Mar 20, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Joshua Jefferson (5) is helped off of the court after suffering an apparent injury to his left leg while shooting a layup against Tennessee State Tigers forward Jalen Pitre (not pictured) during the first half of a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images
ST. LOUIS — The clock read 17:24.
Just two minutes and 36 seconds had elapsed since the opening tip of No. 2 seed Iowa State’s first round NCAA Tournament matchup with 15th-seeded Tennessee State Friday at the Enterprise Center when disaster struck the Cyclones in the form of All-American senior forward Joshua Jefferson’s rolled left ankle.
He writhed on the court in pain after scoring his only basket — a tough drive and finish that gave his team an early 5-3 lead — and he’d need to wait much of the first half to turn bad news into semi-good news that the X-rays showed that it wasn’t broken.
“I felt like I was back there for a long time just going through pain, but I was happy nothing came back serious,” said Jefferson, who later returned to the bench in a boot to watch his ISU teammates (28-7) polish off a resounding 108-74 win over the Tigers. “So just take that information back and then try to get healthy.”
But could he be back as early as Sunday against seventh-seeded Kentucky (22-13), which won an overtime thriller over Santa Clara earlier in the day?
Stay tuned.
“We’ll continue to reevaluate over the next day or two and just see where things are when we get to Sunday and we figure out what time we play,” said ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team has advanced to at least the round of 32 for four times in his five seasons.
So Jefferson’s currently in a holding pattern, but the Cyclones were anything but static after his ill-timed injury. ISU embarked on a decisive 23-0 run two and a half minutes after Jefferson hobbled to the locker room to be checked out, erasing any doubt that they’d be in peril without their most versatile player.
Deep shooting ace Milan Momcilovic ignited the run with his first of three 3-pointers and backup freshman guard Jamarion Batemon capped it with a driving layup. Sixth man Nate Heise scored eight points in that span on two long-range baskets and a dunk, and freshman guard Killyan Toure notched four of his career-high 25 points during the stunning surge. Toure also recorded his first career double-double by adding 11 rebounds — eight of which came on the offensive end.
“The first double-double, so I hope it won’t be the last one,” said the 6-3 Toure, who shot 8-for-12 from the field and added six assists. “Honestly, my teammates helped me today. We all played good, even if J-Jeff went out. We are brothers. So we’ve got the back of everybody on the team, so everybody stepped up.”
Toure (13 points), Heise (12) and Momcilovic (12) outscored the entire Tennessee State team, 37-29, in the first half as the Cyclones built a 26-point edge at the break.
Heise finished with 22 points — nine above his previous ISU career high. He immediately became more aggressive offensively after Jefferson’s injury, scoring both inside and outside with aplomb as ISU immediately ended the Tigers’ (23-10) first tournament trip since 1994.
“I think it’s all an awareness thing,” Heise said. “It’s awareness of J-Jeff was down, they don’t really have many shot blockers; it’s just trying to figure out what’s gonna be there.”
Momcilovic added 17 points and center Blake Buchanan chipped in 11 points while doling out a career-high eight assists. He also threw down three dunks, pushing his season total of slams to 55.
“We know we’ve got a deep team, we know we’ve got each others’ backs,” Buchanan said. “Obviously, T.J. Kind of told us the deal for (Jefferson), and like he said, ’It sucks, it’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing we could do about it right (then). Let’s just go play for him, play hard, and do what we do.”
Jefferson plans to do everything he can do to be back on Sunday, or at least next weekend in Chicago if the Cyclones can beat the blue-blooded Wildcats.
“I’m gonna hit my rehab hard,” he said.
