Iowa State cruises past No. 12 Baylor in Big 12 men’s basketball opener, 77-62

AMES — Gabe Kalscheur drove the baseline and found himself in a strange position.

Alone, unguarded, and unchallenged.

Cue the dunk — and the deafening Hilton Coliseum crowd noise. Iowa State’s sixth-year senior soared and shined on both ends of the floor Saturday, helping the Cyclones notch a dominant 77-62 Big 12-opening win over No. 12 Baylor before a sellout crowd of 14,267.

“I feel like everybody just kind of got in the rhythm,” said Kalscheur, who scored 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting. “Everyone was touching it and sharing the ball really well.”

How well?

ISU (10-2, 1-0) snapped a nine-game regular season losing skid against the Bears (10-3, 0-1) and dished out 17 assists on 26 made baskets. Freshman point guard Tamin Lipsey distributed a game-high eight assists and added eight points while stripping away three steals — tying Kalscheur for the game-high in takeaways.

“You see that poise, you watch him out there and you’re like, ‘Man, this guy can’t be a freshman,’” Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger said of Lipsey. “‘Like, there’s no way.’ But, again, that’s his character. That’s how he prepares. That’s how he works.”

Not much worked for ISU early Saturday, but everything clicked eventually. Baylor guard Adam Flagler scored 18 points in the first half, helping the Bears open a 27-18 lead with 6:49 left before halftime. That’s when Lipsey created a spark, drilling a jump shot, snaring a steal and sending a crisp pass to Kalscheur for a 3-pointer. Lipsey then worked a pass to Caleb Grill, who knocked down another long-range basket to stoke the stirring run. ISU scored 10 straight points and outscored Baylor 23-3 late in the first half and early in the second. That slow-burn spurt spurred Bears head coach Scott Drew to call timeout less than thee minutes after the break, but once the Cyclones got rolling, they couldn’t be stopped.

“I think the offense flowed better because they weren’t getting back and setting their defense every time and they were on their heels while we were pushing it out,” said Grill, who matched Kalscheur with five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points and a game-high seven rebounds. “I think it was just a combination of our defense leading into good offense.”

The Cyclones sank 21 of 37 field-goal attempts after a 5-for-15 start. ISU forced 19 Baylor turnovers and ended a six-game skid in the series while winning its conference opener for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

“We did a bad a bad job getting to Gabe and Caleb and they really hurt us,” Drew said. “Coming in, obviously, we knew we wanted to make things tougher on them and we didn’t.”

The Cyclones clearly did — and won by 15 or more points over a Top-25 team for the first time since blasting the Bears, 87-72, in 2014. Kalscheur’s 23 points were a career-best against a Big 12 foe. He also didn’t commit a turnover for the third time this season. ISU shot 50 percent overall and limited one of the nation’s most efficient offenses to 37.7 percent shooting and seven assists.

“This wasn’t just a one-person or a two-person win,” Kalscheur said. “Everybody gave everything that they needed.”

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