Iowa State Cyclones vs. Idaho State Bengals Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 12th 2023

Iowa State continues to click in the early season thanks to someone who is no stranger to the basketball culture on campus.

Tamin Lipsey, who played his prep basketball at Ames High, not far from Hilton Coliseum, is averaging 16.5 points per game. He’ll look to add to that total on Sunday against visiting Idaho State in Ames, Iowa.

Lipsey is coming off a career-high 21 points in Thursday’s 102-47 rout of Lindenwood.

“It definitely feels good to have a lot of confidence out there on the court,” Lipsey said. “It just makes me play more comfortable, and that helps our team and that helps me as a player just to grow. So that time I spent in the offseason, it was a lot of work and it wasn’t easy and the days were hard, but it was all worth it, because that’s how you’ve got to improve to get better.”

Lindenwood rallied to within eight points of the Cyclones late in the first half before Iowa State seized control. The Cyclones (2-0) quickly amassed a 56-point lead en route to securing the program’s largest margin of victory under third-year coach T.J. Otzelberger.

“I’d love to see us play 40 minutes and play complete,” Otzelberger said. “I felt like we had five or six minutes there where we kind of stalled out offensively. We weren’t aggressive enough on the defensive end but … kind of kicked it in there and had a run going into the half.”

Idaho State (1-1) is coming off Friday’s 54-53 loss at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

The Bengals went ahead 53-49 on Isaiah Griffin’s layup with 1:33 to go but were unable to hold on. Griffin (12 points) and Miguel Tomley (11) finished in double figures for Idaho State.

“Credit to Idaho State,” St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer said. “Coach (Ryan) Looney does a tremendous job. They’re tough, they’re physical, they’re smart. … Just a bit of a slugfest.”

–Field Level Media