KANSAS CITY — Overpowered with offensive weapons, No. 7 Iowa State came out strong in the first half, but was no match for a buzzer-beater two-pointer by No. 2 Arizona to close out the Cyclones time in the Big 12 Tournament with an 82-80 loss.

Offensive surprises

Not spending a lot of time shooting, averaging 7.9 points per game and when handed the ball, focuses more on defense and helps the team by distributing the ball more than shooting, freshman guard Killyan Toure became a focal point on Iowa State’s offense.

Starting his momentum was a second-chance stepback jumper to double Arizona’s score and continued the Cyclones lead of 16-8 in the first half. Soon after, Toure went up again for another jumper, finding his groove, the France-native hit a 3-point jumper.

“Some teams made choices to obviously stagg off him because he hadn’t been shooting it as well,” junior forward Milan Momcilovic said. “And just to see him continue to work day in and day out on his shot and come out in this game, a huge game…. It’s just great to see.”

Toure ended with 12 points, three rebounds and one assist. This was his first game in double-figures since the Cyclones 95-61 win against Kansas State on Feb 1, where he put up 13 points.

“Today I was feeling good,” Toure said. “There was an excitement and I just wanted to play my game without having any regrets.”

Junior forward Blake Buchanan also showed his aggressiveness in the paint, securing eight points shooting 4-for-7, while also securing four rebounds, three of which were offensive.

Alongside Buchanan, senior forward Joshua Jefferson showed his dominance in the paint, securing 21 points after shooting 9-for-17 from the field. He also grabbed four rebounds and two assists. 

Momcilovic’s shots from deep pave momentum

Coming off a previous game, where he shot 1-6 from deep against Texas Tech, Momcilovic used his previous missed shots as a motivation builder against the Wildcats.

“I thought all my shots looked good yesterday, I thought they were all in just a little off,” Momcilovic said. “So just keep trusting my shots, trusting in the work I put in and I just do the same thing game after game.”

Starting by hitting two quick shots to start the game, Momcilovic found his momentum, going on a 9-0 run to end the first half in less than 30 seconds. His run was capped off with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer on a fast break to create a 43-37 lead for the Cyclones at the half.

Into the second half, his momentum did nothing but grow, securing a layup to secure the first Iowa State points at the half. From the quick two points, Momcilovic went back to his usual spot at deep to secure four more shots beyond the arc.

Momcilovic finished the game with a team-high of 28 points, going 8-for-14 from deep and securing a team-high of five rebounds.

The Pewaukee native strongly contributed to the Cyclones 45.2% from deep, with other contributors consisting of Toure, Jefferson and senior guard Tamin Lipsey. Overall, they secured 42 points, making up 53% of the Cyclones’ overall score.

One buzzer-beater meets another

Following Momcilovic’s 3-point shot at the buzzer to close out the first half, it was none other than matched by Arizona, but was scored more so when it mattered.

Following a 3-point jumper by Lispey to tie the two teams at 80, Arizona was in possession of the ball with 15 seconds left of the game.

“Just knowing the situation, I wasn’t scoring well tonight,” Lipsey said. “We did shoot well overall, but just having the confidence still to step up.” 

With heightened defense, Arizona was struggling to put together a final possession play before the ball landed in senior guard Jaden Bradley’s hands.

“I mean, Killyan [Toure] guarded Bradley as perfectly as you could guard him,” Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Bradley is a winning player, a fierce competitor.” 

The Big 12 Player of the Year drove to his right of the court to create just enough space for a fall-away jumper from the wing to knock off Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament.

“I mean, it always stings when you’re on the opposite side of one of those games that’s a buzzer-beater,” Lipsey said. “One teams the happiest and the other teams a little disappointed, but we have obviously take away positives from the game, but also use it as motivation into going into the tournament.”