Battle marquee belongs to No. 6 Iowa State, No. 5 Marquette

One of the big ones in the Big 12-Big East battle takes place in Ames, where No. 6 Iowa State welcomes No. 5 Marquette in an early season headliner Wednesday night.The Cyclones (5-1) had a week of rest upon returning from the Maui Invitational with a 2-1 record. The lone blemish was a back-and-forth cliffhanger that eventually went to eventual champion Auburn (83-81), which landed at No. 2 in the latest Top 25 poll.In Hawaii, the Cyclones beat Dayton 89-84 and handled Colorado, winning 99-71.Milan Momcilovic led Iowa State with 24 points and six other Cyclones scored in double-figures, including 19 from Curtis Jones, in the finale against the Buffaloes.”I think we grew up a lot in these three days,” Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Throughout the season, you have to handle adversity. You have to handle success. We were fortunate here from that perspective to have to fight through both.”Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey shifted his focus to the Golden Eagles immediately after the final buzzer.”Obviously the goal here is to win it all and go 3-0. Came up a little bit short, but 2-1 with this great field of great teams, nothing to be sad about. Good time to get some rest heading into Marquette, looking forward to that game and preparing and getting healthy.”Marquette (8-0) is off to its best start to a season since 2011-12, when the Golden Eagles were 10-0 before Christmas. They last played Saturday, handling Western Carolina 94-62 at home.National Player of the Year candidate Kam Jones led the way with 20 points, 10 assists and six boards. Ben Gold added 12 points with four assists.”I thought our guys had some moments where we really executed the way we wanted to be,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “But then we had other moments where we weren’t as sharp or aggressive as we needed to be.”

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