The 2025 Players Era Men’s Championship schedule is set and Iowa State will be playing two of best teams from the Big East.
Iowa State will open their week in Las Vegas against St. Johns at 3:30 p.m. (CT) on Monday, Nov. 24 followed by a matchup with Creighton on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. (CT).
The third game of the tournament will be determined based off Monday and Tuesday’s results. In order to play for a championship, Iowa State would have to go 2-0.
Iowa State has plenty of history and ties to Creighton. Iowa State won at Creighton in 2021 in Big 12/Big East Challenge. That’s only the second game that former head coach Greg McDermott has played against his old school but they’ve played multiple secret scrimmages in T.J. Otzelberger’s tenure, that will include an open exhibition game on Oct. 17 in Omaha.
This will be Iowa State’s third matchup all-time with St John’s. The most recent game was a 71-60 win in 2022 at Hilton Coliseum. However, Rick Pitino wasn’t the head coach yet. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports has Pitino’s Red Storm as the No. 1 team in the country in his Top 25 And 1.
The Cyclones are one of 18 teams in the second ever Players Era Tournament. Every team that participates will earn $1 million in NIL for their team and the top performing teams will earn bonuses on top.
