Rob Gray

Iowa State begins the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament Thursday as rested and recuperated as possible in the thick of March. And once that bell rings for the first of potentially three straight games in as many days, the Cyclones will lean on what got them here: A grit-based, no-surrender approach that serves as their competitive foundation.

Iowa State followed last season’s Big 12 women’s basketball tournament winning script perfectly. First, upset Baylor. Second, do the same to regular-season league champion Oklahoma. Third? Well, fourth-ranked Texas conjured up a cruel plot twist — and instead of falling to the Cyclones in the title game like last season, the Longhorns cruised to a 70-53 triumph Tuesday night at T-Mobile Center.

Iowa State whips top-seeded Oklahoma in semifinals and will battle Texas in championship Tuesday night

Iowa State entered Saturday’s Big 12 regular-season finale at Kansas State clinging to hopes of sharing the league title for the first time since 2000-01. Instead, the sixth-ranked Cyclones fell, 65-58, while suffering just their second loss in the past 10 games.

Curtis Jones scored a Big 12-season-high 18 points in Iowa State’s comeback win over BYU — and on Saturday he’ll face the first conference foe he accomplished that feat against when the Cyclones face Kansas State.

Fifth-ranked Iowa State is, on paper, considered the favorite for the Big 12 wrestling championship along with No. 4 Oklahoma State. Tenth-ranked Missouri lurks close behind, as well, which should make for a tightly contested conference meet.

When Iowa State senior point guard Emily Ryan considered whether or not to come back for one more season via a COVID-19 year, let’s just say she didn’t ruminate.

Iowa State point guard Tamin Lipsey notched his best game of the Big 12 season in Wednesday’s pulse-pounding 68-63 comeback win over No. 20 BYU on senior night at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State senior forward Robert Jones became one of the first players to transfer into then-first-year coach T.J. Otzelberger’s men’s basketball program for one overarching reason: “I always wanted to change a culture.”

Iowa State’s latest comeback started where it usually does. With a stop. That small spark — rooted in a simple stop — led to a decisive 11-0 run that propelled ISU to a gritty 60-52 triumph over Central Florida at Addition Financial Arena.

Graduate transfer Hannah Belanger scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half as the Iowa State women’s basketball team beat Cincinnati 76-60 on Senior Day.

If Iowa State beats Cincinnati at 1 p.m. Saturday on Senior Day at Hilton Coliseum, its odds of not playing the first two days in the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament spike significantly.

Tamin Lipsey snared two critical steals while shooting 2-for-13 from the field in Iowa State’s win over Oklahoma. His ability to help his team navigate the season’s highs and lows is a big reason why the No. 8 Cyclones sit one game behind top-ranked Houston in the conference standings.

On a night where Iowa State looked out of sorts offensively in myriad ways, Demarion Watson delivered countless times to help the Cyclones eventually surge to a 58-45 triumph over Oklahoma before a sold-out crowd of 14,267 at Hilton Coliseum.

Jackson Paveletzke’s role for No. 8 Iowa State keeps expanding as his team prepares to take on Oklahoma in Wednesday’s 7 p.m. Big 12 men’s basketball game at Hilton Coliseum. He notched conference season highs in minutes (16) and points (9) in ISU’s most recent win over West Virginia and his chip-on-his-shoulder approach to the game is shared by most of his teammates.