Iowa State at No. 11 Oklahoma Primer

Who: Iowa State (11-2, 0-0 Big 12) at No. 11 Oklahoma (12-1, 0-0 Big 12)

Where: Lloyd Noble Center (11,562) – Norman, Okla.

When: Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 – 5:00 p.m.

Tipping Off: The Cyclones ring in the New Year with the Big 12 Conference Opener in Oklahoma this Saturday. After an 11-2 non-conference record, ISU turns its attention to an 18-game Big 12 gauntlet for the second part of the season.

Iowa State and Oklahoma will face off in Norman one final time as Big 12 foes, as the Sooners are jumping to the SEC this offseason. Saturday's meeting will be the 216th all-time meeting between the schools in a series that has been close over the last ten seasons. The two teams have met 23 times over that span, with the Cyclones holding a 12-11 advantage.

Storylines:

The Cyclones' current six-game win streak has been highlighted by offensive outputs.
- Against DePaul, ISU produced its most points (99) in a road contest since 2001, when it scored 109 in a 4OT bout with Missouri.
- Iowa State followed that up with a 25-point home win over Iowa. The 25-point margin of victory over Iowa is the largest by any ISU team in the 113-year history of the meeting.
- The Cyclones then bested PVAMU 107-56. The 107 points were the most by any Cyclone team since 2019, when ISU took down Mississippi Valley State, scoring 110 points.
- ISU defeated Florida A&M, 96-58. It was the first time ISU had scored 90-plus in four straight wins since Nov. 20-Dec. 7, 2013.
- Iowa State then beat Eastern Illinois, 80-48, to stay undefeated in December.
- Most recently, the Cyclones toppled New Hampshire 85-70 and scored 80-plus points in six-straight games for the first time since doing so in six-straight games in 2018.
Tamin Lipsey continues to make steady improvement for Iowa State, as the former Little Cyclone is averaging a team-best 15.5 points per game. He leads the team in field goals made (71), rebounds (77), assists (79), steals (47) and minutes played.
- Lipsey is averaging 15.5 points, 6.1 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 3.6 steals. He is the only player since 1996-97 to average those numbers in a season.
- Lipsey recorded four steals last time out against New Hampshire. He has six games with at least four steals this season.
- Against Florida A&M, Lipsey canned five triples, notching a new career high.
- 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.
- Lipsey set a new personal best on Thanksgiving against VCU, scoring 22 points. He then set a personal best for rebounds against No. 12 Texas A&M with 14.
UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert has found his groove for the Cyclones, as the junior from St. Louis recorded a triple-double in his last outing, 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 averaging 14.4 points per contest and is second in the Big 12 in free throws attempted (86) and third in FT made (60).
  - He is second on the team in both assists (64) and steals (27).
- Gilbert was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the second time this past week, thanks to his monster performance. He's now tied with KU's Hunter Dickinson for most Big 12 NotW awards this season.
- He's recorded a team-best four 20-plus point outings this season, including three in the last six contests.
- Gilbert tied his career-high in scoring against Iowa, dropping 25 points – the most by any Cyclone this season in a single game.
- Gilbert earned his first career double-double against VCU on Thanksgiving, dropping 22 points and pulling in 10 boards.
Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic has had a solid start to his freshman campaign, as the rookie from Pewaukee is averaging 13.6 points per game.
- Momcilovic has a team-high 28 3-pointers and shoots it at a 44.4% clip.
- He recorded 21 points against Virginia Tech in Florida – a career-high – and 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.
- He is one of 11 true freshmen in the nation, averaging at least 2.2 3-pointers per game.
- Momcilovic is one of two Cyclones to have made six 3-pointers in a single game this season.
Robert Jones has started the last ten games after taking over the starting five spot for Hason Ward who went down with an injury in November.
- Jones leads the team in field goal percentage, as the big man is shooting 69.4 percent from the floor. He also leads the team in blocks (14) and offensive rebounds (31).
Speaking of Ward, the big man made his return to the Cyclone lineup last time out, scoring ten points in 17 minutes to go with six boards and three blocks.
Tre King is one of four Cyclones averaging double-figures, as the senior chips in 10.6 points per contest.
- Against DePaul, King tallied an Iowa State high of 24 points, going 10-15 from the field.
Jackson Paveletzke, Curtis Jones, Omaha Biliew and Demarion Watson make up the bench unit for the Cyclones.
- C. Jones has scored in double figures in three of the last four outings, including a season-high 22 points against Prairie View A&M.
- Paveletzke recorded his most points in an ISU uniform against Florida A&M, tallying 13 points and going 3-of-4 from deep.
As a head coach, Otz is 151-92 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 52-29 record over the last three seasons.

From the Notes:

The Cyclones finished the non-con having won 27 straight games against non-conference opponents at Hilton Coliseum, tied for the ninth-longest streak in the nation.
As of Friday, the Cyclones are ranked No. 8 in the NET. The Cyclones slot in at No. 18 in the KenPom rankings and are No. 4 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
- According to ESPN's BPI, Iowa State has the hardest strength of schedule remaining in the country – a testament to the strength of the conference.
This is the 12th time Iowa State has opened conference play against the Sooners and is the first time doing so since 2016 in Norman.
- The Cyclones are 1-2 all-time in conference openers in Norman, Okla.
The Cyclones went 6-0 in the month of December, as Iowa State improved to 16-1 in the month under T.J. Otzelberger. The 16 victories under Otz are tied for the 10th most in the nation in that span.
The Cyclones are 22-1 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.
Only three players in the country are averaging at least 14.4 points, 4.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game this season. Two of them reside in the Cyclone backcourt in Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert.

Switching Sides:

The Sooners were voted to finish 12th out of 14 in the Big 12 prior to the season.
- OU is currently tied for second in the Big 12 after a solid non-conference slate that saw the Sooners drop just one game – a neutral court bout with a top-15 North Carolina program.
The last time Iowa State and Oklahoma opened conference play against each other in Norman, No. 3 OU secured an 87-83 win over the 11th-ranked Cyclones.
OU's Sam Godwin averages the most offensive rebounds per game in the Big 12, pulling in 3.8.
Otega Oweh leads the conference in field goal percentage, scoring at a super-efficient 64.7 percent clip.
- Oweh and backcourt mate Javian McCollum make the Sooners go, as they both average double-figure scoring.
Oklahoma started 10-0 for the third time in the past 20 seasons. The last two times the Sooners began the year 10-0, they advanced to at least the Elite Eight.
OU has six returners, two freshmen and seven first-year transfers.
- Three of OU's top four scorers are among the first-year transfers.
As of January 5, Oklahoma ranks No. 28 in the NET, No. 25 in KenPom and No. 28 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
Sooner head coach Porter Moser is in his third season at the helm of the Oklahoma basketball program.
- At OU, Moser is 46-34. He took the Oklahoma job after 10 years at Loyola Chicago and also has head coaching stops at both Illinois State and Little Rock. Overall, Moser has a career record of 339-276.
- In his 20-year career as a head coach, Moser has taken two teams to the NCAA Tournament, the most notable of which was in 2018 when Loyola Chicago went to the Final Four.
A part of Moser's staff at OU is former Iowa State player and member of Moser's 2018 Final Four team, Clayton Custer.
- Custer is in his first season as an assistant coach with OU after previously spending 2021-23 as the team's director of video operations and player development.
- At Iowa State, Custer played in 12 games during the 2014-15 season, where he averaged 1.1 points.

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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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