Dominating the Opposition

Iowa State is Bitter and Sweet

(St. Louis, MO) – Iowa State seems to thrive on adversity. After splitting its last six games of the regular season, the Cyclones came to St. Louis and went about dominating the opposition. T.J. Otzelberger’s team rolled over Tennessee State and Kentucky by a combined 53 points.

They lost their best player, Joshua Jefferson during the first half of their Friday game with Tennessee State and had to face an outstanding Kentucky team on Sunday. Unmoved by that adversity, they defeated the Wildcats 82-63.

After a dismal offensive first half, the Cyclones put on a dazzling display of efficient second half offense to turn a one-point half-time lead into a blow out.

Otzelberger says his team sees adversity as an opportunity and Sunday they turned opportunity into wild success.

The Iowa State coach talks about daily habits that lead to success and about the pride his team takes in playing defense. During this game, they harassed Kentucky into 20 turnovers and rarely allowed the Wildcats a good look at the basket.

Otzelberger says he is proud of his team.

“For us, we take so much pride in the habits and the things we do every single day,” said Otzelberger.  “I’m really proud of our guys for how we pressured the ball, how we rebounded the ball and how we shared it and played for one another. Those are things that we really strive to be elite and have excellence in, and our guys really showed up in a major way in those areas for us today.”

Players Dominating the Opposition

While playing without their best player, Guard Tamin Lipsey had the game of his life. This performance included a career high 26 points, his first ever double-double (10 assists) and a program record eleventh game with at least five steals.

With Jefferson out, Lipsey says he wanted to take an aggressive mindset into the game.

“Just all the guys knew that we had to step up in different ways and however that presented it to us,” said Lipsey. “For me it was just being aggressive, getting downhill early, drawing some fouls, getting to the line. That kind of set the momentum for me. (I) didn’t hit a three until the second half, but once that happened, I felt really good about my offense and teammates kept looking for me, things like that.”

Senior guard Nate Heise moved into Jefferson’s starting role and recorded his second double-digit game of the tournament (12 points) and hounded the Kentucky guards. His three at the half-time buzzer gave the Cyclones their first lead of the game.

Otzelberger says Heise’s work ethic and tenacity on defense is always evident.

“Nate has been essentially our sixth starter all year, even when he hasn’t started on the court,” said Otzelberger. “I say it over and over again, Nate Heise is someone who’s a fierce competitor, defensively has tremendous pride, getting stops, team defense, getting traffic rebounds, making plays. You can feel that compete every possession. Look, Nate is somebody for me that I just have tremendous belief and confidence in, and I know what he can do, and I know what he’ll continue to do.”

Fixing the Chairs

Attention to detail. Dominating the opposition. Seeing adversity as an opportunity. All of those things were on full display.

Even after the postgame press conference, it was Lipsey that made sure the chairs at the podium were put back in place when everyone else was walking away. This Cyclone team has incredible focus.

They travel to Chicago for this week’s Sweet Sixteen game. As travel has become difficult, this team would probably play even better if getting to the Windy City was virtually impossible.

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