AMES, Iowa Greg McDermott didn't even have to pause to think about it.
"The strangest game I've ever been a part of," the Iowa State basketball coach declared.
McDermott had just seen the Cyclones rally from what might have been the worst first half ever played by a Big 12 team to beat Nebraska 60-52 on Saturday.
Iowa State's first half: 11 points, 15 turnovers, 19 percent shooting.
Iowa State's second half: 49 points, no turnovers, 58 percent shooting.
Go figure.
"I think it was everybody being more focused in the second half," ISU's Sean Haluska said. "We talked about 15 turnovers. That was a horrible number. I think you saw everybody be a lot more patient out there. I think our shots came from being patient."
Haluska, who had been averaging only 2.2 points, and Jiri Hubalek led Iowa State (14-12, 4-7 Big 12) with 12 points each. Both scored all of their points in the second half.
Rahshon Clark added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Cyclones, who rallied after trailing 24-11 at halftime to break a four-game losing streak. Bryan Petersen scored nine and made three steals.
Iowa State's leading scorer for the season, Wesley Johnson, had been sick the past three days and finished with just four points in 14 minutes.
"It wasn't their guys who had been scoring that much," Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. "It was guys that complement them that made the difference."
The big second half saved the Cyclones from what would have been a major downer. Iowa State celebrated 100 years of basketball this weekend and honored its all-century team. Dozens of former players were in the crowd of 14,376.
"We needed to get this win today, more than anything because of the celebration that was going on," McDermott said. "(A loss) really would have put a damper on everybody's festivities. So I'm glad we were able to figure out a way to come out and win."
Nebraska (14-9, 3-7) had been seeking its first season sweep of Iowa State since 1998. But the Cornhuskers failed to put the Cyclones away while they were struggling, then shot only 38 percent in the second half and couldn't answer Iowa State's runs.
Cookie Miller led Nebraska with 14 points and Aleks Maric had his sixth straight double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
But Maric shot only 4-for-10 after averaging 19.4 points in the previous five games.
"The first thing we talked about (at halftime) was the first five minutes of the second half would be the most important," Sadler said. "It was not that they scored. It was that they scored by us making mistakes."
Iowa State started the second half with a 19-3 run that included three inside buckets by Hubalek and a pair of 3-pointers from Petersen. The Cyclones were so efficient that they needed only 4:17 in the second half to match their entire first-half point total.
The 11 points were the fewest in a half for a Big 12 team since the league was formed in 1996. The previous low had been 12.
"Every player knew what a big day this is for the organization," Hubalek said. "We maybe came out a little too excited and rushed some shots. I thought it was good looks, but we just could not make it happen.
"Then we just gathered ourselves, knew what we had to do, executed better and we came out with a victory."
Once Iowa State got the lead on Haluska's 3-pointer with 12:14 remaining, the Cyclones never gave it up. His 3 capped a 9-1 run that made it 39-30 and he hit another big 3 to put ISU up 51-44 with 2:11 left.
The Cyclones hit nine of 10 free throws in the final 1:24 to nail it down.
Haluska, a junior college transfer, started the season 0-for-26 from 3-point range. He was 3-for-3 on Saturday and also hit a jumper early in the second half when the Cyclones were leading by only a point.
"The biggest thing is just getting in and shooting shots with our off time when we're not practicing," said Haluska, who's eight of his last 13 from beyond the arc. "All the coaches do a great job of sticking around whenever we need to get shots up.
"It's important for everybody on the team to keep coming in and getting shots up when we can."
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