The two exhibition games offered Iowa State a pretty clean split of emotions.
The first one, a home loss to Creighton, left the Cyclones looking disjointed and short on answers. The second, a dominant showing against Northwestern, flipped the mood fast. With the regular season set to begin on Nov. 2nd against the Memphis Tigers at the Sanford Pentagon, those two results gave a sharper picture of what this group is and what it needs.
The clearest lesson came in the backcourt. Without Tamin Lipsey against Creighton, Iowa State looked out of sync.
The ball-handling wasn’t steady, the offense didn’t have the same direction, and the defense on the perimeter needed real work. That game made it obvious how much this team leans on him as a point guard, organizer, and leader.
When he returned against the Wildcats, everything looked more settled.
Lipsey’s impact was obvious in the second exhibition. He scored 14 points, which made him the team’s second-leading scorer, and he was excellent defensively as well.
The Cyclones simply looked far more complete with him on the floor, and so much of what they want to do clearly runs through him. The NCAA ruling needs to go in Lipsey and Iowa State’s favor.
Even with Lipsey as the engine, though, this team has a wide range of scoring options. Ryan Prather Jr. exploded for 25 points and knocked down six 3-pointers.
Leon Bond III had a strong first game. Taj Manning has already shown plenty of positives.
Tre Singleton has displayed three-level scoring ability. On any given night, the production could come from a different source, but there’s no question this roster has multiple players who can put up numbers.
Defensively, the contrast between the two exhibition games was even more dramatic. After Iowa State allowed 83 points in the opener, the concern was real.
Then Northwestern ran into a wall. The Cyclones put together huge defensive stretches, gave up only 18 points in the first half, and held the Wildcats to 49 for the game.
The perimeter defense in particular looked completely different from one week to the next.
That kind of turnaround suggests the defense should be fine. Iowa State has plenty of talent on that side of the floor, both on the perimeter and inside, and T.J. Oztelberger is there to steer it.
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Memphis enters with a mix of returning players and newcomers under Penny Hardaway, and the expectation around that roster is that it should be better than it was a season ago. For Iowa State, that means no easing into the schedule and no room to treat this as anything less than a real barometer for where the Cyclones stand at the start of the year. [Read more 🡒]