No. 10 Iowa State vs. Texas Tech Primer

Who: No. 10 Iowa State (19-5, 8-3 Big 12) vs. Texas Tech (18-6, 7-4 Big 12)

Where: Hilton Coliseum (14,267) – Ames, Iowa

When: Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024 – 11 a.m.

Tipping Off: Following its third road victory in Big 12 play, Iowa State returns home riding a three-game winning streak to welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders. TTU, also riding a winning streak, comes to Ames after beating No. 6 Kansas by 29 on Big Monday.

This will be the 45th all-time meeting between Iowa State and Texas Tech. The series is even at 22-22, but the Cyclones are 15-6 against TTU at Hilton Coliseum. Under Coach Otzelberger, ISU is 2-3 against the Red Raiders with both wins coming at home by an average of 19 points.

Storylines:

UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert, a St. Louis native, averages a team-best 13.8 points per game and really hit his stride in the latter half of the season.
- He has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight games, averaging 15.5 points per contest over the last eight, along with 5.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Gilbert is also shooting 36.4 percent from deep during that span.
- Gilbert recorded a triple-double against New Hampshire, going for 10 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
  - His triple-double – the eighth in school history – puts him with Lipsey, Haliburton, Monté Morris, Royce White, Jamaal Tinsley, Curtis Stinson and Marc Urquhart as members of the illustrious club.
- Gilbert is second in the Big 12 in free throws attempted (138) and fourth in FT made (96).
  - He is second on the team in assists (98) and third in steals (40).
- Gilbert has two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards to his name this season.
- He's recorded a team-best six 20-plus point outings.
Tamin Lipsey has been his usual stat-stuffer self for the Cyclones so far this year, as the Ames native is averaging 13.3 points per game to go along with team-highs in assists (127) and steals (68).
- Lipsey leads all Big 12 players in steals and steals per game.
  - He is fifth and third respectively, nationally, in those categories.
- Lipsey set the school record for steals against PVAMU, picking the Panthers' pockets eight times.
  - The previous record, seven, was held by Fred Hoiberg and Justus Thigpen.
- Against DePaul, Lipsey recorded the seventh triple-double in school history, going for 15 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.
  - Lipsey became the first Cyclone since Tyrese Haliburton in 2020 to record a triple-double.
Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic has been a constant during his rookie campaign, as the first-year from Pewaukee is averaging 12.1 points per game – the third-most on the team.
- Momcilovic has a team-high 45 3-pointers and shoots it at 39.5 percent.
- He is one of five Cyclones to score at least 20 in a game this season.
- Momcilovic is averaging the most points per game by an ISU true freshman since Lindell Wigginton's 16.7 in 2017-18.
  - He is the second highest-scoring true freshman in the Big 12, behind Baylor's Ja'Kobe Walter.
Robert Jones leads the team in offensive rebounds (56), field goal percentage (63%) and blocks (22).
Tre King leads the team in rebounds, as the senior out of Lexington, Ky., averages 5.0 per game and has a total of 121 boards.
Hason Ward, Curtis Jones, Jackson Paveletzke, Demarion Watson and Omaha Biliew make up the bench unit for the Cyclones.
C. Jones has been stellar off the bench in the last seven outings.
- He's scored in double figures in all seven games, averaging 14.3 points.
- He had seven steals at TCU earlier this season, tying him for the second-most steals in a single game in Iowa State history.
  - It's the first time ever that two Cyclones recorded games with seven-plus steals in a single season.
Iowa State forces the third-most turnovers per game (18.12) in the country – tops in the Big 12.
- The Cyclones average 10.8 steals per game, also tops in the Big 12.
As a head coach, Otz is 159-95 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 60-32 record over the last three seasons.

From the Notes:

The Cyclones have won three-straight Big 12 games, including a pair of road games at Texas and Cincinnati. Iowa State's 8-3 record through 11 games is the best Big 12 start since the 2000-01 team was also 8-3, finishing 13-3 with a Big 12 regular season title.
Iowa State has won 14 straight games at Hilton Coliseum, tied for the ninth longest active home winning streak in the country. ISU and Samford are the only two undefeated teams in the country at home with at least 14 wins
Iowa State has held all but one Big 12 opponent under its season scoring average. The Cyclones have held four Big 12 opponents to their lowest point totals this season: TCU (59), Cincinnati (59), Houston (53) and Oklahoma State (42).
Only eight players in the country are averaging at least 13.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season. Two of them reside in the Cyclone backcourt in Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert.
Lipsey had a school-record steal streak of 34-straight games snapped last Saturday vs. TCU. It was the second longest streak in the country. He has a steal in 54 of the 56 games he has played.
Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert each have triple-doubles to their names this season - making ISU the only team in the country with multiple players boasting a triple-double.
- There are now eight in school history.
The Cyclones are 25-1 under T.J. Otzelberger when four or more players score in double figures.
The six highest-scoring Cyclone outputs under Otzelberger have all come this season, including a pair of 100-point performances. Nine of the 10 highest under Otz have also come this season.
The Cyclones have scored 90 or more points six times this season. It is the most times hitting that mark in a season since the 2016-17 team did so eight times.
As of Friday, the Cyclones are ranked No. 8 in the NET. The Cyclones slot in at No. 9 in the KenPom rankings and are No. 8 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

Switching Sides:

Texas Tech was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, one spot behind Iowa State. But like ISU, however, TTU has exceeded expectations and is currently in-line for a double-bye at the Big 12 Tournament.
Three of Texas Tech's last four wins have come over ranked opponents. It's won those three games over ranked foes by an average of 12.3 points.
Texas Tech returns five players from last year's roster, adding one freshman and welcoming seven first-year transfers.
TTU leads the league in free throw percentage (.774), with Joe Toussaint (.864) and Pop Isaacs (.827) in the top-10.
Tech's offense has been robust in Big 12 play, leading the conference in 3-point shooting (.400) and are second in points per game (74.5).
Texas Tech senior Devan Cambridge suffered a season-ending knee injury in December. At the time of the injury, Cambridge was third on the team in scoring.
TTU is currently ranked No. 23 in KenPom, No. 26 in the NET and No. 26 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index.
Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland is in his first year at the helm of the Red Raider program, coming off the heels of a 2023 NIT championship at North Texas. In ten seasons, McCasland is 229-95 as a college head coach.
- McCasland spent the last six seasons as the head coach of North Texas after a five-year stint as an assistant coach under Scott Drew at Baylor.
- At North Texas, McCasland was 135-65 and her led the team to its first NCAA tournament win in 2021, upsetting fourth-seeded Purdue in the first round.

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Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Keshon Gilbert

Curtis Jones

Robert Jones

Tre King

Tamin Lipsey

Milan Momcilovic

Jackson Paveletzke

Hason Ward

Demarion Watson

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Iowa State University Athletics