No. 5 Iowa State vs. No. 4 Auburn Primer

Who: No. 5 Iowa State (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. No. 4 Auburn (4-0, 0-0 SEC)

Where: Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) – Lahaina, Hawai'i

When: Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 – 8 p.m. CT

Watch/Listen: ESPNU / Cyclone Radio Network

Tipping Off: After starting 3-0 for the ninth time in the last 12 years, Iowa State will shift to island time as it heads to Hawai'i to participate in the 2024 Maui Invitational. The premier Thanksgiving week basketball tournament boasts a stacked field that includes four top ten teams, No. 2 UConn, No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 ISU and No. 10 North Carolina as well as Memphis, Colorado, Michigan State and Dayton.

The Cyclones will see their competition ratchet up significantly from the first few contests, as Iowa State will face its first ranked opponent of the season in Auburn. Iowa State and the Tigers will meet in what is the first-ever top-10 first-round matchup in Maui history and is just the fifth-ever top-25 first-round meeting.

ISU has cruised in its first three competitions, winning by an average margin of 33 points. It's early, but the Cyclones have used the same recipe for success that they've honed over the first three seasons under T.J. Otzelberger – opportunistic, hard-nosed defense. ISU currently ranks third in adjusted defense in the country and turns over its opponents on 28% of possessions – the second-highest rate in the nation.

Auburn, like Iowa State, has cruised in early competition, winning its games by an average of 28 points. However, wedged between some convincing winning margins was an impressive top-five upset of then-No. 4 Houston in The Battleground 2k game. The neutral court win over Houston vaulted previously 11th-ranked Auburn into the top five, leapfrogging the Cyclones in the AP Poll.

Storylines:

Four Cyclones scored in double-figures as No. 5 Iowa State cruised to an 87-52 victory over IU Indianapolis last Monday night in Hilton Coliseum in the final game before the daunting Maui Invitational.
Through three contests, sixth-man Curtis Jones leads the Cyclones in scoring, averaging 15 points per contest.
- In his last 21 contests where he has come off the bench, Jones has finished with double-figure points 19 times.
- Jones recorded 20 points and gathered at least five rebounds in the last two games to become the first Cyclone since at least 1996 to do so in consecutive games off the bench.
  - Jones is the seventh Big 12 player to ever produce those numbers in consecutive games off the bench.
Tamin Lipsey has continued to build off of his breakout sophomore campaign, as the junior from Ames averages 13.7 points and three steals per game.
- Lipsey was an AP Honorable Mention All-American last season, as well as a First Team All-Big 12 member and a member of the league's All-Defensive Team.
- He led the team in rebounds, assists and steals last season while being the team's second-highest scorer.
Keshon Gilbert leads the team in minutes played, averaging 12.3 points per game and dishing out a team-best seven assists per game.
- Gilbert was the team's leading scorer in 2023-24.
- Gilbert was named the Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player last season and also earned recognition on both the All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Newcomer team.
Joshua Jefferson recorded his fifth career double-double, and first by a Cyclone this season, against IU Indianapolis, where he scored 16 points and collected 10 boards.
- Jefferson went 7-7 from the field with four assists to pair with his double-double.
Sophomore wing Milan Momcilovic is the fifth Cyclone to average double-figure scoring, as he chips in 10.3 points per game.
- Momcilovic earned All-Championship team accolades last year as well as All-Freshman Team recognition.
Dishon Jackson recorded his first double-digit rebounding effort last time out, pairing with Jefferson, as he had 10 rebounds.
- Jefferson and Jackson became the first Cyclone duo to have at least 10 rebounds in a game since Tristan Enaruna and Izaiah Brockington did so in 2021.

From the Notes:

As a head coach, T.J. Otzelberger is 172-98 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 73-35 record over the last three seasons.
Under Otz, ISU is 40-8 against non-conference opponents. The 40 wins are tied for the seventh-most in the nation and the .833 winning percentage is the sixth best.
Iowa State has now won 21 straight home games at Hilton Coliseum, tied for the fourth-longest active home winning streak in the country.
Coach Otzelberger is the only Iowa State men's basketball coach to take multiple teams to the Sweet 16.
- Otz will attempt to become the first coach in program history to take a team to the NCAA Tournament in his first four years as coach.
The Cyclones are 33-1 under T.J. Otzelberger when four or more players score in double figures.
Iowa State is 228-333 all-time against teams from the SEC, including a 2-2 record against Auburn. A majority of those games have come against Missouri (86-151), Oklahoma (94-123) and Texas (21-28), as all three are former conference foes of Iowa State.
- Iowa State Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger is 8-9 against the SEC, including an 8-6 record at Iowa State. He owns wins over LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
Iowa State has appeared in 11 events since 2011-12 on Feast Week, advancing to the championship game in seven of those and winning the title in four. Overall, ISU has an 18-10 record on Feast Week.
Iowa State is 3-3 all-time in the Maui Invitational, participating in 1990 and 2018. The Cyclones own wins over Chaminade (1990), Illinois (2018) and San Diego State (2018) in the tournament.
Under T.J. Otzelberger, ISU won the 2021 NIT Season Tip-Off. In 2022, ISU advanced to the PKI Championship game before falling to eventual National Champion UConn.
- This is the second time in the last three years that Iowa State will appear in a Thanksgiving week tournament that features North Carolina, Michigan State and UConn (the other being the PKI in 2022).
As of Thursday, Nov. 21, ISU is ranked No. 5 by the Associated Press.
- ISU is also ranked No. 12 by ESPN's College Basketball BPI and No. 7 by KenPom.

Switching Sides:

Two of the four all-time meetings between the Cyclones and Tigers have come on neutral floors, as the teams met in the 1986 Sun Bowl Classic in El Paso and the 2000 NCAA Tournament Second Round in Minneapolis. The last two meetings were part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
- During the four previous meetings, at least one of the two teams was ranked in the AP Top 25. The 2000 NCAA Tournament game featured both teams being ranked, with Iowa State No. 6 and Auburn No. 24. Auburn was No. 5 during the 1986 Sun Bowl Classic.
The Tigers were picked to finish second out of 16 in the SEC Preseason Poll, voted on by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.
- Auburn's Johni Broome, in addition to being a preseason All-American, was voted preseason First Team All-SEC.
- Joining Broome on a preseason team was wing Chad Baker-Mazara, who received Third Team All-SEC distinction.
Auburn, like Iowa State, boasts a top-five defense. The Tigers have held its last 11 opponents under 80 points, as well as six of its last seven opponents (dating back to last year) under 70 points.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl is in his 11th year at the helm of the Tiger program, where he is 204-119.
- Overall, Pearl is 666-264 in his 30-year head coaching career, which began at Southern Indiana and had includes stops at both Milwaukee and Tennessee.
- Pearl led Auburn to the school's first and only Final Four appearance in 2019, where the team lost to eventual champion Virginia.
As of Thursday, the Tigers are No. 2 in KenPom and No. 3 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

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Players Mentioned

Keshon Gilbert

Dishon Jackson

Joshua Jefferson

Curtis Jones

Tamin Lipsey

Milan Momcilovic

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Iowa State University Athletics