Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey (3) gets possession of the ball around Cincinnati Bearcats’ guard Jizzle James (2) during the first half in the Big-12 men’s basketball at Hilton Coliseum on Feb. 15, 2025 in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
As we approach March, one thing has become abundantly clear.
Iowa State has got to stop turning the ball over. The Cyclones recorded 18 turnovers for the second time in the last five games in their 81-70 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, and really allowed the Bearcats to hang around despite a 30-11 advantage on the free throw line.
Turnovers in the last 5 games – Iowa State MBB
18 vs. K-State (L, 80-61)
5 @ Kansas (L, 69-52)
14 vs. TCU (W, 82-52)
9 @ UCF (W, 77-65)
18 vs. Cincy (W, 81-70)
Granted the high amount of turnovers cost the Cyclones only once in the stretch, it’s become a troubling trend – one that will cost them against the great teams in March.
And for the optimists, Curtis Jones putting down a 12-12 line at the free throw line was another extraordinary part to what will be remembered by most as a routine win.
.@CycloneMBB players to go 12-12 or better from FT line in Big 12 era:
14-14 – Martin Rancik vs M’side (11/21/00)
13-13 – Jake Sullivan vs St Louis (11/23/01)
13-13 – Rasir Bolton vs TCU (2/9/21)
12-12 – Curtis Jones, today— Chris Andringa (@cjandringa) February 15, 2025
This team remains pretty special.
We’re in the homestretch of the 2024-25 season…
…and this week may be more important than the next pair of the regular seasons for each of the basketball teams.
I’ve said ad nauseum in this column that it can matter as much when you lose rather than who you lose to.
Go back to last year when Iowa State threw out a 28-point beatdown on the No. 1 ranked Houston Cougars in the Big 12 championship, yet still didn’t get one of the more favorable No. 2 spots in the NCAA Tournament.
This goes for both teams, but I believe I’m calling this right – wins on Saturday against Houston for the men and against Baylor for the women would pay the largest amount of dividends on the remainder of the perspective schedules.
Iowa State MBB remaining schedule
Feb. 18 | Colorado (10-15, 1-13)
Feb. 22 | @ No. 6 Houston (21-4, 13-1)
Feb. 25 | @ Oklahoma State (12-13, 4-10)
Mar. 01 | No. 13 Arizona (17-8, 11-3)
Mar. 04 | BYU (17-8, 8-6)
Mar. 08 | @ K-State (13-12, 7-7)
Iowa State WBB remaining schedule
Feb. 19 | Houston (5-20, 1-13)
Feb. 22 | @ No. 25 Baylor (22-5, 12-2)
Feb. 25 | @ UCF (9-15, 2-12)
Mar. 02 | No. 14 K-State (24-3, 12-2)
The women earned their third-straight win Saturday, handily beating Kansas on the road while hitting 16 three’s and getting 20 points out of Emily Ryan.
That’s the recipe for success for that group and if they can execute it Saturday, they’ll have a major opportunity to take themselves off of the bubble.
Hey @TommyBirch & @cfchangs9 this is where Charlie Cream has the ISU women in his latest bracket. pic.twitter.com/L7ondlDyUU
— Sean (@sean_janko) February 17, 2025
Don’t miss this Otz clip
Iowa State’s coach went off for 8 minutes about his team on Thursday during his media availability. It’s easy to see the passion he has, and easy to forget for some on social media after the team loses a game. Give it a watch if you haven’t already.
Live in the Moment.#Cyclones | #C5C pic.twitter.com/AggEgIsJys
— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) February 13, 2025
Iowa State lands an international big
Iowa State earned a late commitment to the 2025 class Thursday in a 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward out of Germany in Dominykas Pleta.
He’ll turn 21 in October and will come in as a sophomore with plenty of experience, playing in the top level of Germany’s national basketball league.
This rounds out a five-player recruiting class that was ranked at No. 15 in the country by 247 Sports (hasn’t been updated since Pleta’s commitment). It also contains a player at each position, with three four-stars and a very highly rated three-star.
Aside from Pleta, who doesn’t yet have a rating, each player ranks in the top 163 players in the class.
Here’s what T.J. Otzelberger had to say about it Monday.
𝙄𝙤𝙬𝙖 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙏.𝙅. 𝙊𝙩𝙯𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘿𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙮𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙖:
Otz gives props to Nate Schmidt for Iowa State’s success in bringing in international talent and talks about the impact Pleta (@dpleta_) can bring. pic.twitter.com/AtIqtTzNL8
— Connor Ferguson (@cfchangs9) February 17, 2025
You can read more on our interview with Pleta here, and view Iowa State’s scholarship chart here.
I’ll leave you with some quick hits. I’m not sure yet if this will be a weekly installment on this column, but I had some short thoughts on things in and outside of Ames this weekend.
Purdue will be making a trip to Ames in 2026, a year after the Cyclones visit Mackey Arena for the first leg of a new home-and-home series Iowa State has scheduled. This is great for the sport and in a world where we can’t even get in-state football rivals in some spots to face off. It’s a great sign of how far Otzelberger has taken this program.
Speaking of College Football, it sounds like the SEC and Big 10 are gaining a lot of momentum to secure four spots in the College Football Playoff once it’s reshaped again. It’s growing more likely the CFP will expand with those parameters 2026. Josh Pate had this on his Sunday night show.
College basketball officials, and specifically Tony Padilla, have got to swallow their pride. Watching refs hear words from an athlete and turning immediately to hand them a personal foul – and the other team, two free shots at the basket – has had me frustrated beyond belief for years. I grew up in hockey, and have never seen a ref nor have been taught to penalize a player for not liking a call. Explain it, have a conversation, and move on.
Iowa State wrestling had great win over No. 11 South Dakota State on Friday. With a number of key wrestlers injured or hampered with sicknesses, they grabbed back-to-back wins over top 15 opponents before dropping Sunday’s road match to a No. 4 UNI squad that is as stout as they’ve been in a long time. Kevin Dresser’s got a deep team that ain’t giving up.
All Star Games are out. The NHL manufactured a best-on-best international tournament, entirely leaving out Russia and Alex Ovechkin (who’s in the midst of chasing/breaking Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record right now), but they still blew the sports world up Saturday night with USA-Canada starting with three fights in the first nine seconds. The players cared and it kicked ass. That’s two things that haven’t been said about an All-Star event in a decade sans the game NBA guys gave effort in to honor Kobe Bryant and a few NASCAR events – and even some of those were widely disliked. I don’t see how the NHL goes back next year.
Since it was Daytona 500 weekend, and William Byron put that beautiful No. 24 back in victory lane for the second-straight year in the Great American Race, I figured I’d leave this here as it’s the best representation of what Kansas has turned into that I’ve seen yet.
Houston to Kansas 💔 pic.twitter.com/8dR1fFWIMo
— Another KU Burner (@KUBurner) February 15, 2025
