Jan 29, 2026; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Milan Momcilovic (22) defends Colorado Buffaloes guard Isaiah Johnson (2) during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images
AMES — Iowa State’s relentless first-half run seemingly couldn’t be stopped.
And it never really was.
Senior point guard Tamin Lipsey’s layup started it. Junior forward Milan Momcilovic’s 3-pointer stoked it. And a deep 3-pointer from backup freshman guard Jamarion Batemon capped it at 21-0.
A single made free throw by Colorado briefly interrupted what eventually turned into a 30-1 splurge as the No. 8 Cyclones (19-2, 6-2 Big 12) battered the Buffaloes 97-67 Thursday night before a satisfied sellout crowd of 14,267 at Hilton Coliseum.
“When we take pride in getting stops like that — I think at one point it was, like, 10 stops in a row — our offense just flows for us,” said Batemon, who led six ISU players in double figures with 17 points. “So if we just buy in and get stops, we got going really easy.”
That scintillating 21-point splurge by the Cyclones spanned less than five minutes, but completely discombobulated Colorado (12-9, 2-6) as it careened to its sixth straight loss. Three of those setbacks have come against top-15 teams, but the Buffaloes hadn’t lost a single-game by more than 11 points before being steamrolled by ISU at Hilton.
“At some point you’ve gotta look yourself in the mirror,” veteran Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said. “There are good players in this league and good coaches in this league. There’s good defense in this league. We’re just not one of them.”
Momcilovic added 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, Lipsey chipped in 14 points and five assists, and Joshua Jefferson scored 13 points while grabbing eight rebounds and matching Lipsey’s team-high assists number.
Freshmen Killyan Toure and Dominykas Pleta notched 12 points apiece, and senior defensive captain Nate Heise produced a stat line of eight points, eight rebounds and four assists.
So several Cyclones made significant contributions up and down the rotation.
“Across the board, our guys really stepped up,” said ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team extended its best start to a season from a win-loss standpoint in program history. “We don’t view scoring as necessarily what is at the top from a contribution standpoint. At the same time, it does bring value and it gives a huge spark.”
Pleta also grabbed a game-high and career-high four offensive rebounds, and Otzelberger said the 6-11 freshman from Gotha, Germany, has responded to heightened demands for consistent production — particularly on the glass.
“We’ve really been after him,” Otzelberger said. “He’s capable of what he did tonight and as much as we’re gonna celebrate (that) and tell him it’s great, we’re gonna expect him to do it again Sunday (at Kansas State). It’s not an outlier. It’s not a, hey, he’ll do that once a month. We need that level of production.”
Pleta’s well aware of that fact, which is why he’s been working hard to become a commanding interior presence off the bench like he was in a career-high 16-plus minutes against the Buffaloes.
“I work on that every single day in workouts and in practice,” he said. “So I knew what I had to do: Get the rebounds with two hands and be more physical than the other guys, so, yeah, it felt pretty good.”
So did notching a 30-point conference win for the second straight game at Hilton — and just the 11th time in program history. As Batemon said, those big spurts started with multiple stops, and that will remain the Cyclones’ blueprint for success on Sunday at Kansas State and beyond.
“We practice with a very competitive spirit and I think the last 10 days or so it’s really ramped up and our guys have had a chip on their shoulder,” Otzelberger said. “We’ve gone back to being the hunter instead of something other than that, (and) I think that’s when we’re at our best.”
