KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Iowa State had already emerged from the wilderness.
Again-to-back NCAA Match berths and a Candy 16 repaired a lot of the harm inflicted by the worst season in program historical past that proceeded it. Cyclone basketball’s fame was restored.
Iowa State hadn’t, although, fairly returned to the previous glory of the previous decade, when the Cyclones had been a nationwide contender, profitable titles and possessing actual Ultimate 4 aspirations.
The Cyclones had been a great story below head coach T.J. Otzelberger, however not far more throughout the nationwide panorama.
That modified Saturday night time when Iowa State emphatically and triumphantly introduced itself as undoubtedly one of many nation’s finest groups.
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The No. 8 Cyclones fully dismantled Houston, the nation’s top-ranked staff and regular-season convention champion, in a 69-41 victory to assert the Huge 12 Match championship.
“The ceiling is the most effective staff within the nation,” level guard Tamin Lipsey mentioned of the Cyclones. “Clearly, we simply took down Houston, who was the earlier No. 1 within the nation. Clearly, our aim is a nationwide championship.
“We all know that there’s much more to go in March.”
Iowa State had three gamers end in double figures, led by Milan Momcilovic’s 18 factors. Keshon Gilbert added 16 factors whereas Hason Ward posted 13.
Gilbert was named the match’s Most Excellent Participant.
The Cyclones shot 50% from the ground on the night time and 41% from past the arc on 9-for-22 taking pictures. Otzelberger’s crew held a potent Houston offense to simply 27% taking pictures from the ground and a measly 18% (4-for-22) from lengthy vary.
The victory makes the 2-22 staff Otzelberger inherited seem to be a nasty dream from way back. It’s an echo of the most effective stretch of Iowa State basketball in historical past, when the Cyclones went to seven NCAA Tournaments in eight years, made two Candy 16s and received 4 Huge 12 Tournaments.
This staff, by beating a Houston squad that spent the final two months steamrolling the Huge 12, has the potential to do what none of these may, nevertheless.
Go even additional within the NCAA Match.
“We put lots of people on discover,” senior Tre King mentioned.
The Cyclones had been powerful, extra bodily and higher defensively than the Cougars, who had received 11 straight video games and their final three by a mean of twenty-two factors. That pushes Iowa State to the forefront of the nationwide dialog on the actual proper time.
Iowa State is Ultimate 4 good.
“We performed to our identification,” Otzelberger mentioned. “We defended. We rebounded. We shared the basketball.
“That’s what we’ll proceed to do.”
Now, the world is watching. And it ought to know what the Cyclones are able to reaching.
“I hope so,” senior Robert Jones mentioned, “and in the event that they don’t (know what ISU is able to), they’re a idiot.”
Up subsequent
Iowa State will be taught its NCAA Match particulars in lower than 24 hours.
The Cyclones are anticipated to land as a No. 2 seed on the Omaha website by most bracket pundits, but it surely received’t be official till the Choice Present on CBS at 5 p.m. Sunday.
This may mark the third straight season Iowa State has made the NCAA Match in Otzelberger’s three seasons. The Cyclones reached the Candy 16 in 2022, they usually had been upset within the first spherical final season.
Travis Hines covers Iowa State College sports activities for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.