Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — Iowa tight end Noah Fant has 18 career touchdowns, the best in school history. Yet the Hawkeyes are mired in a three-game losing streak and Fant hasn’t caught a touchdown in four straight games. Coach Kirk Ferentz says Iowa is better if it can get the ball to Fant, a junior who is likely an NFL draft pick when he decides to leave school. Iowa is a 16-point favorite in Saturday’s game at Illinois.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Namon Wright scored 25 points and McKinley Wright IV added 17, helping Colorado pull away in the second half to beat Drake 100-71. Tyler Bey added nine points and 14 rebounds as the Buffaloes (1-0) moved to 9-0 in home openers under coach Tad Boyle.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer became the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games when the Scarlet Knights beat Central Connecticut State 73-44. Stringer joined Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell in the 1,000-victory club.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — No. 18 Iowa State will be without junior David Montgomery, one of its best players, for the first half of one of the bigger games in recent school history. How the Cyclones fare for 30 minutes without their star running back could decide whether they can stay alive for a spot in the Big 12 title game. Montgomery will miss the first two quarters of a showdown at No. 13 Texas on Saturday after being ejected for throwing a punch during last week’s win over Baylor.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday with another record on his resume and the Kansas City Chiefs another win toward earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. He didn’t have much chance to enjoy any of it. Mahomes quickly learned that the stepfather of his longtime girlfriend, Brittany Matthews, had died after a medical emergency during the game.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NFL has moved the Los Angeles Rams’ Monday night showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to the poor condition of the field at Azteca Stadium. The league made its decision just six days before one of the most-anticipated regular-season games of the year. Recent rains and several big events at Azteca combined to damage the field, and the league determined it was unplayable.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The NFL moved the Rams’ Monday night showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs from Mexico City to Los Angeles on Tuesday due to the poor condition of the field at Azteca Stadium.

The league announced the extraordinary decision six days before one of the most-anticipated regular-season games of the year.

In a news release, the league said it determined that the recently re-sodded field at Mexico City’s historic stadium “does not meet NFL standards for playability and consistency, and will not meet those standards by next Monday.”

The Rams (9-1) will host the Chiefs (9-1) at the Coliseum instead.

The decision creates a morass of logistical concerns for the teams and for fans traveling to Mexico, and it disappoints thousands of fans eager to see a marquee matchup. But the league consulted with the players’ association and local officials before deciding it couldn’t risk the players’ health on a damaged field.

“The combination of a difficult rainy season and a heavy multi-event calendar of events at the stadium have resulted in significant damage to the field that presents unnecessary risks to player safety and makes it unsuitable to host an NFL game,” said Mark Waller, the NFL’s executive vice president of international. “As a result, we have determined that moving the game is the right decision, and one that we needed to announce now in order to allow our teams and fans to make alternate arrangements.”

Azteca officials changed the playing surface from natural grass to a hybrid in May, but the turf hasn’t been ideal for several months. Concern about the field grew in recent days when aerial photos of the stadium showed serious damage to the grass, particularly on the end of the stadium recently used for a major concert.

Cruz Azul, the Liga MX soccer club that shares the stadium with Club America, played a tournament game on the field last Saturday in noticeably poor conditions. Coach Pedro Caixinha expressed concern, and the NFL continued working with groundskeepers to improve the field.

Azteca hosted the first regular-season game ever held outside the U.S. in 2005 when Arizona beat San Francisco. The stadium has hosted several NFL exhibitions, and the Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans and New England Patriots all played regular-season games there over the past two seasons.

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Iowa State running back David Montgomery and Baylor defensive end Greg Roberts will miss the first half of their teams’ games this week after the scuffle that led to their ejections in the second half of a testy game between the Cyclones and Bears. Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said Monday that his team wouldn’t appeal the penalty against Montgomery, who retaliated with a swing after Roberts reached over an official to throw a punch at the running back in 18th-ranked Iowa State’s 28-14 win Saturday. “The reality is, it’s an unfortunate situation,” Campbell said. “David is one of the great leaders of all time, and he responded to a negative situation. … Nobody’s more disappointed than David, but nobody has owned it as David.”

