A budding super star doomed Iowa State in a loss to Kansas Wednesday night. Just minutes after Andrew Wiggins put No. 6 Kansas on his back, scoring six of his career-high 29 points in the defining moment of the game, Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg offered a glowing assessment of the star freshman.
“You can tell he’s oozing with confidence,” Hoiberg said Wednesday night after his 16th-ranked Cyclones lost 92-81, “and that’s scary.”
The nation’s No. 1 recruit, Wiggins has finally started to live up to his hype. He matched his 27-point performance in a win over TCU last weekend with a dunk that gave Kansas an 81-72 lead with just under 3 minutes remaining, and then added a couple free throws for his career high.
The freshman hit four 3-pointers and finished 10 of 16 from the field.
“I’m just starting to feel more comfortable,” Wiggins said.
It helped that he didn’t have to carry the load himself.
Perry Ellis added 20 points, Joel Embiid had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Naadir Tharpe finished with 12 points and 12 assists for the Jayhawks (16-4, 7-0 Big 12), who won their seventh straight game. Wayne Selden had 11 points and five assists.
“I’m not surprised at all because we got prepared to play these games,” Tharpe said. “It was a matter of time until everyone just went out there and started to play.”
Georges Niang led the Cyclones (15-4, 3-4) with 24 points. DeAndre Kane added 22 points and Melvin Ejim, battling foul trouble much of the game, finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
