Editor’s note: The headline of this article incorrectly stated the score of the game. It has been updated to reflect the correct score.

AMES — A mixture of offensive momentum from a variety of players drove No. 5 Iowa State to secure a revenge and statement 74-56 win over No. 9 Kansas on Valentine’s Day.

With revenge on the mind as the Cyclones faced a devastating 84-63 loss in Allen Fieldhouse in January, it was time for Kansas to have its faults exposed in Hilton Coliseum. 

“They were a lot better today than they were the first time we played them,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said.

As the Jayhawks suffered a heartbreaking 18-point loss, the Cyclones continued to have Valentine’s Day luck, playing their first game in 11 years on the holiday and having won the last four games played on Cupid’s Day.

Batemon drives early momentum

Coming into the game, freshman guard Jamarion Batemon averaged 39% from deep, making one out of every three shots. However, with a clear improvement, Batemon shocked all Cyclone fans in Hilton as he drove the bench offensively and was a reliable component to Iowa State’s success behind the arc.

Batemon’s first shot was at the 10-minute mark from deep to bring the Cyclones to a 14-9 lead. At the five-minute mark, Batemon made a driving layup to save the Cyclones lead at 21-20. 

Now known for his accuracy from behind the arc, Batemon’s teammates kept dishing him the ball. After a missed jumper by senior guard Tamin Lipsey, Batemon was able to score a second-chance jumper from deep to further the Cyclones lead of 26-22.

“Man, it was an amazing experience,” Batemon said. “The fans came, how they expected them to come, they brought their energy. We told them to get hyped, they got hyped.”

Batemon played a crucial role in helping the Cyclones gain momentum in the first half, leading them to a 10-point advantage by halftime. He contributed eight points, shooting 3-for-6 from the field and also secured two defensive rebounds during his nine minutes of play.

“They [Cyclones] do a great job of stealing possessions, taking advantages because they look for their 3-point shooters to be in,” Self said. “Obviously, the youngster off the bench, Batemon, he was good, he was good in the first half, he was really good.”

In the second half, Batemon put up one shot from deep and ended the game with 11 points and three defensive rebounds. 

3-pointers start second half

After a first half, where the Cyclones went 3-for-16 from deep, with Batemon making two of those shots and freshman guard Killyan Toure securing one, the best shooter in the nation was roughly guarded and faced a slow start as he went 0-for-4 from behind the arc.

After halftime, all of that changed as junior forward Milan Momcilovic secured the first shot for the Cyclones in the second half from behind the arc, bringing their lead to 40-29.

After a bad pass by Kansas senior guard Tre White, causing a turnover, Momcilovic was open for another stepback jumper from deep.

Lipsey then went ahead from a steal by Momcilovic to have his time behind the arc, as he secured a jumper from deep off an opponent turnover. He then went on to make another 3-point shot, bringing the Cyclones to a 20-point lead.

“Obviously, I hadn’t shot the ball well in the past couple weeks,” Lipsey said. “So just know I’m keeping that confidence. T.J. [Otzelberger] was on me that past couple of days, we knew that they were probably going under ball screens and play off a little bit. So I just had that confidence to step in and knock it down.”

After securing four shots from deep in a row to start the second half, Momcilovic continued to get hot as he hit a second-chance fade-away from the far left corner at the last second to beat the shot clock.

“It was definitely a cool momentum cause I had the shot,” Momcilovic said. “I really should of shot the first one that was kinda open, I turned it down. Then I heard coach behind me just yelling there were only four seconds on the clock, so I knew I had to go.” 

“I don’t think I felt helpless until Momcilovic made the one in the corner,” Self said. “I don’t know that you do anything other than say ‘well done’ because we actually defended that very well.”

Batemon finished off the Cyclones consecutive shots from deep as he hit his own jumper from beyond the arc, completing the Cyclones uninterrupted shots from the three, but did nothing to slow the momentum.

After Iowa State’s six consecutive shots to start the second half, the Cyclones took their 10-point lead at the end of the first half and turned it into a 21-point lead at 57-34 within four minutes.

Jayhawks slow in final minutes

As Kansas was able to shorten its scoring gap in the final minutes, Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger consistently motivates his team to finish out the game strong, and that’s exactly what happened.

The Cyclones defense stayed consistently strong throughout the game and continued to hold on for the final minutes, leaving the Jayhawks to make zero of their last six field goal shots and go on a scoring drought in the final four minutes of the game.

However, the exact opposite happened for the Cyclones. As its defense drives its offense, Iowa State was able to go on a 6-0 run in the final three minutes, all while still playing high-end defense to permit a single shot from Kansas.

“They had great resilience to who finished the game,” Otzelberger said. “They [Jayhawks] were starting to narrow the margin and cutting it to 12 or closer. I think for us to be able to get the stops and finish the plays on the glass and then control the basketball was important.”

Although the Jayhawks did have opportunities to shoot in the final minutes, a lot of their attempts fell short and had sloppy motions. Kansas finished the second half shooting 31% from the field, going 9-for-29.

Overall, the Cyclones held Kansas to making 19 of its 51 attempted shots from the field and went 6-for-18 from deep.

Compared to Kansas’s lack of offensive skill in the final minutes, Iowa State went the exact opposite direction and finished the game shooting an overall 50% from the field and 57% from deep. 

Momcilovic led the team at 18 points, shooting 4-for-9 from deep, and four players were close behind, each securing 11 points apiece.