Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in his college debut to help propel Iowa State to an easy 85-44 victory over Green Bay on Monday night in the season opener for both schools in Ames, Iowa.
Keshon Gilbert, a transfer from UNLV, added 17 points for the Cyclones in the wire-to-wire win. Tre King recorded 13 points and eight rebounds and Tamin Lipsey had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Iowa State (1-0).
Momcilovic missed just one 3-point attempt while going 6-of-9 overall from the field and collecting seven rebounds.
Noah Reynolds scored 14 points and Foster Wonders added 11 to lead Green Bay (0-1), which played its first game under new coach Sundance Wicks. The Phoenix went 3-29 last season.
Iowa State connected on 47 percent of its shots, including 8 of 18 from 3-point range. Omaha Biliew, the McDonald’s All-American who is considered the top recruit the Cyclones have ever landed, got in early foul trouble and had just four points in 14 minutes before fouling out of his college debut.
Green Bay shot just 28.3 percent from the field and was 8 of 33 from behind the arc. The Phoenix committed 16 turnovers to Iowa State’s four.
Momcilovic scored 15 points on five 3-pointers in his first half with the Cyclones.
The freshman capped the splurge in style by banking in a buzzer-beating trey that gave Iowa State a 49-18 halftime lead.
The Cyclones shot 61.3 percent from the field in the half, while Green Bay struggled to 23.8 percent.
Momcilovic connected from 3-point range to end Iowa State’s game-opening 16-3 burst.
Iowa State later put together a 19-3 surge. Momcilovic concluded it with another 3-pointer to make it 35-9 with 5:40 left.
The Cyclones didn’t rest on their 31-point halftime lead as they scored the first six points of the second half to make it 55-18 on Gilbert’s layup.
The Iowa State lead reached 40 when Biliew made two free throws to make it 65-25 with 13:29 remaining.
Momcilovic drained his sixth 3-pointer to push the lead to 71-29 with 9:51 left.
The lead topped out at 46 points.
–Field Level Media