Mar 16, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey (3) shoots the ball against the Houston Cougars in the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports
OMAHA, Neb. — Tamin Lipsey doesn’t dwell on last season’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Pitt. Instead, Iowa State’s first-team All-Big 12 sophomore guard feeds off of it.
“Definitely,” said Lipsey, whose second-seeded Cyclones will face 15th-seeded South Dakota State in Thursday’s 6:35 p.m. first-round NCAA Tournament game at the CHI Health Center Arena. “Just knowing that all the returners are disappointed in the performance a year ago and knowing we get a new opportunity this year to go out and make a difference and sort of correct our mistakes of last year, and just go out there and enjoy the moment and go out there and win.”
ISU (27-7) rolled through the Big 12 Tournament en route to its first title since 2019. The Cyclones beat Kansas State by 19 points, Baylor by 14 points, then drubbed No. 1 seed Houston by 28 points to enter the tournament on as hot a streak as anyone in the country.
More importantly for ISU, freshman forward Milan Momcilovic rediscovered his outside shooting stroke, as expected, by sinking 7 of his 14 3-point attempts in the wins over the Bears and Cougars.
“Every time (in practice) it was always just, ‘I’ve gotta start making shots sometime soon,’” said Momcilovic, who despite his prolonged slump is still shooting a solid 35.9 percent from long range. “It was always something I was thinking about, really, so I guess it’s good on the mental side more just to have (good) thoughts and to be playing with confidence.”
That’s the headspace all the Cyclones appear to be in right now — confident, loose and poised to make a run. But the tournament’s also called “March Madness” for good reason, and even the hottest teams can be sent packing early on.
“Just going out every game knowing that it could be the last of the season and the last of (seniors such as Tre King, Hason Ward, and Robert Jones’) careers, so just not leaving anything behind when we go out (there),” Lipsey said. “And obviously for the ones that can return, going out and giving a little bit of extra fight, just digging deeper for those guys who can’t return.”
As for Momcilovic — who like Lipsey last year, is a tournament newbie — his mentality on the court hasn’t changed. He wants the ball in his hands at critical moments that may or may not come against South Dakota State, but most certainly will sometime down the road if ISU can advance.
“We see his shotmaking ability every day in practice and in games and obviously the media shine (a light) on the little slump that he had, but we see his work ethic and everything that he does, so it’s great to see what he did in the Big 12 tournament and how he was shooting the ball,” Lipsey said. “We’re all confident in that and just gonna keep feeding him on my part.”
That’s music to Momcilovic’s ears, but it’s also nothing new. When he’s shooting well, the Cyclones seem to be upset-proof, which means the synergy between him and ISU’s backcourt must remain dynamic if the team’s to drive deeper into March than it did last season.
“I respect the guards a ton just because they give me a lot of the open shots I get,” Momcilovic said. “I just respect them so much because they do so much for me. I have to move the ball because they create a lot of the attention, so when they drive, I’ve just gotta move without the ball because they’re gonna get two (defenders) to the ball a lot of times, so just moving without the ball is something I’ve gotta do to help the guards out.”
