No. 3 Iowa State (17-2, 7-1) at Arizona (13-6, 7-1) |McKale Center | 8:30 p.m. Monday | ESPN | 1290-AM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA
G Jaden Bradley (6-3 junior)
G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)
F Anthony Dell’Orso (6-6 junior)
F Trey Townsend (6-6 senior)
C Tobe Awaka (6-8 junior)
IOWA STATE
G Keshon Gilbert (6-4 senior)
G Tamin Lipsey (6-1 junior)
F Curtis Jones (6-4 senior)
F Joshua Jefferson (6-9 junior)
C Dishon Jackson (6-11 senior)
How they match up
Series history: Arizona leads 4-3, though the teams have only played once in the past quarter-century, when the Wildcats beat the Cyclones 71-66 in the first round of the 2018-19 Maui Invitational.
Iowa State overview: Known for Top 10 defenses in three previous seasons under T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State this time has paired the nation’s sixth-rated defense with an offense now rated the 11th most efficient in Division I and the results have been explosive.
The Cyclones, who returned their top four scorers from last season, are off to their best start in 31 seasons and have ranked in the Top 3 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the past seven weeks. Their only losses are a 83-81 game with Auburn in the Maui Invitational and, in league play, a 64-57 loss at West Virginia on Jan. 18. While Iowa State played a below-average strength nonconference schedule, it beat Dayton, Marquette and Iowa, and so far in Big 12 play, the Cyclones’ wins include a 74-57 home win over Kansas and a 76-61 win at ASU on Saturday.
The Cyclones are aggressive defensively, with the sixth-best steal percentage in Division I, swiping the ball away on 14.1% of their opponents’ possessions and limiting two-point shooters to just 46.3% (the 35th best two-point defense). Their overall defensive turnover percentage (22.2) ranks 17th while Iowa State is an above-average rebounding team with a 34.9% offensive rebounding percentage and a 73.4% defensive rebounding percentage.
Offensively, the Cyclones don’t shoot a high percentage of 3-pointers (just 34.3%), although prolific guard Curtis Jones averages 2.8 made 3s per game at a 40.3% rate. Instead, Iowa State gets 53.1% of their scoring from twos and another 21.3% at the line. They hit 57.1% of their two-point shots (ranking 27th) and have the 35th highest ratio of free throws attempted to field goals attempted (39.9). They make free throws at a respectable 75.4% rate.
Already the Cyclones’ leading scorer before moving into the starting lineup earlier this month, when forward Milan Momcilovic was lost for 4-6 weeks with a hand injury, Jones is averaging 18.6 points while also hitting 82.8% of his free throws. The Cyclones also have double-digit scorers in point guard Keshon Gilbert (15.5) and Saint Mary’s transfer Joshua Jefferson (12.8). Momcilovic was averaging 10.8 points while making 44.3% of his 3s until his injury.
In his second season at Iowa State after transferring from UNLV, Gilbert gets inside to average 58.7% of his two-point shots while averaging 4.7 assists per game. A transfer from Saint Mary’s who suffered a season-ending leg injury late last season, Jefferson ranks 36th in defensive rebounding percentage (26.1) while hitting twos at a 58.5% rate.
Ames, Iowa local Tamin Lipsey is a tough defender who gets inside offensively to average 59.0%. A former Pac-12 player and long-ago UA recruiting target, Dishon Jackson, is a rebounder and rim protector inside in his first year at Iowa State after playing for Washington State and Charlotte. Jackson blocks 6.4% of opponent’s shots when he’s on the floor.
He said it: “They have amazing guards. Lipsey, Gilbert and Jones have all played together last year so those three have a great chemistry together. They look for each other, they believe in each other and it’s helped propel them. Jefferson and Jackson, their starting four and five, have really been great additions for their team. It’s crazy: Curtis Jones might be the MVP of the Big 12, but Joshua Jefferson might be the MVP of their team.
“(Jefferson) just connects them. He’s a fantastic passer. He’s unselfish, he moves the basketball. Defensively, he can guard three or four positions. He’s got great hands. Always seems to be in the right spot, very tough, and just a very good basketball player.
“Obviously, Jones is the elite scorer. He’s gonna shoot 3s. He’s gonna take a lot of shots. Gilbert’s really great at putting pressure on the rim, attacking downhill, trying to get down in the paint, jump, stop, get fouled. He’s fantastic at getting fouled. And Lipsey, he’s an amazing defender and capable 3-point shooter. Just plays within himself. Those three guys really understand their roles and play them as well any as well as any trio in the country.
“(Jackson) is guarding at an elite level. I think it’s part of their culture. He’s doing a great job. I mean, it’s impressive.
