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

On By Littum

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, November 25, 2024 – 8:00 PM CT

Watch/Listen: ESPNU/Cyclone Radio Network

Tip: After starting 3-0 for the ninth time in the last 12 years, Iowa State will switch to island time when it heads to Hawaii 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 step 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 meet in what is the first-ever top-10 first-round matchup in Maui history and just the fifth top-25 first-round meeting ever.

ISU has cruised in its first three contests, winning by an average margin of 33 points. It’s early days, but the Cyclones have used the same recipe for success that they’ve honed over the first three seasons of TJ Otzelberger – opportunistic, hard-nosed defense. ISU currently ranks third in adjusted defense in the nation and is outscoring its opponents on 28% of possessions – the second-highest rate in the country.

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

Story Lines:

  • Four Cyclones scored in double figures as the no. 5 Iowa State cruised to an 87-52 victory over IU Indianapolis last Monday night at Hilton Coliseum in the final game before the daunting Maui Invitational.

  • Through three competitions, sixth Curtis Jones leads the Cyclones in scoring, averaging 15 points per game. competition.

    • In his last 21 contests coming off the bench, Jones has finished with double-digit points 19 times.

    • Jones recorded 20 points and collected at least five rebounds in the final 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 ever to produce those numbers in consecutive games off the bench.

  • Tamin Lipsey has continued to build on his breakout sophomore campaign as the junior from Ames is averaging 13.7 points and three steals per game. match.

    • 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 leading scorer.

  • Keshon Gilbert leads the team in minutes played, averaging 12.3 points per game. match and hands out a team-best seven assists per match.

    • 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 teams.

  • Joshua Jefferson recorded his fifth career double-double, and first by a Cyclone this season, against IU Indianapolis, scoring 16 points and collecting 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 figures in scoring as he puts up 10.3 points per game. match.

    • Momcilovic earned All-Championship team honors last year as well as All-Freshman Team recognition.

  • Dishon Jackson recorded his first double-digit rebounding effort last time out when he paired 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 it in 2021.

From the notes:

  • As head coach, TJ Otzelberger is 172-98 overall and has led the Cyclones to a 73-35 record over the past three seasons.

  • Under Otz, ISU is 40-8 against non-conference opponents. The 40 wins are tied for seventh-most in the nation, and the .833 winning percentage is sixth-best.

  • Iowa State has now won 21 straight home games at Hilton Coliseum, 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 try 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 TJ 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 Iowa State conference foes.

    • Iowa State head coach TJ 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 at Feast Week, advancing to the championship game in seven of them and winning the title in four. Overall, ISU has an 18-10 record on the week of the festival.

  • 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 TJ OtzelbergerISU 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 has appeared in a Thanksgiving week tournament featuring North Carolina, Michigan State and UConn (the other being PKI in 2022).

  • As of Thursday, November 21, ISU is ranked no. 5 of the Associated Press.

    • ISU is also ranked no. 12 by ESPN’s College Basketball BPI and no. 7 by KenPom.

Change page:

  • Two of the four all-time meetings between the Cyclones and Tigers have come on neutral floors, when 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.

    • In the previous four 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.

    • In addition to being a preseason All-American, Auburn’s Johni Broome was named preseason First Team All-SEC.

    • Joining Broome on a preseason team was wing Chad Baker-Mazara, who received Third Team All-SEC honors.

  • Auburn, like Iowa State, boasts a top-five defense. The Tigers have held their last 11 opponents under 80 points, as well as six of their 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 included stops in 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, Tigers no. 2 in KenPom and no. 3 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index.