Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey (3) steals the ball from Arizona Wildcats guard Jaden Bradley (0) during the second half in the Big-12 men’s basketball showdown at Hilton Coliseum on Saturday March 1, 2025 in Ames, Iowa. © Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The cascade of colored paper caught Tamin Lipsey in mid-celebration — a Big 12 Tournament champ, reveling in the ebullient energy pulsating through “Hilton South.”
Thousands of Iowa State fans roared last March at the T-Mobile Center, boisterously commemorating the Cyclones’ championship-cementing 69-41 win over top-ranked Houston. And Lipsey savored that confetti-strewn moment, letting his deep emotions linger before finally dissolving into preparation for the bigger tournament that followed.
“I’d say at each game we had more and more fans,” said Lipsey, who hopes to help No. 12 ISU reprise that crowning performance beginning with Wednesday’s 11:30 a.m. second-round Big 12 Tournament game against Cincinnati. “It just made it so much easier. We do have an advantage playing down here. It’s like Hilton South, like they say, and it definitely impacts how we play.”
So does senior guard Keshon Gilbert, who sat out three of the Cyclones’ (23-8) last five games of the regular season because of a muscle strain. The potent and disruptive St. Louis native returned to practice this week, however, and should be good to go on Wednesday and beyond.
“(He) felt great,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said of Gilbert, who leads his team in assists (4.6 per game) and ranks second in scoring (13.8 points). “I think when you’re returning from any injury there (are) things you have to work through. But he had a great mindset, mentality, focus, and had a great practice.”
It’s unlikely that Gilbert — who’s averaging a team-high 32.4 minutes per game — will be 100 percent health during the Big 12 or the NCAA Tournament, but his wide-ranging abilities on both ends of the floor greatly enhance his team’s hopes of repeating as conference tourney champs.
“It’s been amazing having Keshon back,” said Lipsey, who joined Gilbert and forward Milan Momcilovic on last season’s Big 12 All-Tournament team. “Just bringing that energy, the positivity to the group — and just having everyone on the court, it always makes (us) feel good.”
The fifth-seeded Cyclones (23-8) seek to cut down the nets at the T-Mobile Center two years in a row for the first time since 2014 and 2015, but will have to win four game in four days to accomplish that feat. That planned but arduous journey starts against a 13th-seeded Bearcats team (18-14) that played ISU tough about a month ago at Hilton Coliseum before falling, 81-70.
“It still comes down to us focusing on us being tough with the basketball, attacking the paint and the rim, being really aggressive offensively,” said Otzelberger, whose team ranks among the top-nine in defensive efficiency, forced turnovers percentage and steals percentage, according to KenPom. “Certainly the pressure we put on our opponents and turnover we can generate to go in transition — and then the rebounding battle is always going to be important.”
ISU’s 28-point win over the shorthanded Cougars in last year’s championship game was the most lopsided triumph over a No. 1-ranked team in 56 years. The Cyclones don’t expect the stars to align remotely like that again and enter this week’s tournament as more of a darkhorse contender instead of a secondary favorite. Still, to be at full strength — a rarity over the tumultuous past six weeks — bolsters their already-high confidence that with several thousand cardinal-and-gold clad fans’ help, the confetti can rain down again.
“I feel great and it’s fun,” said ISU senior guard Curtis Jones, who’s averaging a team-best 17 points per game. “This is the best time of the year. Even watching these (other) games in the hotel — these conference tournaments, the mid-majors and things like that, it’s just great games. So I’m enjoying it and looking forward to playing in it.”
As for Lipsey, an Ames native and lifelong Cyclone fan, he’s taking nothing for granted. Last season, a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery hampered him in March as his team surged to the Sweet 16. This season, it’s a fractured thumb, but it’s getting better every day.
“This is the best time to feel great,” ISU’s all-timer steals leader said. “This is the time that really matters. It’s win or go home from now on.”
