No. 14 Iowa State vs. TCU Primer

Who: No. 14 Iowa State (17-5, 6-3 Big 12) vs. TCU (16-6, 5-4 Big 12)

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

When: Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 – 1 p.m.

Tipping Off: After picking up a huge road win at Texas on Tuesday night, Iowa State returns to Hilton Coliseum to welcome the TCU Horned Frogs for the teams' second meeting of the season. Iowa State forced 27 turnovers in route to a ranked road win over the Frogs who were slotted 19th at the time.

Iowa State and TCU will meet for the 31st time this weekend and for the 25th time as conference foes. The Cyclones lead the all-time series 16-14 and have won the past four meetings over the Horned Frogs. TCU coach Jamie Dixon has quietly had success in Hilton, winning four of the seven appearances.

Storylines:

UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert, a St. Louis native, averages a team-best 13.9 points per game and has been on a tear as of late.
- He has averaged 16.5 points per contest over the last six, along with 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Gilbert is also shooting 38.5 percent from deep during that span.
- Gilbert recorded a triple-double against New Hampshire, 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 second in the Big 12 in free throws attempted (121) and fourth in FT made (87).
  - He is second on the team in assists (89) and third in steals (38).
- Gilbert has two Big 12 Newcomer of the Week awards to his name this season.
- He's recorded a team-best six 20-plus point outings.
Tamin Lipsey has been his usual stat-stuffer self for the Cyclones so far this year, as the Ames native is averaging 13.5 points per game to go along with team-highs in assists (117), steals (65) and minutes played per game (31.1).
- Lipsey leads all Big 12 players in steals and steals per game.
  - He is fifth and second respectively, nationally, in those categories.
- 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.
Iowa State freshman Milan Momcilovic has been having a solid rookie campaign, as the first-year from Pewaukee is averaging 12.9 points per game – the third-most on the team.
- Momcilovic has a team-high 44 3-pointers and shoots it at 40.4 percent.
- He 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.
Robert Jones leads the team in offensive rebounds (54), field goal percentage (62%) and blocks (20).
Tre King leads the team in rebounds, as the senior out of Lexington, Ky., averages 5.3 per game and has a total of 117 boards.
Ward, Curtis Jones, Jackson Paveletzke, Demarion Watson and Omaha Biliew make up the bench unit for the Cyclones.
C. Jones has been stellar off the bench in the last three games.
- He's scored in double figures in the last five games, averaging 14.4 points.
- He had seven steals in the previous meeting with TCU, tying him for the second-most steals in a single game in Iowa State history.
  - It's the first time ever that two Cyclones recorded games with seven-plus steals in a single season.
As a head coach, Otz is 157-95 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 58-32 record over the last three seasons.

From the Notes:

Iowa State has won 13 straight games at Hilton Coliseum, tied for the 12th longest active home winning streak in the country. ISU is one of eight teams in the country that are undefeated at home with at least 13 wins.
Saturday's game lines up almost perfectly (two days off) with the 10th anniversary of Iowa State's Melvin Ejim breaking the Big 12 scoring record with 48 points against TCU. With 18 rebounds, his 66 combined points and rebounds are also a league record.
Iowa State has held all but one Big 12 opponent under its season scoring average. The Cyclones have held two Big 12 opponents to their lowest point totals this season, Houston (53) and Oklahoma State (42).
Only nine players in the country are averaging at least 13.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season. Two of them reside in the Cyclone backcourt in Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert.
Lipsey has a steal in 34 straight games, the second-longest active streak in the nation and the longest in school history. He has a steal in 52 of the 53 games he has played.
Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert each have triple-doubles to their names this season - making ISU the only team in the country with multiple players boasting a triple-double.
- There are now eight in school history.
The Cyclones are 24-1 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.
As of Friday, the Cyclones are ranked No. 9 in the NET. The Cyclones slot in at No. 12 in the KenPom rankings and are No. 8 in ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

Switching Sides:

The Horned Frogs were picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, two spots ahead of the Cyclones, in the eighth season of the Jamie Dixon Era and are currently receiving votes.
TCU returned 10 athletes from last season and brought in a pair of freshmen to pair with five first-year transfers.
- Among those first-year transfers are a pair of familiar faces, as both Avery Anderson III (OSU) and Ernest Udoh (KU) transferred from other Big 12 programs.
- Also, among the first-year transfers is Jameer Nelson Jr., son of NBA All-Star and Saint Joseph's legend Jameer Nelson.
TCU ranks top in the nation in fastbreak points, as the Horned Frogs average 20.82 points per game.
Preseason All-Big 12 Team member Emanuel Miller leads TCU in scoring, as the senior forward out of Ontario averages 16.4 points per game.
- Miller has thrice been named the Big 12 Player of the Week this season.
The Frogs are currently ranked No. 30 in KenPom, No. 37 in the NET and No. 25 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index.
Horned Frog head coach Jamie Dixon has been a head coach for 21 seasons, beginning his tenure with a 13-year stint at Pitt before taking over TCU. With the Horned Frogs, Dixon is 155-103 and has led the Frogs to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
- Overall, Dixon is 483-226 in his career.
- With Pitt, Dixon had two Sweet Sixteen appearances ('04 & '07) and he also took the Panthers to an Elite Eight in 2009.
  - Dixon has taken 14 of his previous 20 teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Players Mentioned

Omaha Biliew

Keshon Gilbert

Curtis Jones

Robert Jones

Tre King

Tamin Lipsey

Milan Momcilovic

Jackson Paveletzke

Demarion Watson

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics