Iowa State Cyclones guard Tamin Lipsey (3) and Iowa State Cyclones forward Killyan Toure (27) celebrates after winning 69-72 over Baylor in the Big-12 men’s basketball on Feb. 7, 2026, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. Credit: Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Iowa State needed a game like Saturday’s at Hilton Coliseum. After winning at Kansas State by a school-record 34 points and after wins by 30 against Colorado and by 30 against UCF over the previous four games — T.J. Otzelberger’s team (generally) needed to know how the other side felt when things aren’t going well.
We’ve seen this team play as the nation’s finest teams play, when executing next-to-flawlessly on both ends of the floor. When Joshua Jefferson’s swift, side-to-side moves are breaking defenders’ ankles on the offensive end. When Tamin Lipsey is controlling both ends. When Milan Momcilovic is splashing long-range 3-point shots from both corners.
When they’re defending with so much aggression and intensity that opponents don’t know what’s hitting them — or from where the quick-striking aggression is coming. When Nate Heise and Jamarion Batemon are coming off the bench with game-sparking 3-point baskets. When Blake Buchanan is turning missed shots into crowd-pleasing dunks.
We’ve seen that type of play send this program soaring to national prominence — and during Saturday’s 72-69 victory against Baylor at Hilton Coliseum — well, they got to experience, for a while, how the other side lives.
They got an up-close-and-darn-near-personal look at what can happen when good (and often great) isn’t always so good and great.
After blowing out four recent opponents by a combined 107 points, the Cyclones needed the sort of wake-up call that Saturday’s first half provided. They needed a close game, which Scott Drew’s Baylor team predictably provided.
Yeah, Iowa State needed a game (and outcome) like that, heading into their roughest part of the schedule — a stretch that includes back-to-back home games against Kansas and Houston, at BYU, at home against Texas Tech, and at top-ranked Arizona.
If they sleepwalk through a half, or even part of a half, those games won’t go anything like Saturday’s against the once-mighty Bears.
They needed a game in which successfully playing through mistakes (of which there were a few) was the only path to victory.
Sometimes that takes a spark — one momentum-changing play that gets teammates and fans revved up, like:
** When Lipsey stretched out full-horizontal at midcourt so aggressively that Iowa State radio guy John Walters maybe could have reached out and caught him. The senior point guard didn’t save the ball, but his hustle was a spark. That’s what counted on this second-half play.
** When Killyan Toure turned a midcourt steal into a crowd-pleasing layup. When the Cyclones’ defense starts an offense that results in a Picasso hardwood-masterpiece play.
** When Jefferson snapped to and scored 10 second-half points, following what (for him) was an otherwise not-so-good first half.
Like when the Cyclones play the intense defense we’ve been used to seeing since Otzelberger took over a woeful program.
That’s how Iowa State wins games. It’s why what transpired Saturday was so significant.
Jefferson must be offensively versatile — from the rim to the arc.
Momcilovic can’t be shy from 3-point range.
Toure’s quick-handed defense must continue quick-handed.
Every offensive rebound needs to be Buchanan’s, and that needs to translate to twice as many Cyclones points in the paint.
Iowa State’s bench players must be better than the other team’s bench.
That’s how and why Iowa State built a substantial enough lead to withstand Baylor’s closing 11-0 run.
And most important, Lipsey, one rebound shy of a double-double, must continue being possibly the most aggressive player in the Big 12.
“Tamin lays it on the line,” Otzelberger told reporters after the game. “There were like two of him out there on some possessions. His 33 minutes might be like somebody else’s 50-some minutes, because of how hard he plays.”
Lipsey wears his worth — the bumps, the bruises, bloody knees.
For this gritty Ames senior with 90 winning games (out of 123), nothing comes easy. The Cyclones need his determination and willpower. They need it from everyone — like what the last 20 minutes against Baylor resembled.
They needed a game like Saturday — and an outcome in which Otzelberger’s guys played like a Sweet 16 team for a change, while also knowing it’s got an Elite Eight or better ceiling.
(Columnist Randy Peterson, a past Iowa Sportswriter of the Year winner, can be reached at [email protected] or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)
