lost its seventh straight game.

Brady Manek, making his first start since Jan. 6, had perhaps his most complete game for the Sooners with nine points, a career-high 15 rebounds and four assists.

Iowa State cut the Sooners' lead to four with 3:30 remaining on back-to-back 3-pointers.

But Harkless answered with five quick points and the Sooners finally extended the lead to a comfortable margin.

The Cyclones stayed in the game with a season-high 16 3-pointers, shooting 51.6 percent from behind the arc.

Austin Reaves -- the Sooners' leader in points, rebounds and assists -- returned after missing two games due to COVID-19 contact tracing and registered 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Gibson added 18 points for Oklahoma.

The Sooners looked like they might bury the Cyclones early, building a quick eight-point lead in the first four minutes.

But Iowa State, like it has done for much of Big 12 play, battled back.

After they started off by attacking the paint against Oklahoma's small lineup, the Cyclones got back into the game with ball movement around the perimeter.

Iowa State made eight first-half 3-pointers after coming in averaging just 6.9 threes per game in Big 12 play.

Three of those early 3-pointers came from Jalen Coleman-Lands, who scored 11 first-half points.

But Lands didn't score after halftime and fouled out with more than four minutes remaining.

Rasir Bolton led Iowa State with 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers and adding seven rebounds and four assists.

--Field Level Media