Georges Niang led Iowa State with 19 points in the 89-86 win against Texas. (USATSI)

Everything you ought to know from college basketball's light Monday night of action …  

Game of the Night: Iowa State holds off a furious comeback from Texas to win 89-86

Iowa State led by 20 with 7:33 left in the second half, and we were comfortable preparing a Night Court entry about Iowa State's ball movement, Georges Niang's reemergence and how the Cyclones were the first team all season to score 80 points against Texas' revered defense. Well, Iowa State is the first team to score 80 points on the Longhorns but the final minutes completely changed the tone of the takeaways for each team.

In the first half, Iowa State was doing a great job of swinging the ball from side-to-side on offense to open up space in Texas' zone defense. When Niang wasn't getting free for entry passes, it was Dustin Hogue or Jameel McKay getting into the lane and making things happen for Iowa State. 

The second half was a totally different story. Texas hit no 3-pointers in the first half and got 10 in the second; the team's shooting percentage for the period jumped up above 60 percent at one point and the home crowd in Hilton Coliseum began to sweat as the Longhorns cut the lead to three points in the final minute.

(Second half shot chart courtesy of the CBSSports.com Gametracker)

Up next for Iowa State is a game against TCU in Ames on Saturday before a rematch with Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse next Monday. The Longhorns play Baylor in Waco on Saturday.

Hey, that's a good win: North Carolina bounces back from a sloppy start to beat Syracuse

North Carolina had 20 turnovers, including 13 in the first half, but shot itself back into the game in the second half and pulled away from Syracuse for a 93-83 victory. The Orange, lacking depth and consistent play at the point guard position, ran with the high-scoring Heels in the first half thanks to easy buckets off turnovers forced by their 2-3 zone. Trevor Cooney had a green light to shoot and finished with 28 points on 26 field-goal attempts, while Rakeem Christmas added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Michael Gbinije and Tyler Roberson each finished in double figures as well, but were limited by foul trouble during the crucial final minutes of the second half. Syracuse played pretty well most of the game, but this team doesn't have the reinforcements to sustain foul trouble with only six players in the regular rotation. 

After trailing by five at halftime, the Tar Heels scored 58 points on 62.1 percent shooting in the second half. Marcus Paige got hot (22 points), Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson were getting good looks inside and even Nate Britt chipped in with a career-high four three-pointers on the way to a 17-point performance. This was a very good win for North Carolina with Louisville and Virginia up next on the schedule.

TONIGHT'S TOP PLAYERS

1. Trevor Cooney's 10-of-26 shooting might not emphasize the sharpshooter's apparent self-confidence in the Dean Dome on Monday, so let's try this: Jonny Flynn once had 24 field-goal attempts in a game for the Orange, but that game took six overtimes to complete. On a more serious note, Cooney and Rakeem Christmas both played every minute of the up-tempo game and continue to have great individual seasons in the midst of an up-and-down year for Syracuse.

2. Texas opened the game in a zone defense against Iowa State, and the many talents of Georges Niang were able to shine as the facilitator of Cyclones offense from the middle. Niang, somewhat quiet in conference play, was the driving force behind the offense and finished the game with a team-high 19 points.

3. North Carolina had four players with 17 points or more against Syracuse, but two stood out for what it might mean moving forward. Brice Johnson had 17 points and 11 rebounds after going 5-for-5 from the field in the second half and Nate Britt not only shot well from outside (4-for-5 from deep) but was effective as a point guard, allowing Paige to play off the ball in the offense.

Paige did finish with six rebounds and eight assists to go with 22 points to lead the Tar Heels.

4. Alabama A&M guard Ladarius Tabb was one of the high scorers for the evening. Tabb had 33 points and 12 rebounds and accounted for more than a third of the entire team's field goal attempts in a 78-66 win against Alcorn State.

5. Texas guard Jevan Felix had another strong shooting night off the bench, leading the Longhorns with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting to pair with a team-high eight assists.

Numbers to figure

10-of-15: Texas' three-point shooting in the second half against Iowa State after going 0-for-7 in the first half. Jevan Felix had four treys, Jonathan Holmes had three and Connor Lammert added two in the Longhorns' comeback effort.

.500: Syracuse's projected ACC winning percentage, according to KenPom.com, after the loss to North Carolina. The Orange jumped up the ACC standings early in the conference schedule with wins over Florida State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and others. The Orange fell to 5-3 with the loss and still have two games against Duke, Louisville, Virginia and Notre Dame left on the slate. The Orange is projected to finish 9-9 in ACC play and 18-13 overall and need to get at least one or two upsets down the stretch to help its NCAA tournament chances.

Other outcomes blipping the radar:

  • There was a crazy finish in the MEAC with Delaware State trying to end North Carolina Central's unbeaten start to conference play. Trailing 55-53 with 4.4 seconds left, Delaware State's Amere May missed a 3-point attempt to win the game. Eagles fans had just begun to celebrate NCCU's 10th straight win when it became clear that officials had called a foul on the attempt and sent May to the line with 0.4 seconds on the clock. May made the first free throw, but missed the final two as NCCU escaped with a 55-54 win.
  • Our friends at CBS Sports Network had another tight finish on Monday night with Army beating American 68-66. Tanner Plomb was stroking it from outside for the Black Knights, now 13-6 and tied for second place in the Patriot League.
  • Florida A&M dropped to 0-20 after losing 72-65 at home to Maryland-Eastern Shore. The Rattlers trailed by four in the final minutes but could not notch their first win of the season.
  • There was no upset scare for Valparaiso on Monday night. Valpo led 39-16 at half, shot 56.3 percent from the field and improved to 19-4 in the 73-48 victory.

Miscellanea, etc. ...

-- Akron will hold a “Purple Out” on Tuesday night with Ball State in town to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. The Star Press writes that it will be an emotional night for Ball State assistant Danny Peters, son of longtime college hoops assistant Dan Peters. Peters’ battle with pancreatic cancer ended just as the college basketball season began, and his career will be honored by Akron with Danny in town for the game.

-- Jim Boeheim is willing to look anywhere for help with his depth issues, and I mean anywhere

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