Iowa State cyclones guard Keshon Gilbert (10) looks for a shot around Marquette Golden Eagles’ forward David Joplin (23) and guard Chase Ross (2) during the first half in the NCAA men’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
AMES — Iowa State senior guard Keshon Gilbert stood bloodied, his split nose covered with clotting cream.
The Hilton Coliseum roared as the star senior point guard reentered Wednesday’s bruising and skin-breaking Big 12-Big East challenge game between the No. 6 Cyclones and fifth-ranked Marquette — and his usual No. 10 jersey had been swapped out for a crisp and clean No. 51.
But had he ever worn that number before at any level?
“No, sir,” said Gilbert, who scored a game-high 24 points as ISU (6-1) outlasted the previously unbeaten Golden Eagles, 81-70, before a sellout crowd of 14,267.
Fittingly, the most famous and gritty Cyclone to wear that number recently was forward Jared Homan, who pounded the glass and clobbered opposing players in the mid-2000s. On Wednesday, Gilbert sliced and diced his way into the paint with abandon, scoring 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting in the first half. He also went 8-for-8 from the free throw line and doled out a team-best seven assists.
“It’s really difficult to (stop him),” said Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart, whose team hadn’t surrendered more than 74 points to opponents this season. “I mean, nobody’s done it yet. Every team that Iowa State’s played, I’m sure, has had the game plan of, ‘OK, we’ve gotta keep this guy out of the paint.’ And he keeps getting into the paint. I think it starts with how he is in transition. If you’re really, really greedy in a good way — we always say, be greedy in a good way — about getting in the paint, then you’ve got to fight to go in there before the defense is set, and he’s doing a phenomenal job of that.”
Transfer forward Joshua Jefferson added 15 points and 12 rebounds for ISU, and fellow transfer big man Dishon Jackson chipped in 11 points, seven boards and two blocked shots. Jefferson’s end-to-end fastbreak spin move for a layup that resulted in a three-point play provided the highlight answer to Marquette’s 10-0 run in the second half that lad made the score 61-61 with 9:06 left. Once Jefferson’s free throw dropped, the Cyclones led 71-61 — and the former St. Mary’s standout basked in the home crowd’s rousing cheers.
“I was like, ‘I’m really happy I came here,’” said Jefferson, who drained seven of his 10 field goal attempts. “I made the best decision for my future. It’s been great since (I got) here. It feels like home.”
ISU tacked on four more points to extend its win-sealing splurge to 14-0 and after the Golden Eagles’ Royce Parham interrupted the run with a mid-range jumper, the Cyclones’ Nate Heise drilled a 3-pointer. Heise had already greatly impacted the game with stern defense and a soaring first-half dunk, but he added a blocked shot late in the game for good measure.
“He was phenomenal,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said of Heise, who didn’t miss a shot while scoring seven points off the bench. “He was physical. He was competitive. He was tough. I thought Nate was a great difference-maker for us defensively down the stretch.”
Few Cyclones are tougher than Gilbert, who received the equivalent of a standing ovation from his teammates after he trotted out of the locker room cleaned up and cleared to retake the floor. It’s the second time this season his nose has been bloodied, and it likely won’t be the last — and he’s not just OK with that physicality. He’s built for it.
“I would say just growing up and having to work for everything, like, nothing was easy,” said Gilbert, whose averaged 22.5 points in ISU’s two matchups with top-five foes this season. “I ain’t gonna lie. But just growing up having to work and having challenge at a young age, that taught me to keep on fighting and never giving up.”
In turn, he’s lifting his teammates up, especially in the biggest games on the early-season schedule.
“He’s the engine that’s driving us right now,” Otzelberger said.
