March 1, 2025 — Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey sits on the bench as player introductions are about to begin at Hilton Coliseum. (Photo by Jacqueline Cordova/Cyclone Fanatic)
In case you hadn’t noticed, Tamin Lipsey is the reason Iowa State men’s basketball is in the midst of its best start. Sure, Joshua Jefferson is the third-ranked team’s All-American, and absolutely, there’s none better in the country than Milan Momcilovic, when he’s on his deep-shooting game.
They’re future pros. They’ll go down in history as among Iowa State’s best-ever players, but they’re not the reason T.J. Otzelberger’s team enters Saturday’s 3 p.m. game against 13-2 Oklahoma State with a 15-game winning streak and among the nation’s six Division I unbeatens. As wonderful as they are …
They’re not Tamin Lipsey.
The former Ames High School star is the straw that stirs this team’s drink — an offensive facilitator and defensive disruptor who plays as well on one end of the floor as he does the other.
“I’d take him over any point guard in America,” Otzelberger told reporters after Wednesday’s victory at Baylor.
He’s said it multiple times. It’s something he truly believes.
His team needs as much Tamin Lipsey as Tamin Lipsey has to give.
At Baylor, Iowa State trailed most of the first half. The team lost its sync when Lipsey was bench-ridden after collecting two fouls during the game’s first 2½ minutes. Passes weren’t as crisp or as instinctive. Some were something less than directionally accurate. The defense, a staple of Otzelberger’s team since taking over a program that was in near ruination, wasn’t the greatest, either.
The Cyclones needed their leader not on the bench in foul trouble. They needed Lipsey on the floor — just like they did when he missed games or playing time with various injuries.
If this team is to make at least an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight run or better, it must have Lipsey doing what Lipsey has done since becoming Otzelberger’s first high school scholarship commitment. It needs his scoring, his defense and his assisting.
Most important, the Cyclones need his calming influence when adversity sets in. They need his leadership.
“Not having him out there quite as much in the first half impacted the game,” Otzelberger said. “But man, in that second half — the plays he made — it was amazing, especially when you have to bounce back when your normal routine and rhythm of the game is disrupted because of the fouls.”
Two Lipsey baskets in the first half improved to six (on eight shots) in the final 20 minutes. Four points in the first half. Twenty in the second half.
That’s impact.
That’s Lipsey.
The senior has started all 115 games in which he’s played. During that eye-popping run, the Cyclones have won 84 games.
Three NCAA Tournaments during the Lipsey run include a Sweet 16. A fourth consecutive Big Dance puts him in elite company of such past stars as Georges Niang, Monte Morris, Naz Mitrou-Long and Matt Thomas.
They impacted winning.
Like Lipsey impacts it today.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at [email protected] or at any Okoboji-area beverage or food establishment between the hours of open and close.)
