No. 4 Iowa State moves on from emotional Cy-Hawk win to face Eastern Illinois

AMES — Iowa State’s record-setting senior point guard Tamin Lipsey has absorbed multiple incidental body blows as a Cyclone.

He’s battled through countless injuries — including one to the groin which forced him to miss three games this season — but isn’t often directly, but metaphorically “punched in the mouth.”

But that’s what he said Iowa did to him and the rest of the No. 4 Cyclones for much of the first half of what turned into a 66-62 win in Thursday’s Cy-Hawk rivalry game at Hilton Coliseum.

“We weren’t ready,” said Lipsey, whose team (10-0) faces Eastern Illinois (2-7) at noon Sunday at Hilton. “They fought the whole game. (They) played a great game. I just think we made enough plays in the end for come out with a win, but overall, we didn’t perform how we wanted to.”

A lot of credit for that — as Lipsey noted — goes to the Hawkeyes, who are a vastly improved team defensively in season 1 under head coach Ben McCollum.

“Everything’s not gonna be perfect,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “This (was) a rivalry game and we have great respect for our opponent. We knew they were gonna come in here and give us a great shot — and we have to expect that from teams now. When you’ve done the things that we’ve done to this point, everybody circles the game on the schedule. So we’ve always gotta respond.”

That means being the tougher, more physical team for 40 minutes, which wasn’t the case for a good chunk of Thursday’s game. But the past is the past. The Cyclones will play three more non conference games against the Panthers, Long Beach State, and Houston Christian before opening Big 12 play on Jan. 2 against West Virginia at home.

So how will they handle those lower-profile games before the grueling conference slate hits? Same as always.

“For us, the daily habits, the work habits, the consistency, how your body feels, how your mind feels — if you stay in those habits every single day, then you perform mentally, physically, at the same level,” Otzelberger said.

That approach will undoubtedly help backup big man Dominykas Pleta heal quickly from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the Iowa game. The same goes for versatile starting forward Blake Buchanan, who hurt his ankle against the Hawkeyes but returned to make key hustle plays down the stretch as the Cyclones held on for the win.

“He’s a junkyard dog down there,” said fellow starting forward Joshua Jefferson, who leads ISU in scoring (18.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.5). “He’s making all the 50-50 plays, getting a ton of blocks, so just his intensity is (impressive).”

It’s also fully expected from Buchanan and all of the Cyclones, who needed every bit of it to stave off the Hawkeyes’ spirited upset bid.

“Every single time we step on the floor, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re gonna go out there and give it our best shot,” Jefferson said.

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