AMES, Iowa – In the attention economy, “What have you done lately?” has been largely replaced by, “What have you done right this second?” There’s no patience nor hardly any memory, but there certainly is an urgency bordering on frantic.
That makes for a tough environment to appreciate what Iowa State basketball has done. The Cyclones (22-3, 9-3 Big 12) are ranked fourth nationally, so it’s not as though they’re being overlooked or undervalued, but they’ve mostly only been in the national college basketball consciousness for their failures since the calendar flipped to 2026.
Getting stomped at Kansas and then no-showing at Cincinnati that same week. Taking an upset just days ago at TCU.
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That 3-0 run through the Players Era Festival or that dismantling of Purdue on the road got their due at the time, but, heck, that was all the way back in 2025. That might as well be 1985 for the way we chew up and spit out takes on TikTok these days.
Mowing down five-straight Big 12 teams after those back-to-back losses was nice, sure, but, like, whatever? You can only get so excited about blowouts against the unimpressive middle and bottom of the Big 12.
Not only has it been two months since Iowa State beat the Boilermakers (and Iowa days after that), but it’s been two months since we’ve even seen the Cyclones play well against a high-level team.
You can reset that clock to zero on that front, and put the Cyclones right at the front of the national college basketball conversation.
That happens after outplaying and overwhelming the country’s hottest team, No. 9 Kansas, 74-56, to snap the Jayhawks’ eight-game winning streak, get a measure of revenge for last month’s 21-point loss and reassert themselves as a Final Four contender.
“I’d definitely say we made a statement,” Iowa State freshman Jamarion Batemon said. “This is a huge opportunity to bounce back and show that we’re one of the best teams, if not the best team, in the country.
“It was a great opportunity, and I feel like we definitely made that impact.”
How far the reverberations from that impact travel will no doubt be influenced by what the Cyclones do 48 hours later when No. 3 Houston comes to Hilton Coliseum for Big Monday. But for this weekend, at least, the Cyclones offered up a compelling case for just how damn good they are.
Five days after Kansas became the first team to beat Arizona, the Jayhawks got bullied, beaten and, at times, embarrassed by the Cyclones.
Iowa State’s ball pressure would have had Isaac Hayes singing falsetto.
The Jayhawks were consistently on their heels, playing backward and even had a pair of backcourt violations as the Cyclones allowed them no quarter. Much of Iowa State’s issues in its trio of losses came from an inability to disrupt opponents, but their dialed-up intensity against the Jayhawks kept their visitors uncomfortable and unsuccessful all afternoon.
“Our whole mindset was just to not let them be comfortable,” Tamin Lipsey said after a three-steal day. “We wanted to push them up the floor as much as we could.”
Just as important as the harassment Iowa State doled out defensively was a whole-of-rotation effort that saw all eight Cyclones who played make real contributions to winning.
Batemon, who by any measure is the last man in the rotation, set a tone with a level of aggression we haven’t seen from the freshman. His two 3-pointers and forceful drive and layup in the first half helped lift an offense that was struggling. Reserve center Dom Pleta’s offensive rebounding did much the same. Nate Heise had five boards and a steal in 26 minutes that also saw him provide a defensive presence on the perimeter.
And those are just the reserves.
It’s almost an afterthought that Joshua Jefferson had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal, or that Lipsey had 11 points, three boards and four assists. Blake Buchanan? A cool 11 and six while going 5 of 6 from the floor.
There was, though, no missing Milan Momcilovic.
The country’s best 3-point shooter had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-9 from deep. His fading-to-his-left, falling-to-the-floor, over-the-arm-of-6-10-Flory-Bidunga triple might be the best of his career and one of the more incredible makes Hilton Coliseum has seen in its half-century.
“That was probably the craziest shot I’ve seen in person,” Lipsey said.
It, simply, was a great game from a team whose greatness seemed to have been forgotten.
“I’m proud of our guys for how they worked this week,” said Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger, “and for the effort that they sustained for 40 minutes.
“That’s not easy to do, and I felt like that was as complete of a 40 minutes as we’ve had this season.”
If there was concern about the victory poisoning the Cyclones ahead of Monday’s huge matchup with Houston, well, they didn’t sound too impressed with themselves Saturday evening.
“I feel like we could have beat (Kansas) by more,” Momcilovic said after the Cyclones toppled KU by the largest margin of victory ever at Hilton Coliseum in the series. “Our offense got a little stagnant in that little five-minute stretch in the second half.
“I think it shows we’re still really good, and we can beat anyone night in, night out.”
If nothing else, the Cyclones have everyone’s attention.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iowa State basketball win over Kansas a reminder of March Madness potential
