And by big stage, I mean the 3,500 seat Sanford Pentagon, which was a 99.8% Cyclone crowd. Iowa State had two non-sensical wins against Fairleigh-Dickenson and Grambling State before their first contest
with a P5 opponent, and a solid one at that. Mississippi State was a tournament team last year and returned their best player in Josh Hubbard. The rest looks like a work in progress.
Full disclosure, I watched this game on a very cool, very legal YouTube stream that had the video quality of a potato. As ESPN and YouTube TV continue to have the ultimate mid-off, us peasants were delighted to a 25-point career high performance from General Lipsey at the Pentagon. Lipsey has been known for his defense throughout his career, but as a sophomore he really grew as an offensive player before deferring to Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones later in that season. Without those two bucket getters, Lipsey has done what he always has. Do what it takes to win basketball games.
What a performance, 25 points, 6 assists, 3 steals and better than 50% from the field. Killyan Toure was the main defender on Josh Hubbard and did a really solid job. That is not an easy ask of a true freshman. The retaining stars in Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson (who only played 6 minutes in the first half) combined for 7 points in the first 20 minutes, and what if I told you the Cyclones were up 18 points after all of that?
The half ending on an absurd sequence of a Blake Buchannan block, Lipsey 40-foot outlet pass, Nate Heise lob, to a Dominick Nelson layup as time expired. ME OH MY.
In the second half, Iowa State would keep Mississippi State at arms distance the whole time, the lead never got cut down to single digits. As many people pointed out, last year in Maui, Iowa State was up 18 at half time against Auburn. This time they didn’t blow it.
The Bulldogs nearly got Otz’d, which I am now coining as a term for when a team has more turnovers (26) than made shots (29). Our good sir KenPom took note of the performance, Iowa State rose 18 spots in Adj O. and remains 2nd in Adj D., and Iowa State is now slated at number 9 on KenPom. That is up 5 spots from the start of the season.
The offense is ahead of schedule, and the defense looks absolutely suffocating. Iowa State has a well-deserved week off before they face the Stonehill Skyhawks back at Hilton Coliseum. After that, it’s wheels up to Las Vegas to square off against Slick Rick and St. John’s in their first game of the star-studded Player’s Era Tournament.
