This isn’t the Iowa State men’s basketball team we saw in 2020, that’s for sure.

The Cyclones had themselves a Thanksgiving week to remember, winning the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament after beating No. 25 Xavier and No. 9 Memphis — improving to 6-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The 78-59 win over Memphis is the largest margin of victory over a top-10 opponent in program history (19).

And, oh yeah, they’ve already tripled their wins from last season.

Iowa State returns to Ames Wednesday for another match-up with a SWAC opponent in the non-conference schedule. They will officially close the first month of the season undefeated and on the verge of being ranked in the AP top-25.

The Otzelberger era couldn’t have asked for a better start.

Transfers light it up

T.J. Otzelberger touted the high-major transfers the Cyclones were able to add in the off-season, with the two most-proven producers of the bunch being Gabe Kalscheur and Izaiah Brockington.

Six games in, especially at the NIT Tip-Off, they’re finding a groove and giving Iowa State a big boost.

Brockington and Kalscheur were named to the NIT Tip-Off all-tournament team after respectively leading the Cyclones in the scoring column in each game of the tournament.

Brockington, a transfer from Penn State, has been Iowa State’s most consistent threat on offense in the early portion of the season, leading the team in scoring at 15.5 ppg.

But he turned it up a notch in the Cyclones’ first game against No. 25 Xavier on Wednesday.

He had a career-high 30 points in the 82-70 win for the Cyclones, scoring 23 of his points in the second half. Brockington went 10-13 from the field in the second half, including 3-5 from three-point range.

He became the first Cyclone to score 30 points since Lindell Wigginton against Baylor on Jan. 13, 2018.

And then Kalscheur decided he wanted a 30-ball of his own before the Cyclones left Brooklyn.

The transfer from Minnesota scored a career-high 30 points, surpassing 1,000 career points and matched his career high with eight rebounds and five steals. Kalscheur shot 10-18 from the field and 3-5 from deep and got his first game with 20+ points as a Cyclone.

The back-to-back 30-point performances by two different players is the first time Iowa State has had that since Jeff Grayer and Lafester Rhodes back in 1988. 

Big Apple Turnovers

No, not the dessert. But the Cyclones’ defense in Brooklyn sure was sweet.

Iowa State forced a combined 39 turnovers over the two wins over top-25 opponents, forcing the Musketeers into 17, while the Tigers had 22.

The Cyclones scored 16 points off of Xavier’s turnovers, including 16 fast break points for the game. In the upset Friday, Iowa State scored 23 points off Memphis’ mistakes, including 13 steals.

Friday was the first time the Tigers have had 20 or more turnovers against a high-major opponent since facing the University of Connecticut on Feb 1, 2020.

In the 2020-21 season, Iowa State forced opponents into 20+ turnovers one time. Six games into the Otzelberger era, the Cyclones have done it three times already.

Top-25 history

Given all the losing that took place last season, securing a win over a top-25 opponent — or even two for that matter — was historic in its own right.

Iowa State defeated top-25 opponents in consecutive games for the first time since March 2019 when the Cyclones beat No. 15 Kansas State and No. 17 Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament.

The 19-point win over Memphis is the largest margin of victory over a top-10 opponent in school history and the second-largest margin of victory ever over a top-25 team.

The win over Xavier is the first win against a ranked opponent since defeating No. 16 Seton Hall (76-66) on Dec. 18, 2019.