“(Their defense) is man-to-man and no middle … (meaning) they want to keep it on the side. They want to cut the court in half. They don’t want you to be able to dribble from the right wing for the left wing. They don’t want you to dribble from the right wing to the paint. They have really stuck with that defense that made Texas Tech great (under Chris Beard) and that Baylor won the national title with. They’ve taken that defense and added their own little sprinkles on it. And they play with a great intensity and pride.” — UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who scouted the Cyclones
Key players
Iowa State – Curtis Jones
Already invaluable off the bench, Jones can now play even more minutes as a starter. He played all but 12 seconds of Iowa State’s win at ASU on Saturday, scoring 33 points while hitting 8 of 10 free throws. In four games as a starter, he’s averaging 35.8 minutes while scoring an average of 23.8 points and shooting 44.8% from 3-point range.
Arizona — Caleb Love
Facing a leading candidate for the Big 12 Player of the Year in Jones before a late Monday night ESPN audience, Love has a chance to gain momentum on an inconsistent season that began with him named an AP preseason all-American.
Sidelines
Hilton Southwest
Conference realignment threw a gift at basketball-loving Iowa State alums living in Arizona this weekend, or those willing to take a winter break in the state.
Arizona guard Caleb Love (1) gets hit as he puts up a running jumper during the first half against Colorado, Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 25, 2025.
Playing their first game at ASU since 1977 on Saturday, the Cyclones drew so many fans Saturday at Desert Financial Arena that an ESPN announcer referred to them as the “Hilton Southwest crowd” when their roars during a late second-half rally drowned out Sun Devil fans.
“We’re fortunate,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said after Saturday’s game. “We have as passionate of a fan base as there is in the country and they travel and support us. There were times when we felt like we had crowd advantage as the game wore on, and that gives our guys all the confidence and energy in our world to keep pushing forward.”
While Cyclones fans may not be as likely to drown out UA fans at McKale Center on Monday, there were opportunities for them to find seats Monday. Arizona held a 25%-off flash sale on Friday, when 400 seats remained, the cheapest marked down from $60 to $45 plus fees.
Seats still showed available midday Sunday before Arizona announced at 2 p.m. that the game was sold out. Even then, pairs of seats were being offered on Seat Geek for as little as $28 each plus fees ($81.50 total for two) into late Sunday afternoon.
No ‘Pac-12 weekend’ for Buffs
While Iowa State is getting a taste of life in the old Pac-12, playing at ASU on Saturday and at Arizona on Monday with only a full day between games, Colorado didn’t get the same courtesy.
The Buffaloes were asked to make the 600-mile trip to play ASU on Jan. 4 and return to the state for Saturday’s game at McKale Center.
“There’s the positives and negatives about the Big 12 schedule,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said Saturday. “The positive is, we played this game at one o’clock so we’ll get back home tonight. The negative is, we had to come to Arizona twice, two different plane trips.
“We’re kind of stuck in the in the middle. Iowa State played Arizona State (on Saturday). They’re going to be here Monday. We don’t get that. Other teams go to BYU and Utah, play those two, knock them out. We don’t get that.”
The Buffs’ two-game road swings in Big 12 play are TCU and Utah, located nearly 1,000 miles apart, and Kansas State and Texas Tech (475 miles).
Boyle said Big 12 coaches have talked about the schedule, which is 20 games this season and possibly just 18 next season, but ultimately do not have input.
“A 20-game league schedule is a nightmare with all the parameters that the Big 12 has,” Boyle said. “We’ve got to learn as a league what works, what doesn’t work. I think we’ll figure that out. I don’t know how many games we’ll play next year, but certainly, I’d rather come to Arizona and knock these two out together, rather than having to come here twice.”
Ever-confident
Curtis Jones set a new career high with 33 points at ASU, keeping the Cyclones afloat with 18 in the first half, after which they trailed ASU 40-33.
ISU responded by outscoring ASU 43-21 in the second half and, to hear Jones afterward, he could have helped them gain an even bigger comeback.
“I’m kind of mad because I missed four in a row” during a mid second-half stretch, Jones said. ”But I’ve been in that position before, I played a lot of college basketball. I know it just takes one and after one it gets to two. That’s just the kind of player that I feel like I am, where it doesn’t really matter what happens. I just think that next one’s gonna go in.”
Numbers game
2: Points Trey Townsend needs to hit 2,000 for his college career, having scored 1,813 over four seasons at Oakland before arriving at Arizona this season.
8: Jones’ spot on the KenPom Player of the Year rankings, behind only Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson (3) and West Virginia’s Javon Small (7) among Big 12 players. Duke’s Cooper Flagg is rated No. 1 and Auburn’s Johni Broome No. 2.
19: Straight weeks Iowa State has been ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 entering Monday’s poll, the longest streak in the nation.
— Bruce Pascoe
