Killyan Toure and Tamin Lipsey form terrific backcourt tandem for No. 4 Iowa State

AMES — Iowa State freshman guard Killyan Toure’s eyes widened as he absorbed the secondhand praise.

The Cyclones’ senior standard-bearer, Tamin Lipsey, had just called the high-flying Frenchman “the best defender I’ve ever seen in my life” — and that’s quite a plaudit, considering Lipsey is No. 4 ISU’s runaway all-time steals leader with 262 and counting.

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“He’s an incredible player,” said Toure, who plans to showcase his ever-evolving game in Sunday’s 5 p.m. men’s basketball matchup between the Cyclones (11-0) and Long Beach State (3-9) at Hilton Coliseum. “One of the best players in the country. So I really like playing against him (in practice), (and) playing with him (in games), and I really appreciate what he said.”

Toure’s quickly curried a reputation for being one of the best on-ball defenders in the country — and his ability to force turnovers closely rivals Lipsey’s. Lipsey’s poked away an ISU-best 25 steals this season. Toure’s dashed off with 23 steals, which often come in transition, and almost always end in authoritative dunks.

“Just his length, his speed, his physicality — he’s definitely better than I was as a freshman defensively,” Lipsey said.

Toure proved that immediately he joined Cyclone head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s program in the summer. He proved to be a persistent pest to Lipsey, an Ames native, who learned firsthand how high the ceiling rises for the long-limbed and athletically gifted native of Pamiers, France. Toure’s cruelly constricting defensive style has been described as a “torture chamber,” but creating such conditions can quickly deplete his fuel tank.

“I get tired really fast, so I have to control that,” said Toure, who also ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. “There are a lot of things I can improve.”

That’s true across the board for ISU, which has won its first 11 games for the third time in program history, and second time under Otzelberger. Just two non conference games remain before the Jan. 2 Big 12 home opener against West Virginia, and the Cyclones must resist the temptation to be satisfied as it rides the second-longest winning streak in the country.

“This is a long season, right?” said Otzelberger, who’s guided ISU to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of Sweet 16 trips since taking over the program in 2021. “It spans, whatever it is, 5.5 months, and it would be unrealistic to sat every single day is gonna be your 10 out of 10. So we’ve gotta pick our moments. We’ve gotta find times to rest. … So I think it’s a maturity and a mindset of how you approach practice and how you look at it. You see it as, ‘This is an opportunity to improve ,’ outside of, ‘This is something we have to do.’”

Toure and Lipsey are both — despite being separated by 100 career starts — get-to-do guys. Lipsey’s relishing his farewell tour as a Cyclone, while Toure’s shining in his first season in cardinal and gold. So pressure is shunned, while opportunity is fully embraced.

“I just love to play, guys,” Toure said. “Like I say every day, I just love to play. Yeah (being ranked No. 4) is really good, but that’s not what we want to do. That’s not our goal. We want to win everything.”T

Tonight’s game

Teams: Long Beach State (3-9) at No. 4 Iowa State (11-0)

Where: Hilton Coliseum, Ames

Tip/streaming: 5 p.m./ESPN+

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