Heading into conference play undefeated, No. 3 Iowa State closed out 2025 with an 89-61 victory over Houston Christian, marking the Cyclones’ second 13-0 record in program history.

Second chance success

After a seven day break, the Cyclones still lacked their usual energy on the court. This was similar to a previous game a few weeks back against Eastern Illinois, where Iowa State took home a 78-53 victory despite its sluggish behavior. 

Thinking the team had moved past having lethargic games, the lingering presence of inaccuracy was still apparent in the Cyclones’ 28-point win.

In the first half, Iowa State went 15-for-29 from the field, missing a lot of transition shots and baskets from deep. The Cyclones relied on their teammates’ success with offensive rebounds in order to go back up for a second chance shot. Iowa State secured 16 second-chance points, making up 39% of the Cyclones’ 41 points in the half. 

“We’re doing great things in practice. So I mean, I expected us to perform a lot better in the first half,” senior guard Tamin Lipsey said. “But obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball great tonight.”

Ending the game, Iowa State shot 50% from the field and continued its strength on second-chance shots as the Cyclones secured 24 points and 17 offensive rebounds.

Lingering weakness from deep

Iowa State thought the worst was behind them after going 0-for-14 from deep in the exhibition loss against Creighton, then most recently went 4-for-23 from the three in the victory over Eastern Illinois.

Now, the lingering inconsistency from deep still remains as the Cyclones made three of their 10 attempted shots from behind the arc.

Iowa State was able to build the momentum late in the second half, with five players overall finding success from deep, and ending the game shooting 31.6% 

Junior forward Milan Momcilovic had the most fun from behind the arc as he went 2-for-6 and secured 13 points during his time on the court. 

“He’s got to stay hunting, he’s got to stay aggressive,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Regardless of what the outcome is, night in and night out, we believe in him and we believe it will all be best for our team the more he continues to hunt.”

Senior forward Joshua Jefferson, freshman guards Killyan Toure, Jamarion Batemon and junior guard Cade Kelderman all secured one successful triple.

Despite the Cyclones’ inability to find a lot of success from the 3-point line, Iowa State relied on other offensive aspects.

“Blake [Buchanan], I think he had six [offensive rebounds] of them, just shows his activity, and then our guards rebounding getting so many, Tamin [Lipsey] got a lot,” Jefferson said. “So just keeping that activity on the board is going to help us go even farther.”

Scrappy Huskies control court

Having a longer break than the Cyclones and having not played a game since Dec.17, Houston Christian came out to play against Iowa State and despite the loss, the Huskies were able to outperform the Cyclones in different aspects of the game.

Known for its scrappiness, Houston Christian was always able to make large comebacks and shorten the point differential. In the first half, Iowa State went on a 10-0 run; then, HCU bounced back and went on an 11-0 run to take the lead at 11-10.

However, in the final minutes, Iowa State gained momentum and tore away from the close score and gained its largest lead of 31 points, a point deficit the Huskies could not come back from.

Therefore, the team’s offense could not thrive without defense as the Huskies secured eight steals throughout the game, compared to Iowa State’s six. Alongside forcing nine turnovers on the Cyclones and securing 14 points from their mistakes.

“They did a great job defensively at packing the paint and playing physical,” Lipsey said. “But in the second half, we were able to find ways to make it work.”

All quotes are provided by the Cyclone Fanatic YouTube Channel.