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Iowa State Cyclones

Iowa State Cyclones Team Summary

Iowa State is a program known for strong coaching, consistent NCAA Tournament appearances, and churning out NBA-caliber players. Yet the Cyclones have never won a postseason tournament championship other than a league tournament. Continue for more Iowa State Cyclones Stats.

Iowa State’s lone Final Four came in 1944, winning its opening game of an eight-team tournament before losing to eventual-champion Iowa. Overall the program has 20 NCAA Tournament appearances, with seven of those since 2012. The Cyclones have made five Sweet Sixteens and one Elite Eight.

This year’s team is 12-1 under first-year coach TJ Otzelberger, a former Cyclones assistant who was most recently at UNLV. He took over for Steve Prohm, who finished 97-95 with three NCAA Tournament appearances but bottomed out with a 12-20 season in 2019-20, followed by a 2-21 finish and winless conference season for the first time since 1937.

Iowa State Cyclones Team History

Credit Johnny Orr for moving the needle of Iowa State basketball from a dormant program to respectable. There was only one winning coach from 1959 to when Orr took over in 1980.

What came after were several NBA players and five 20-win seasons, and six NCAA Tournament berths, including the first since the 1944 Final Four team.

Iowa State won back-to-back Big 12 championships in 2000 and 2001. The 1999-2000 team was a program-best 32-5 and went to the Elite Eight behind Marcus Fizer, Jamaal Tinsley, and Michael Nurse’s play.

Program alum Fred Hoiberg would elevate the program once more, becoming the winningest Cyclone coach by win percentage with a 115-56 record (67.3%) from 2010-15.

Key Stats

Iowa State is off to a 12-1 start behind its defense. The Cyclones are ninth in the country in points allowed per game (57.7 per game) and third nationally in opponents’ 3-point percentage (25.3%).

The Cyclones made a statement with a 19-point win over Memphis and a 12-point win over Xavier on a neutral court. They also won at Creighton by eight and dominated in-state rival Iowa by 20.

Izaiah Brockington, a 6-foot-4 guard, is leading the team in points and rebounds per game at 17.0 and 8.4, respectively. Fellow guards Gabe Kalscheur (10.3) and Tyrese Hunter (10.0) also are in double figures scoring.

To date, the Cyclones are the Big 12’s best team against the spread at 9-4-0, though they are 5-8 with over/unders. For this reason they are on the top of the list for this March Madness. Their national championship odds are as low as +2,000 at Bet Rivers and as low as +30,000 at Caesar, though most books in-between are in the +8,000 to +10,000 range.

Championships Won by the Team

While the Cyclones seek the elusive postseason tournament championship, they have had good success at winning the Big 12. They won the regular-season championships outright in 2000 and 2001.

They’ve had more success in guaranteeing an NCAA Tournament spot by winning the conference tournament of late, with victories in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2019. Iowa State also has four Big Eight regular-season championships (1935, 1941, 1944, and 1945) and a conference tournament championship in 1996.

Important Team Events

The Cyclones nickname has been associated with Iowa State since 1895 when the Chicago Tribune wrote a headline: “STRUCK BY A CYCLONE – It comes from Iowa and devastates Evanston Town.” Cy the Cardinal is the athletics mascot, but in 2005, in a football game against Colorado, there was an actual tornado outbreak, creating a unique home-field advantage.

The Hilton Coliseum has a seating capacity of 14,384 and is known for its Hilton Magic, which was coined by the Des Moines Register after an upset over third-ranked Missouri in 1989. The Coliseum, which opened in 1971, was built with concrete and steel doors, which traps noise into the arena, making it one of the most difficult places to play in college basketball.

Top Players

Iowa State isn’t short on pro-level talent, producing 12 All-Americans and 34 NBA players. Seven players have had their jerseys retired, including former NBA coaches Jeff Hornacek and Fred Hoiberg.

Others who had their jerseys retired include Waldo Wegner, Gary Thompson, Zaid Abdul-Aziz, Barry Stevens, and Jeff Grayer. Marcus Fizer is the lone first-team All-American and was a consensus pick at that in 2000.

There are six Cyclones in the NBA currently, including four averaging double figures: Tyrese Haliburton, 12th overall pick in 2020 by the Sacramento Kings; Talen Horton-Tucker with the Los Angeles Lakers; Monte Morris, the best passer in Iowa State history now with the Denver Nuggets; and Georges Niang with the Philadelphia 76ers. The other two include rotational players Abdel Nader and Matt Thomas.

Hornacek had the best and most successful pro career, spending 14 seasons and averaging 14.5 points per game. Jamaal Tinsley, Abdul-Aziz, Kelvin Cato, Grayer, and Hoiberg all played at least ten seasons.

Wesley Johnson, who played his first two seasons at Iowa State before transferring to Syracuse, played nine NBA seasons and was the fourth overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.

Grayer is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,502 points from 1984-88. Dean Uthoff has the most rebounding, pulling in 1,233 from 1977-80. Morris is the assists leader with 765 from 2013-17.

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Iowa State Cyclones FAQs

It was in 1944, though back then, the NCAA Tournament was an eight-team event

There are 34 former Cyclones with NBA experience.

The Cyclones have just two regular-season Big 12 championships, coming in 2000 and 2001. However, the program has five Big 12 Tournament championships.

The Cyclones have appeared in 20 tournaments.

By win percentage, it is former star player Fred Hoiberg, whose 67.3% (115-56) was compiled from 2010-15. By total wins, it is Johnny Orr, who went 218-200 from 1980-94.

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