Iowa State beats up No. 10 Baylor for first Big 12 tournament win since 2019

KANSAS CITY, MO. — Jaren Holmes emerged from the scrum, pumping his fist and grinning from ear to ear.

The Iowa State senior guard had just improbably tipped in his own missed free throw late in the second half of the Cyclones’ Big 12 tournament quarterfinal Thursday against 10th-ranked Baylor — and his joyful expression served as the climax for a stirring, if tall, tale of a third-straight win over the Bears.

Final score: ISU 78, Baylor 72.

The Cyclones left the T-Mobile Center floor destined to return for the semifinals for the first time since winning it all in 2019, and nothing could contain their ebullience as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

“I shouldn’t have missed it,” Holmes said with a smile after helping ISU (19-12) record its nation-leading sixth top-10 win. “But I’m glad I missed it and grabbed it right away. It’s just another exciting moment in my career and for this great university. It was the icing on the cake, really.”

Holmes’ hustle play after missing the front end of a one-and-one with 2:30 left gave the Cyclones a 74-62 lead. He grabbed, then released, the 18th of ISU’s astounding 21 offensive rebounds, which dwarfed the Bears’ program record-low total rebound number of 17.

Holmes’ putback also capped a 32-12 Cyclone run that turned a 50-42 deficit into the 12-point bulge that sealed the soaring win.

“He’s not the type of guy to usually get offensive rebounds,” ISU big man Robert Jones said. “He’s our get-back guy. He always gets back and starts our defense and the fact that he was able to get an offensive rebound was huge, because it just shows how offensive rebounding was strong for us this game.”

So was shot-making. ISU senior guard Gabe Kalscheur matched Baylor’s Jalen Bridges nearly shot-for-shot amid eight ties and six lead changes.

Kalscheur finished with a team-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a 6-for-11 mark from 3-point range. Bridges scored all of his career-high 28 points in the first 30 minutes and missed just one shot (10-for-11) all game.

“I’ve really just been telling myself just live in the moment,” said Kalscheur, who is 13 of 24 from beyond the arc in the past three games. “There’s really no pressure. I can’t say there’s pressure because I’ve worked for this.”

All of the Cyclones have. The once-struggling team has beaten Baylor (22-10) in back-to-back games after dropping six of its previous seven. ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger stressed infusing the Cyclones with a fresh sense of fun on the heels of that dicey stretch — and the joy is spreading.

“I dreamed of this as a kid, just playing in March and March Madness, which is coming up,” Cyclone freshman point guard Tamin Lipsey said. “So yeah, it’s surreal just how many games I’ve watched at home and now I’m on that stage.”

Lipsey notched his first career double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) and sprinkled in five assists and five steals. Holmes finished with 15 points and forward Tre King added 10 points.

ISU held Baylor to 35.7 percent shooting in the second half and will face top-seeded Kansas or West Virginia in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal.

“Let’s have fun,” Otzelberger said. “They’ve done the work and you’ve seen we’ve extended our rotation more. We’ve played more guys and given more guys opportunities, so you see, even when I’m looking over at the bench, there’s a lot of guys on the edge of their chair excited for that opportunity.”

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