McGee hits for three and more for surging Iowa State

Tyrus McGee has proved time and again why he was a top recruiting target for Iowa State men’s basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg.

It’s not only all the 3-pointers McGee makes – he does have 41 for the season – it’s some of the little things that make the biggest noises.

The Cyclones beat Oklahoma State 71-68 earlier this season at Hilton Coliseum on Scott Christopherson’s banked-in 30-footer at the buzzer. Christopherson's heroics were made possible by McGee. The junior college transfer McGee tied the game with a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining. He then made the play of the game as he stripped the ball from a Cowboy player with 4 seconds left to set up the win. McGee’s 17 points then tied a career-high and he also had a career-high nine rebounds in the contest.

McGee followed with a career-high 20 points against Texas Tech. He has made a 3-pointer in six consecutive games and had two previous six-game streaks earlier in the season.

“I saw him play at a JUCO event last year and he immediately became my number one target just because of the way he played,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said during Monday’s Big 12 teleconference. “He’s got a beautiful shooting stroke. I just loved his energy, approach to the game.”

“I love his effort, his intensity,” Hoiberg added. “He’s always talking out there, he’s vocal even when he’s on the bench. You hear him all the time watching the TV feed through the microphone.”

McGee, a first team All-American last year at Cowley County Community College, was second in NJCAA Division I in 3-pointers made last winter with 115 and was seventh in percentage behind the arc (.487).

His shooting stroke hasn’t missed a beat at ISU and the Cyclones are challenging for Big 12 supremacy

McGee is averaging 9 points per game as Iowa State’s sixth man and is shooting .446 from distance (41-for-92). That percentage ranks McGee third in the Big 12 and fifth on ISU all-time single season list.

With the Cyclones playing in McGee’s home state Tuesday against Oklahoma State, Iowa State enters the week only one game behind Big 12 leaders Baylor, Kansas and Missouri.

“We take care of business we’re going to be right there,” ISU’s Royce White said of the team’s title chances.

“I think that was our goal from the beginning and we’re sticking to that,” White added. .

The Cyclones will need more of McGee’s strong play Tuesday as they attempt to end a 16-game losing streak in Stillwater. Iowa State won for the first time in 18 games in the state of Oklahoma with last Saturday’s win over Oklahoma.

No one on the Cyclones’ roster was born yet when Iowa State last won at Oklahoma State – March 2, 1988. So far back that Hoiberg had yet to be known as The Mayor.