Led by Nathan Adrian's career-best 23 points, No. 7 West Virginia sent Iowa State's crowd home early during an 85-72 victory in Ames, Iowa.

Reserve guard Tarik Phillip added 15 points and Esa Ahmad scored 14 for the Mountaineers (18-4, 6-3 Big 12), who had six players score eight or more. They claimed sole possession of third place in the conference, remaining two games behind Baylor and Kansas, who meet Wednesday night.

"This keeps us in the hunt," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "It keeps us relevant in terms of the regular-season championship."

Though Matt Thomas scored 19 on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range to pace Iowa State (13-8, 5-4), offensive catalyst Monte Morris was held to eight points on 4-of-14 shooting with only two assists.

West Virginia's Jevon Carter led the defensive emphasis on Morris, which often included traps, so Iowa State used forward Deonte Burton as a facilitator. He scored 11 points and dished out 10 assists but also committed five of the Cyclones' 16 turnovers.

After shooting 56 percent in the opening half, the Cyclones tailed off to 28 percent in the second half and suffered their third home loss this season, something that hadn't occurred since 2011.

"I don't think there were a ton of contested shots," Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said. "I thought we had some open 3s and layups that we (typically) make."

Adrian made 7-of-10 shots in eclipsing his biggest output since scoring 22 in a Jan. 10 upset of Baylor. The senior forward grabbed 11 rebounds for his second career double-double.

While West Virginia never trailed during the final 37 minutes, the margin was only 56-52 before Adrian hit a corner 3 with 10:22 left. That started the Mountaineers on a 14-3 spurt.

"Nate's been a heck of a player," Huggins said. "It's not easy to be on the front of that press. How many 6-9 guys can sit down and stay in front of Monte Morris and the people he stays in front of?

"And when you think that's the best thing he does, he goes out and gets you double-figure rebounds and scores 23 points."

Iowa State, the Big 12 leaders in 3-point attempts, made 10 of 26, but West Virginia countered by going 10 of 21 from deep, including back-to-back banked-in 3s by reserve guard Beetle Bolden during a brief first-half appearance. Moments later Daxter Miles banked in another 3.

"They made them, so they count," Prohm said. "You've got to just keep playing."

After West Virginia bolted to a 21-9 lead, the game tightened up to 44-40 at halftime. But the deeper Mountaineers held their ground throughout thanks to a 35-20 edge in bench scoring.

Morris was coming off a 25-point performance Saturday at Vanderbilt but struggled from the opening possession when he coughed up the ball to a Carter-Adrian double-team at midcourt.

"I really believe that (Carter) is as good a defensive guard as there is in a country," Huggins said. "He doesn't get the national acclaim for whatever reason."

NOTES: The 13-point margin marked Iowa State's most lopsided loss at Hilton Coliseum since 2010, when it fell to Kansas 84-61. ... Iowa State was averaging 10 turnovers this season, sixth-fewest in Division I. Cyclones G Naz Mitrou-Long fouled out with 10 points after matching his career high of five turnovers. ... Mountaineers G Jevon Carter entered as the national leader in steals with 3.05 per game. ... Against the RPI top 50, West Virginia improved to 5-1 while Iowa State fell to 2-7.