Iowa men’s basketball falls to No. 4 Iowa State, 66-62, despite stellar first half

AMES — Iowa State’s new football head coach Jimmy Rogers made his obligatory appearance in Hilton Coliseum. It was the standard “welcome to the show“ moment every new head coach has at a basketball game, except for one thing.

Rogers, microphone in hand and a sold-out basketball arena surrounding him, was ready to light up Cyclones fans.

“Let’s beat these f---ing Hawks!”

Iowa men’s basketball had a double-digit lead then, all but pulling a stun gun out on the No. 4 Cyclones (10-0). Nearly every Hawkeye player scored against Iowa State, and left the Cyclones in their dust for most of the first half.

There was one small strip of Iowa fans, sitting right behind the Hawkeye bench. They were the only cheers heard for most of the first half.

Rogers’ 30 seconds with the microphone helped spin the story, but against the liking of Iowa head coach Ben McCollum.

Then the second half started, and the Cyclones woke up and spun up a dust storm that handed Iowa its second loss of the season, 66-62.

The Hawkeyes’ electric first half was cut off less than 90 seconds into the following frame. Iowa (8-2) didn’t record its first basket of the second half for well over four minutes. McCollum called two timeouts in the first few minutes of the second half, both times with visible frustration.

Iowa held Iowa State to two scoring droughts in the first half — one a two-minute drought and the other spanning five minutes. Iowa State turned around and did the same to the Hawkeyes in the second half.

Everything Iowa did well early, Iowa State did better late. The one strip of black-and-gold-dressed fans behind Iowa’s bench were silenced by the roar inside Hilton Coliseum.

“You kinda knew there was going to be a violent run like that,” McCollum said. “You can’t allow that kind of run, though.”

Iowa State’s Justin Jefferson led the game with 24 points. Tamin Lipsey added 14 points , with Milan Momcilovic chipping in with 10. The trio led the way for the Cyclones, with no other player scoring more than seven points.

Guard Tavion Banks led Iowa with 14 points, with forward Cam Manyawu following suit with 10. Iowa found a way string together an 8-0 run, cutting a 10-point lead down to two, but just never found itself back on top. Guard Bennett Stirtz recorded 10 points and dished out four assists.

Guard Tate Sage recorded eight points and four rebounds, continuing his efforts from Saturday’s game against Maryland. The Hawkeyes ran plays through the freshman, with McCollum wanting to give Sage a chance to create different looks against the Cyclones.

“He doesn’t have a lot of fear,” McCollum said of Sage’s game. “That’s a big-time environment for him to be a big-time player in.”

Rogers’ commercial break hype speech didn’t involve anything regarding the actual basketball on the court, but it brought Hilton Coliseum back to life when it needed it desperately.

The expletives Rogers yelled out to motivate the crowd became the final cheer before the Cyclone fans left for the exits.

And it left the Hawkeyes leaving Ames without a Cy-Hawk win this season.

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