Iowa State withstood Texas Tech’s greatest effort to notch a troublesome Large 12 street win on Saturday. The Cyclones erased a 13-point first-half deficit of their 85-84 additional time win.
Related Press No. 3 Iowa State (14-1, 4-0 in Large 12) wanted a buzzer-beater on the finish of regulation to ship the sport to an additional interval.
Sophomore ahead Milan Momcilovic took the inbound go from the baseline and pushed it upcourt with a go to junior guard Tamin Lipsey, who drove towards the basket.
Cyclones junior ahead Joshua Jefferson trailed the play, and Lipsey discovered him open beneath the basket. Jefferson launched the ball simply earlier than the clock hit triple zeroes to maintain Iowa State’s excellent Large 12 begin intact.
In additional time, Jefferson knocked down two free throws with 4.1 seconds left to present Iowa State an 85-84 lead, and the Cyclones held on after Texas Tech missed a last-second layup.
With the win, Iowa State remained one in all three Large 12 groups undefeated in convention play, which started on Dec. 30, becoming a member of Houston (14-3, 3-0 in Large 12) and Arizona (9-5, 3-0 in Large 12).
The Cyclones are one of many nation’s hottest groups, profitable 11 in a row. Their solely loss was to No. 2 Auburn (15-1, 3-0 in SEC), 83-81, within the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25.
Iowa State’s depth makes it a legit risk to win the 2025 NCAA Event. Coming off the bench, senior guard Curtis Jones led all scorers towards Texas Tech. He had 26 factors on 8-of-15 taking pictures, together with 3-of-7 from past the arc, in 35 minutes.
Jones leads the Cyclones in scoring (17.3 factors) this season however has solely began as soon as. 5 gamers are averaging a minimum of 10 factors per recreation.
Per KenPom, Iowa State is one in all two groups to rank within the high 10 within the nation in offensive and defensive ranking (Duke). The Cyclones entered Saturday No. 7 in NET rankings and improved to 4-1 in Quad 1 video games following the win towards Texas Tech.
Subsequent, Iowa State hosts No. 11 Kansas (12-3, 3-1 in Large 12) on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2), giving it one other potential resume-boosting recreation because it seems to be to earn a 1-seed in March Insanity for the primary time in program historical past.
