Mississippi forward Malik Dia (0) drives between Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic (22) and guard Tamin Lipsey (3) during the first half of their second round NCAA men’ s basketball tournament game Sunday, March 23, 2025 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Iowa State’s 2024-25 season came to a close on Sunday night in a disappointing loss to Ole Miss.
For as much excitement as their was for both Iowa State hoops teams at points this year, it ends in first weekend exits and the eyes will turn to the transfer portal – which opens today.
‘This is March,’ has turned into ‘That’s March.’
Ole Miss made their shots
“He just talked about being a person and how you come back from this,” Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic said in the postgame locker room interview. “What you do every day and how you be consistent. He talked about just thanking (Brandt Chatfield, Curtis Jones, and Conrad Hawley). Obviously, it was not the way we wanted to play tonight. Credit to them, they played amazing. It’s just more fuel to the fire for me.”
I feel like the ‘credit to insert opposing team’ can be overused – sometimes it’s just not your night, and that was exactly what happened in this one.
Ole Miss went 11-19 from the 3-point line in this game – that’s 57 percent. The Rebels were a 33 percent shooting team coming into the game, and they just couldn’t miss.
Meanwhile, Momcilovic was an uncharacteristic 1-8 from three and 2-12 from the field.
“On offense, I couldn’t hit a shot,” Momcilovic said. “Just playing like this – it’s tough. It’s tough to not perform at the highest moment. Obviously, I want to play very well in the tournament. It’s tough when I miss a lot of shots, but it’s just about getting right back to work, and hopefully I play a lot better in these games.”
I don’t want to spend too much time on that game – let’s talk about the season and all of that hope.
This really felt like it could be ‘a year‘
Iowa State reached No. 2 in the country and it felt like every single cylinder was firing smoothly, with no end in sight.
My friend, Ben Swanson, put it really well during the Big 12 football championship game but I think the analogy fits this basketball team even more.
it happened again https://t.co/FhAYmAZBxc pic.twitter.com/zOSChOhvhV
— ben (@bj_swanny) March 24, 2025
It’s disappointing, and it should be.
That’s not how anyone wants the careers of Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert – two all-time Cyclones – to end.
This group was playing at levels we haven’t seen in Ames from the end of November in Maui to that Kansas game at Hilton.
But again, that’s March. No matter how oversimplified people online want to say it is, winning NCAA Tournament games is not easy.
Looking ahead
Here’s where Iowa State stands moving forward. The players listed in italics averaged less than ten minutes per game, and the bolded names set to join the team from the latest recruiting class – all of which are 4-star recruits, minus Pleta, who does not yet have a rating from 247 Sports.
2025-26 MBB Roster
Tamin Lipsey, Sr.
Joshua Jefferson, Sr.
Nate Heise, Sr.
Dishon Jackson, Sr.
Milan Momcilovic, Jr.
Cade Kelderman, Jr.
Demarion Watson, Sr.
Nojus Indrusaitis, So.
J.T. Rock, So.
Kayden Fish, So.
Dominykas Pleta, So. forward
Killyan Toure, Fr. point guard
Jamarion Batemon, Fr. guard
Xavion Mitchell, Fr. forward
It was great to hear from the Nate Heise, Joshua Jefferson and Momcilovic that they’ll be back next season and I’d anticipate the other two guys listed at the top will return.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out how Nate Heise ended the season, too. Some ‘fans’ had left him for dead, and Heise put his head down and hooped. That was cool.
A salute to Emily Ryan, the captain
The Iowa State women were downed by Michigan in the Round of 64. They’ll go to the portal again, and hope to hit more than they missed on last year’s off-season.
But I want to take a few lines from this and give a salute to Emily Ryan.
College teams have their captains, and they all fit different roles.
I think back to Alex Ovechkin during his Stanley Cup year and David Ross on the World Series Cubs. They put up drastically different numbers on the statbooks but led their teams as well as anyone.
And still, I don’t think there’s one player that I’ve covered that exemplifies leadership and the word ‘captain,’ more than Emily.
She will be missed, and I have no doubt she will be a successful coach no matter where she ends up.
The quick hits
For the first time in a long time, March lacked the madness.
Every 1-4 seed won its first round game for the first time since 2017. It’s the first time since 2007 that the Sweet 16 has no teams seeded No. 11-16. The remaining programs in the tournament each come from the ‘power 4’ conferences. The closest thing to a ‘Cinderella’ that we have left is a team out of the SEC coached by John Calipari.
Spare me the “well, actually we have more elite matchups now.” That’s great, and I’m sure the games will be good, but that’s never been what separated this event on the sports calendar.
It feels too simple to blame NIL or the transfer portal with such a small sample size – and a definitive outlier to previous years – but neither is bringing a lot of hope right now.
Sean Miller left Xavier for the second time after losing to Xavier in the round of 64.
When Miller was left without a job, Xavier was there to bring him back with open arms. Reading his quotes leading up to this and fans’ tweets – this wasn’t at all expected. It’s just another reminder of what college sports looks like now.
Oh, and Drake coach Ben McCollum is headed to Iowa. After the most successful season in program history in the modern era, Drake AD Brian Hardin will look for a third coach in the same amount of years, and try to go 4-4 on great hires. It seems inevitable that star point guard Bennett Stirtz will follow, as well.
College basketball, baby.
The best moment from the weekend came in Maryland’s win over Colorado State.
Derik Queen hit the big shot and had a great postgame interview afterwards.
“I said ‘who wants the ball’ and he said ‘Give me the MFIN ball” – Kevin Willard
When asked where he gets that confidence from Derik Queen said:
“I’m from Baltimore.”
pic.twitter.com/uOaqq4aMa1— Mark Titus Show (@MarkTitusShow) March 24, 2025
I visited Baltimore for a wedding last year and saw firsthand all of the pride they have for that area of hoopers. I feel bad for former UNI Panther Bowen Born, but the opposite for Niko Medved.
Former Cyclone basketball stars Tyrus McGee, Dustin Hogue and Bridget Carleton won championships over the weekend. McGee and Hogue won a title as teammates and Carleton captured her during the WNBA off-season. More on them later this week.
Two Cyclones @CycloneMBB Cup Champs!!!! @DustinHogue1 @IowaStateSport pic.twitter.com/MavS355bv7
— Tyrus McGee (@T_Real25) March 22, 2025
this was fun…🏆 pic.twitter.com/pscaFsNhV8
— Bridget Carleton (@bridgecarleton) March 24, 2025
I’ll say it every year until it happens, but NCAA Wrestling needs to get with the times. Get off of March Madness weekend. There’s no reason to go up against it and the cool stories that we see get overlooked each and every year.
Anyways, five months til Farmageddon in Ireland.
