The No. 16 Cyclones started the 2025-26 season on the right foot with a convincing 88-50 win over FDU in Hilton Coliseum on Monday.
Iowa State improves to 1-0 on the season, getting the first real game under its belt as the regular season officially kicked off Monday. The Knights found little success against a hounding Cyclone defense and dropped to 0-1.
Momcilovic sets multiple career highs
In the two exhibition games the Cyclones played in, junior forward Milan Momcilovic shot a combined 1-14 from 3-point land, an area he has excelled in during his career at Iowa State. During the Cyclones’ first real game of the season, Momcilovic flipped a switch.
“Hopefully it’s how it looks every game, but I mean, just look at the scrimmages, there is ups and downs to my year,” Momcilovic said. “I think just playing with confidence is one of the biggest things.”
In a little over 28 minutes, Momcilovic shot an impressive 7-10 from deep, more than tripling the number of threes he made in two exhibition games. The seven threes was also a career high for Momcilovic, who has had games with six made threes in each of the past two seasons.
“It’s not just relying on that 3-point shot, as aggressive as we want him to be,” Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “It’s finding other ways, cutting, you know, posting a smaller guy, trying to get some points in the paint, finish around the goal. That makes those threes feel a lot better with the rhythm too.”
Despite missing his first two shot attempts, Momcilovic ended the game with 29 points, also setting a new career high in that category and leading the way for Iowa State. His previous career high was 24, which he set against Colorado in 2024.
“I think that just shows good confidence that I have, that I missed my first two shots,” Momcilovic said. “I’m still gonna shoot the next one when it presents itself.”
With a 37.7 career 3-point percentage, Momcilovic has gotten off to a good start for his junior season, ending the first game with a 70% clip from deep.
Toure continues to impress
Freshman guard Killyan Toure started both exhibition games for the Cyclones, but some assumed that was just in place of senior guard Tamin Lipsey. With Lipsey back in the lineup Monday, Toure was still in the starting five, this time alongside Lipsey.
Toure finished Monday with nine points and a pair of rebounds and assists, but a lot of his work doesn’t end up in the stat sheet on the defensive end. His first bucket was a fastbreak dunk off a Lipsey assist.
“Obviously, he’s been a great spark for our team early on this year, obviously one game, but those exhibitions as well,” Lipsey said. “Just how he pressures the ball, plays hard every second of the game and it’s impressive to see his performances out there.”
In his first official start, Toure played the third most minutes with just under 28 minutes, just behind Momcilovic and senior forward Joshua Jefferson.
The way that Toure played in the exhibitions and in the home opener Monday has drawn some comparisons to how Lipsey started his career in the cardinal and gold, when he started 33 of 33 games his freshman year.
“Killyan [Toure] has been ultra consistent,” Otzelberger said. “I mean, if there’s one thing you can say in the three times that we’ve played in front of people, it looks about the same every time from him. He plays really hard. He seems to always go one-for-three from three. He gets loose balls.”
Toure played full-court defense, picking up the ball handler as soon as he can. Lipsey praised him for his tenacity and willingness to do that, especially as a freshman.
“It feels amazing seeing him pick up the ball full court and just pressure the guards,” Lipsey said. “Gives me the opportunity to sort of play defense off the ball, and I feel like that’s where I get some of my steals.”
The No. 16 Cyclones have a few days of rest before suiting back up against Grambling State in Hilton Coliseum at 7 p.m. Thursday.