Montgomery, the second-leading rusher in the Big 12 at 96 yards per game, will miss the first half at No. 13 Texas in matchup of the two teams tied for third place in the Big 12, both a game behind co-leaders No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 West Virginia. Roberts will sit out the first half of Baylor’s home finale Saturday against rival TCU. Baylor coach Matt Rhule said he had apologized to Campbell and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Rhule described Roberts as “extremely apologetic” for what happened. “The minute we decide to throw a punch it affects so many other people,” Rhule said. “That’s what I told Greg.”

While the first-half suspensions for Montgomery and Roberts were automatic for fighting, Bears starting quarterback Charlie Brewer won’t have to serve any further penalty after being ejected in the fourth quarter Saturday because of his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Brewer drew a flag when he said something to an official after being marked short of a first down at the end of a running play. His ejection was automatic because it was his second unsportsmanlike penalty — each player on both teams had been assessed one following the earlier melee.

“Charlie is a competitor and he is trying to get a first down and he has to watch the rest of the game from the locker room. That was tough enough for him,” Rhule said. “I think we have learned a lot of lessons from Saturday night and we will have to remember that going forward.” The game Saturday took an ugly turn when Montgomery and Roberts briefly fought after things nearly came to blows when a previous play ended up spilling over onto Iowa State’s bench. The teams nearly staged a full-on brawl during a wild incident that included Roberts slapping Montgomery on the helmet, and Montgomery responded with swings of his own. “Certainly disappointed because that’s not football,” Campbell said. “Who started it, who didn’t start it, what the situation was, that’s irrelevant at this point. … There were some unfortunate times during that game where I think both teams, the cooler heads didn’t prevail.”

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State’s thin roster survived its opening home stand with three straight wins. Next up for the Cyclones, down four regulars because of injuries and suspensions, is a trip to Hawaii that should really test their mettle. Marial Shayok scored a career-high 26 points, freshman Talen Horton-Tucker had 26 as well and Iowa State held off Texas Southern 85-73 on Monday night. Nick Weiler-Babb posted 13 points with 13 rebounds for the Cyclones (3-0), who have Maui Invitational games next week against Arizona, either third-ranked Gonzaga or Illinois and then an opponent yet to be determined.

Shayok transferred from Virginia to play in a more free-flowing offense. Through three games, it looks like he made the right call. Shayok has been a focal point of Iowa State’s much improved attack, scoring at least 14 points in every contest. Shayok is averaging a team-high 20 points a game. The most hyped recruit in Iowa State’s latest class, Horton-Tucker had by far his best game in a Cyclones uniform. Horton-Tucker kept the Tigers at bay by hitting five 3s in the first half, and he finished 8 of 14 from the floor. Horton-Tucker also had five rebounds. “He’s a good player,” Prohm said. “He’s young. He’s going to have good games and he’s going to have bad games. He’s going to be up and down at times.”

Sophomore guard Lindell Wigginton, Iowa State’s top returning scorer, spoke with reporters before the game on Monday for the first time since straining his left foot — an injury that forced him into a hard cast. Wigginton said he hurt the foot late in Iowa State’s 79-53 win over Alabama State last week. “I really just landed wrong on my foot, and then I just felt a pop,” Wigginton said. “I tried to play through it, but I really couldn’t.” Wigginton said his foot had been bothering him but that he thought it was just sore. He’ll soon have his cast replaced by a boot, and Wigginton hopes to return sometime in December. But he’s not going to rush it, especially given his pro prospects. “He wants me to come back when I’m fully healed, 100 percent,” Wigginton said of Prohm.

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

UNDATED (AP) — Copycat league: NFL players might have run out of creative celebrations. Or they’re just paying homage to the players they grew up watching. Either way, they’re going old school in recreating some of the over-the-top celebrations of yesteryear.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Marial Shayok scored a career-high 26 points, freshman Talen Horton-Tucker had 26 as well and Iowa State handled Texas Southern 85-73 for its third straight win. Nick Weiler-Babb posted 13 points with 13 rebounds for the Cyclones (3-0), who next to Hawaii for Maui Invitational games against Arizona, either third-ranked Gonzaga or Illinois and then an opponent yet to be determined.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs defense has struggled most of the season, often getting bailed out by their big-play offense. But when Patrick Mahomes and Co. bogged down against Arizona on Sunday, it was the defense that rose to the occasion. They sacked Josh Rosen five times, picked him off twice and led Kansas City to a 26-14 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.

