No. 6 Iowa State at No. 2 Houston Primer

Who: No. 6 Iowa State (20-5, 9-3 Big 12) at No. 2 Houston (22-3, 9-3 Big 12)

Where: Fertitta Center (7,100) – Houston, Texas

When: Monday, Feb. 19, 2024 – 8 p.m.

Tipping Off: The Big 12 regular season title race heats up on Monday night, as Iowa State heads to Houston for a Big Monday meeting with the Cougars. ISU and UH are tied for the lead in conference play as each team is 9-3. The Cyclones currently hold the tiebreaker, having won the head-to-head meeting in Hilton back in January.

This will be the eighth all-time meeting between Iowa State and Houston. Iowa State leads the all-time series 4-3 and is 1-1 in games played against the Cougars in Houston. The two teams first met in December of 1956 and, prior to this season, hadn't squared off since 2010.

Storylines:

UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert, a St. Louis native, averages a team-best 14.2 points per game and really hit his stride in the latter half of the season.
- He has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games, averaging 16.4 points per contest over the last nine.
- 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 (100).
  - He is second on the team in assists (103) and third in steals (41).
- Gilbert has two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards to his name this season.
- He's recorded a team-best seven 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 13.2 points per game to go along with team-highs in assists (131) and steals (70).
- 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 12.0 points per game – the third-most on the team.
- Momcilovic has a team-high 45 3-pointers and shoots it at 38.5 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 (62), field goal percentage (63.8%) and blocks (23).
Tre King leads the team in rebounds, as the senior out of Lexington, Ky., averages 5.0 per game and has a total of 124 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 eight outings.
- He's scored in double figures in all eight games, averaging 14 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 160-95 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 61-32 record over the last three seasons.

From the Notes:

Iowa State has won 15 straight games at Hilton Coliseum and is undefeated at home this season. In conference, only Houston and Kansas are also unbeaten at home as ISU heads to the Fertitta Center.
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 at home vs. TCU. It was the second longest streak in the country. He has a steal in 55 of the 57 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 26-1 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 Sunday, 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:

Houston was picked to finish second in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, one spot behind Kansas in its first year in the Big 12.
- Houston and Iowa State are tied for first place with ISU holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Leading scorer L.J. Cryer, a Baylor transfer, was one of five players named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
Jamal Shead, an Honorable Mention Preseason All-Big 12 Team member, is the proverbial straw that stirs the Houston drink.
- Shead was the 2022-23 American Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
Houston's defense is tops in the conference and one of the best in the country.
- Cougar opponents score on average 55 points and shoot just 37.2 percent from the floor. Teams that face UH average 28.8 percent from behind the arc.
The Cougars also lead the conference in offensive rebounds, often finding their most efficient methods of scoring come off of misses.
Houston has nine returners from last season, three freshmen and two first-year transfers on the roster.
Analytics love the Cougars, as they are ranked No. 1 across the board in the NET, KenPom and ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson is in his tenth season at the helm of the Houston basketball program. Having 35 years of experience as a head coach, Sampson and the Cougars are 254-77 during his tenure and he holds a 754-347 overall record. His son, Kellen, is an assistant on staff.
- Sampson and the Cougars have gone to the last five NCAA Tournaments, making four visits to the Sweet 16, two Elite Eight berths and one trip to the Final Four (2021).

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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