Missouri has an answer for Iowa State's spree

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Missouri coach Quin Snyder dispensed with inspiration during a lengthy second-half drought and told his team it was soft.

Shock treatment did the trick for the Tigers, who beat Iowa State 62-59 on Saturday in a Big 12 opener filled with huge momentum swings. Missouri survived a 12 1/2-minute span without a basket by ending the game on a 17-2 run.

Before that, Snyder said, the Tigers had no focus.

"They're not thinking about the moment and what we need to do to win; they're thinking who knows what," Snyder said. "Thinking about what we had for breakfast, should I wear my socks high or lower and what the hell else? I know we're not thinking about our team and we're not thinking about defense, and if we don't do those things we're really common."

Jimmy McKinney scored four of his 10 points in the final 27 seconds for Missouri (9-5, 1-0 Big 12). Jason Conley had 13 points, Linas Kleiza had 12 points and nine rebounds and Jason Horton had 12 points.

"I challenged them, and I thought they responded," Snyder said. "They challenged each other."

The Tigers endured a 28-4 Iowa State run that transformed a 12-point lead into a 12-point deficit with 4:34 to go, then it was all Missouri the rest of the way.

"It was crazy," Kleiza said. "It was real crazy. Practice is going to be tough, but we did it."

McKinney scored on a spinning shot in the lane with 27 seconds left to put Missouri ahead for good at 60-59 although he missed a chance at a three-point play. He added two free throws with 13 seconds left.

"We were kind of soft," McKinney said. "At some point in time we started turning the ball over and letting them get drives to the bucket and all of the easy-type stuff, then he got on us a little bit in the huddle and we picked it up from there."

Iowa State (8-4, 0-1) had two chances in the final seconds. Curtis Stinson turned it over near the Cyclones' bench with 16.8 seconds to go and reserve John Neal missed a 3-pointer with one second left.

Stinson had 22 points for Iowa State, which has lost 26 straight Big 12 road games dating to February 2001. Will Blalock added 12 points, five assists and four steals.

Iowa State is 0-4 on the road this season.

"We had a great chance to win on the road in the conference and it slipped away," Cyclones coach Wayne Morgan said. "Mighty Casey has struck out. Everybody in Mudville is sad."

Missouri won its eighth straight conference home opener and its fifth in six games overall this season, despite committing 20 turnovers, one off its season worst, against Iowa State's sticky zone defense. At times during the drought, the Tigers struggled just to get a shot off.

Missouri led by as many as 13 points early in the second half before going cold.