No. 17 Cyclones Host Iowa Thursday Night

AMES, Iowa - No. 17 Iowa State returns to Hilton Coliseum to host Iowa Thursday evening in an Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series Showdown. The game is a Color It Cardinal game with fans encouraged to wear cardinal.

The Matchup: No. 17 Iowa State (8-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. Iowa (7-2, 0-2 Big Ten)
Where: Ames, Iowa - Hilton Coliseum (14,267)
When: Thursday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. (CST)
Radio: Cyclone Radio Network/Varsity Radio App
Talent: John Walters (PxP), Eric Heft (Analyst)
TV: ESPN2
Talent: Rich Hollenberg (PxP), Fran Fraschilla (Analyst)
Webcast: WatchESPN
Live Stats: Cyclonestats.com

Tickets: Thursday's game is SOLD OUT.

KEY STORYLINES
- T.J. Otzelberger, who won his 100th game in the season opener, is 8-0 as head coach of the Cyclones ... he is just the second of 21 Cyclone head coaches to start their career 8-0 and a win would match the best start in school history by a first-year coach (Steve Prohm, 2015-16).
- Coming off a 2-22 season, ISU has quadrupled its win total from a season ago and as of Tuesday morning is one of 12 undefeated schools nationally ... ISU's +6 win improvement is the biggest in the nation.
- The Cyclones are one of five teams nationally (Duke, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Purdue) with multiple wins against the top 25.
- Iowa State has three players averaging double-digit points, but its been a team effort ... in the last five games, ISU has had four different players lead the team in scoring and during that same stretch six players have scored at least 15 points in a game.
- Iowa State is No. 21 in the NCAA's NET rankings ... ISU owns three Quad 1-2 wins, one of eight teams with that many nationally.
- ISU is doing it by using a stifling defense and timely offense ... the Cyclones have a top-40 defense per KenPom, allowing just 60.1 points and holding opponents to 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 26.5 percent behind the arc ... they rank sixth nationally in turnover percentage, turning opponents over on 27.2 percent of their possessions.
- The Cyclones have already snapped losing streaks of 18-straight games overall, eight home games, 25 games against power conference opponents, 28 games away from Hilton Coliseum, 25 games in true road contests and 19 games to nationally ranked opponents.

LAST TIME OUT
- Iowa State earned a road win at Creighton, snapping a 25-game road losing streak with a 64-58 win in which they led the entire second half after a slow offensive start ... the Cyclones trailed 18-9 with just under five minutes left in the second half, but closed the half on a 14-5 run to tie it at the break ... Caleb Grill led the Cyclones for the first time this season with 16 points, going 5-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 behind the arc ... Izaiah Brockington had an off night, missing his first nine shots, but coming up huge when it counted with a pair of threes down the stretch that kept Creighton from closing the gap ... Brockington finished with 12 points ... the Cyclones forced the Bluejays into a season-high 21 turnovers and allowed them to shoot just 42.2 percent from the field and 31.6 percent behind the arc.

ISU VERSUS IOWA
- Iowa State and Iowa meet for the 75th time in a series that dates back to 1909 ... the teams didn't play from 1935-1970.
- Iowa leads the series 47-27 with wins in the last three meetings ... ISU has won seven of the last 12 games in the series ... the home team has won 15 of the last 18 games ... the exceptions were ISU's wins in Iowa City in 2010 and 2014 and Iowa's 2019 win in Ames.
- ISU is 5-2 against Iowa when playing as a ranked team.
- Iowa State is a completely different squad from last year's team that was defeated in Iowa City ... the Cyclones return zero points and just 17 minutes from that game ... Iowa's three double-digit scorers from that game have also moved on with just 29 of its 105 points from that night on the current roster.
- Izaiah Brockington (11.3 ppg) and Gabe Kalscheur (9.4 ppg) had success against the Hawkeyes at Penn State and Minnesota, respectively ... Kalscheur went 2-3 against UI while at Minnesota, Brockington was 1-2.
- T.J. Otzelberger is 1-0 in his career coaching against Iowa and Fran McCaffery ... his 2017-18 South Dakota State squad beat the Hawkeyes, 80-72, at the Cayman Islands Classic.
- ISU is 160-236 all-time against teams currently in the Big Ten Conference
- Iowa State director of operations Micah Byars served in the same position for five years at UCF under Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw, who was the head coach.

To read the complete release, click here.

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Players Mentioned

Izaiah Brockington

Caleb Grill

Gabe Kalscheur

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics