Iowa State Cyclones forward Milan Momcilovic (22) celebrates after winning 74-56 over Kansas in the Big-12 conference basketball showdown on Feb. 14, 2026, at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa. (Photo credit: Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Kansas was coming off a major victory against top-ranked Arizona. Iowa State was fresh off a road loss against so-so TCU.
Saturday afternoon, that Cyclones-victory-was-in-the-cards narrative ran rampant among alleged college basketball television experts on multiple networks.
Bunk.
Fourth-ranked Iowa State’s 74-56 win against ninth-ranked Kansas was about the game plan Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger and his staff put together. This somewhat urgent and ultra-significant victory was about:
** The strategy those masterminds drew up after last Tuesday’s dismal seven-point defeat on the obnoxious white floor in Fort Worth,
** Otzelberger’s players paying attention enough during practice to diligently and quickly fix what needed fixing,
** Coming up with a scheme to undo, overwhelm and crush Bill Self’s surging team that arrived in Ames on an eight-game roll and playing as well, if not better, than anyone nationally …
And then going out and actually executing the blueprint to near perfection in front of Hilton Coliseum fans who hadn’t even seen a Top 25 opponent at home since No. 23 BYU 88, 10th-ranked Iowa State 85 in two overtimes last March 4.
That’s why Iowa State can return to the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed conversation — if successful against third-ranked Houston on Big Monday at Hilton.
Saturday’s success was more about Otzelberger getting his team back up after that seven-point loss at TCU, in which the Cyclones scored only a measly 55 points (ISU’s fewest points since losing at Kansas 69-52 last March), than Self’s inability to keep his team focused on continuing its hot streak.
Why?
“They pressured the crap out of us,” Self told reporters after the game. “They pressured us, and they strung out, or trapped us off ball screens. We didn’t handle that well at all.”
Not many teams, if any, would have been better than Iowa State was during long stretches Saturday, like: a 20-2 first-half run … like six consecutive 3-point baskets (including three by Milan Momcilovic) to start the second … followed by 14 Cyclones points in a row later in the half.
“They make their first six 3s,” Self said. “That would be a formula for disaster, wherever you’re playing away from home.”
Defense in the first half. Hot shooting during the final 20 minutes.
Rock Chalk This …
A fourth consecutive time against the still-good Jayhawks at Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State trapped all over the floor. That defense was so quick and aggressive that Self’s players didn’t know from where the double-team was coming — or it certainly didn’t look like they anticipated it with game-winning instincts.
And how many times have you heard about Kansas’ Darryn Peterson being the NBA’s first- or second-choice in the next draft? Saturday, Otzelberger put freshman Killyan Toure on him, and all the cinch All-American did was score 10 points and commit a third of the Jayhawks’ first 10 turnovers.
While on the subject of Cyclones freshmen, Jamarion Batemon and Dominykos Pleta played well, too. Sometimes, all three first-season college players were on the floor simultaneously. Against Kansas.
Yeah, Iowa State’s basketball future looks bright, although you proceed with caution during these days of poaching players and the transfer portal. The adversity part of this new world, by the way, hasn’t found its way to Iowa State men’s basketball, for which Otzelberger and his staff deserve credit.
Let’s not pooh-pooh what the veterans did during Iowa State’s 22nd victory. Momcilovic, blanked from 3-point range during the first half, made his first four attempts of the second. Tamin Lipsey’s third steal led to a Joshua Jefferson basket and a 22-point lead.
Blake Buchanan’s six rebounds and 11 points nearly doubled his six points and three rebounds in the TCU loss.
“I definitely think we made a statement, especially coming off the loss against TCU,” Batemon said after the game. “This is a huge opportunity to kind of bounce back and show that we’re one of the best teams, if not the best team. It was a great opportunity and I feel like we definitely made that impact.”
Another “impact” on Big Monday?
Anything is possible inside Hilton Coliseum, where Otzelberger’s team has won 14 times in a row.
(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.)
