Iowa State vs. New Hampshire Primer

Who: Iowa State (10-2, 0-0 Big 12) vs. New Hampshire (8-4, 0-0 America East)

Where: Hilton Coliseum (14,267) – Ames, Iowa

When: Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023 – 12:00 p.m.

Tipping Off: Iowa State closes its non-conference portion of the schedule on Sunday, facing New Hampshire in the final game of 2023. The Cyclones have won 26-straight games against non-conference foes at Hilton Coliseum. Fans are encouraged to wear black, as the Cyclones will wear their black uniforms at home for the first time.

Iowa State and New Hampshire will be meeting for the first time ever this weekend. The Cyclones have played three teams from the America East Conference and are 3-0 all-time against the conference.

Storylines:

Iowa State has been scoring more this season than the previous two under Otzelberger, as the six highest scoring Cyclone outputs under Otz have all come this season.
- Iowa State's most points ever under Otz came this season – 107 against Prairie View A&M.
The Cyclones' current five-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 loss to 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 bested PVAMU 107-56. The 107 points were the most by any Cyclone team since 2019 when ISU bested Mississippi Valley State, scoring 110 points.
- ISU defeated Florida A&M, 96-58. It's the first time ISU has scored 90-plus in four straight wins since Nov. 20-Dec. 7, 2013.
- Iowa State most recently bested Eastern Illinois, 80-48. ISU moved to 5-0 in the month of December and have scored 80-plus points in five-straight games for the first time since doing so in six-straight games in 2018.
Tamin Lipsey continues to make steady improvement for the Cyclones, as the hometown kid is averaging a team-best 15.5 points per game. He leads the team in rebounds (72), assists (73), steals (43) and minutes played.
- Lipsey recorded four steals against Eastern Illinois. He has five 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, joining the likes of Monté Morris, Royce White, Jamaal Tinsley, Curtis Stinson and Marc Urquhart as members of the illustrious club.
- 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 he's recorded four 20-plus point outings this season, including three in the last five contests.
- Gilbert is averaging 14.8 points per contest and is leading the Big 12 in both free throws attempted (82) and is third in FT made (58).
  - He is second on the team in minutes, field goals made (55), assists (53) and steals (23).
- Gilbert earned his first career double-double against VCU on Thanksgiving, dropping 22 points and pulling in 10 boards.
- Gilbert tied his career-high in scoring against Iowa, dropping 25 points – the most by any Cyclone this season in a single game.
- He flirted with a triple-double in the Prairie View A&M game, dropping 20 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.
Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic has had a solid start to his freshman campaign, as the rookie from Pewaukee is averaging 13.5 points per game.
- Momcilovic has a team-high 26 3-pointers and strokes it at a 44.1% 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 nine 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 nine 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 71.6 percent from the floor. He also leads the team in blocks (14) and offensive rebounds (28).
Tre King is one of four Cyclones averaging double-figures, as the senior chips in 10.4 points per contest.
- Against DePaul, King tallied an Iowa State high of 24 points, going 10-15 from the field.
Jackson Paveletzke, Curtis Jones, Demarion Watson and Omaha Biliew make up the bench unit for the Cyclones.
- C. Jones had 18 points last time out, canning five threes against Eastern Illinois.
- 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 150-92 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 51-29 record over the last three seasons.

From the Notes:

Iowa State is 35-8 in games at Hilton Coliseum and is 34-7 in non-conference contests under Otzelberger. Otz is undefeated against non-conference opponents at home.
As of Friday, Dec. 29, the Cyclones are ranked No. 5 in the NET. The Cyclones slot in at No. 12 in the KenPom rankings and are No. 3 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
Lipsey has scored in double figures in 11 of the 12 contests this season.
The Cyclones are 21-1 under T.J. Otzelberger when four or more players score in double figures.
The Cyclones beat Florida A&M 96-58 on Dec. 17. It was the fourth-straight win in December, scoring over 90 points in all four games. It is just the third time in program history ISU has scored 90-plus points in four or more games in a row.
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.
Iowa State had double digit steals in each of the first four games this season. It's the first time since the 2016-17 season the Cyclones have done so in four-straight games.
ISU's 26-straight victories at home against non-conference opponents is the 12thlongest active streak in the nation. It is the fourth-longest streak in school history.

Switching Sides:

The Wildcats were voted to finish eighth out of nine in the AE while forward Clarence Daniels was named to the preseason all-conference team in the AE preseason poll.
- Daniels had a career-high 36 points against Brown earlier this year and has six 20-plus point games with five double-doubles.
- He earned All-Conference First Team honors last season and has won two America East Player of the Week awards this season.
The Wildcats will wrap up non-conference play today and are coming off their first win over Rhode Island since 1983 - having lost the previous nine matchups.
UNH leads the AE in 3-pointers per game, averaging 10.2. On the flip side, the Wildcats are number eight in the country in 3-point defense, holding opponents to 26 percent.
UNH has eight returners from last season, one freshman and five first-year transfers on the roster.
With New Hampshire and Iowa State meeting for the first time today, the Cyclones will have played their 294th different opponent in school history. ISU has one new opponent left on its schedule – UCF.
New Hampshire is off to its best start since the 2016-17 under first-year coach Nathan Davis.
The aforementioned Daniels – a three-time transfer – leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 19.8 points per game to go with 9.1 boards per contest.
In the backcourt, junior guard Ahmad Robinson is the lone other Wildcat to average double-digit scoring, as he chips in 16.2 points per game.
- Robinson leads the team in steals (18) and assists (61).
New Hampshire ranks No. 156 in the NET, No. 223 in KenPom and No. 165 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.
New Hampshire head coach Nathan Davis is in his first season at the helm of the Wildcat basketball program. He spent the past eight seasons coaching Bucknell and began his coaching career at his alma mater, NCAA Division III's Randolph-Macon. He owns a 278-158 all-time record as a head coach.

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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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Iowa State University Athletics