Feb 1, 2025; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger and assistant coach JR Blount react against the Kansas State Wildcats during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images
AMES — It started to feel automatic. Inevitable. So when sub-.500 Kansas State strolled into Hilton Coliseum early Saturday afternoon, fans felt the opposite of threatened. They fully expected the No. 3 Cyclones to easily extend their home winning streak to 30 games — and with little stress attached.
Instead, a waking nightmare ensued. The Wildcats out-toughed and outplayed ISU almost from start to finish in a shocking 80-61 rout that sent much of Hilton’s faithful shuffling toward the parking lots with a couple minutes remaining.
“I don’t think anyone expects that to happen in here,” said Cyclone point guard Tamin Lipsey, who led his team (17-4, 7-3) with 20 points. “Not us. Not the fans. So it sucks that it did happen, and we’re gonna figure out how and why it happened, and try to make (sure) that not happen again.”
Just how stunning Saturday’s outcome proved to be can be fleshed out in a couple of key numbers. Kansas State (10-11, 4-6) became the first under-.500 team to beat a top-five foe on the road by 15-plus points in the AP poll era, according to ESPN Stats and Info. The Wildcats had lost 15 consecutive road games. The Cyclones owned a 29-game home winning streak and opened as 15.5-point favorites.
So yeah, this is a head-scratcher to put it mildly. The Cyclones used an 11-0 second-half run to pull within six points, at 58-52, with 10:05 left, but Kansas State countered with a 10-2 splurge to seize back control.
“Extremely disappointing because the areas that we really focus to demand, especially the rebounding — the rebounding thing was the difference in the entire game,” said ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team was outrebounded, 39-29, and outscored 30-28 in the paint. “There’s a point in the game where it was 15-to-zero points in the paint, and that’s a care, that’s a pride, that’s a fight, that’s a physical (thing). And to me, that was indicative of our effort, our energy, and us not playing anywhere near our standard.”
At one point, the Wildcats had 10 offensive rebounds to the Cyclones’ one. And despite ISU getting out to an early 13-4 lead, Kansas State chipped away with grit and precision, eventually stitching together an 8-0 run to lead, 17-16, with 12:28 left in the first half. ISU trailed, 37-35, at halftime and allowed the Wildcats to score the first seven points of the second half. Otzelberger then called timeout — and later demonstrably protested a foul call to be issued a rare technical. So he pulled out all the stops to energize his team, but nothing worked long enough to prevent Saturday’s outcome.
“We put ourselves in a position when it was 58-52 to give (us) a chance,” Otzelberger said. “And then we let them score two baskets right away and separate again. So I was frustrated with a lot of things in that moment (the technical was called) — mostly the fact that we weren’t as good as we needed to be defensively. But I was frustrated with some other things, as well.”
Formerly hot-shooting guard Curtis Jones added 14 points for the Cyclones, but he made just one of his 10 field goal attempts in the second half.
“Still confident in it,” he said. “I believe it will go down next game, and in the games after that.”
But that — like a long winning streak — no longer feels automatic, nor inevitable.
“You’ve gotta be accountable to yourself first, and it’s gotta really matter to you,” Otzelberger said. “Today that wasn’t the case.”