UNDATED (AP) — Iowa State running back David Montgomery and Baylor defensive end Greg Roberts will miss the first half of their teams’ games this week. They were in a scuffle that led to their ejections in the second half of a testy game between the Cyclones and Bears. Montgomery is the second-leading rusher in the Big 12. He will miss the first half of 18th-ranked Iowa State’s game at No. 13 Texas. Roberts will sit out the first half of Baylor’s home finale against rival TCU.

UNDATED (AP) — The Big 12 is down to four teams and two big head-to-head matchups to determine who will play in the conference championship game. Sixth-ranked Oklahoma or No. 7 West Virginia will play in the title game. That means they could play each other in consecutive weeks. They play each other in a regular season finale. No. 13 Texas and No. 18 Iowa State are also still in title contention. They play each other Saturday in Austin.

The Iowa State-Kansas State football game on Nov. 24 at Jack Trice Stadium will kickoff at either 6 or 7 p.m. CT.

The game will be televised by either FS1 (6 p.m. kick) or Fox (7 p.m. kick).

The Iowa Hawkeyes road game against the Illinois Fighting Illini will kickoff at 2:30pm this upcoming Saturday, November 17th. We’ll have coverage of the game from Champaign, Ill on the Hawkeye Radio Network with pregame underway at 12:30pm.

Jess Schaben

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State senior outside hitter Jess Schaben has been named the Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday afternoon. Schaben, who shares the title with Oklahoma setter Kylee McLaughlin this week, earned her first weekly award of the season, her second Offensive Player of the Week of her career and her eighth weekly award of her career across all three awards.

Schaben was the catalyst for the Cyclones in the two matches last week. At Baylor on Wednesday, Schaben notched a season-high 26 kills at .344 hitting along with eight digs and four blocks. In Saturday’s 3-1 win over West Virginia, Schaben followed that up with a match-high 22 kills and 18 digs, while also posting four more blocks in the victory.

For the week, the Defiance, Iowa native averaged 6.00 kills per set at .317 hitting percentage, 3.25 digs per set and 1.00 blocks per set. In Iowa State’s last nine matches, Schaben has over 10 kills in every match along with six double-doubles, averaging 4.25 kills and 2.97 digs per set in that stretch.

Schaben and the Cyclones are back in action on Wednesday night at Oklahoma. First serve between the Cyclones and Sooners will be at 7 p.m.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State continued its undefeated start to the campaign, defeating Northern Illinois 70-60 Sunday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones are now 2-0 on the season, advancing to the Preseason WNIT semifinals on Tuesday inside Hilton Coliseum. The Huskies are now 1-1 on the year.

The ISU effort was led by Bridget Carleton, with the senior getting a double-double for the second-straight contest en route to finishing with 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Kristin Scott came off the bench to contribute 15 points, 11 of which came in the first half. All 12 of Madison Wise’s points came in the second half.

How It Happened

Iowa State scored the first six points of the game and did not look back from there. Kristin Scott came off the bench with a strong cameo, running off seven-straight points as part of a 10-0 ISU run which opened the lead to 20-6.

The Cyclones were able to get production in the paint, as 30 of the home team’s 41 first-half points came in the paint. Scott’s 11 first-half points were vital to that, along with Inès Nezerwa coming off the bench to contribute four.

NIU came out of the locker room strong, cutting the ISU lead to single digits at 43-35, but the Cyclones got going from deep, as Bridget Carleton and Madison Wise hit 3-pointers as part of a 10-2 run to bring ISU’s lead back to 53-37.

The Cyclones were off to a slow start to begin the final quarter, which saw NIU cut the home side’s lead to single digits at 63-55. However, Wise put the game out of sight with a 3-pointer and a fast-break lay-up via a coast-to-coast run from Nezerwa to make it 68-55.

Up Next

Iowa State will play the winner of the New Mexico-Auburn game on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum. The game will be televised on Cyclones.TV Powered by Mediacom.