The No. 2 team in men’s college basketball beat a top-10 team (a blueblood, at that) Wednesday night. They did it without a single minute played by a former top-100 high school player.

Watching the Iowa State Cyclones’ 74–57 win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday night, you’d never have guessed the roundabout paths taken to Ames, Iowa, by their top talents. Their leading scorer (Curtis Jones, who Kansas coach Bill Self said looked like a first-team All-American) didn’t have a single Division I or II offer out of high school and wasn’t even ranked a top-150 transfer the year he enrolled at Iowa State. Their frontcourt, which dominated Kansas star Hunter Dickinson, contains players whose careers have taken them to Washington State, Charlotte, Seattle and Saint Mary’s before matriculating in Ames. Their clutch shotmaker? An Ames High School legend largely overlooked by any of the major recruiting services. 

“I think their evaluation [in] recruiting has been tremendous,” Self said postgame. “The pieces fit.” 

A team like this one, a true national title contender, has been slowly building at Iowa State since T.J. Otzelberger inherited a miserable 2–22 team in the spring of 2021. Going dancing (and making a Sweet 16 run at that) on the back of pure defensive grit in Year 1 laid the foundation. Tamin Lipsey, the Ames High product, entered in Year 2 and emerged as a star in Year 3. He got backcourt reinforcements before last season in Jones and Keshon Gilbert, who flanked him on a 29-win Big 12 tournament championship team a year ago. Now, the Cyclones have the frontcourt to match, supercharging an offense that often looked stuck in second gear over Otzelberger’s first three years.

Wednesday wasn’t Iowa State’s most efficient offensive day, beset by seven free throw misses and a shocking nine missed layups. But the difference in weapons from last year’s club? Night and day. That starts with Jones and Gilbert, who’ve made the jump as second-year transfers from effective backcourt mates to Lipsey into legitimate stars. Jones entered the night third in the Big 12 in scoring and should climb further up the list after 25 more points Wednesday, including an electrifying 20 in the first half. Gilbert has upped his scoring, assists and field goal percentage from a year ago, lightening the ballhandling load on Lipsey. They’ve also allowed the Cyclones to get out and run more, which has generated more easy buckets for an offense that needed them a year ago. 

“We have multiple guys that can push the break and get out and run,” Otzelberger said. “It’s really hard defensively because you’ve got to get back and get set because our guards are coming and looking to score.”

But the more pronounced difference from last year’s still-excellent club is the effectiveness with which its bigs can generate offense. That comes from three portal additions from the spring, Joshua Jefferson (Saint Mary’s Gaels), Dishon Jackson (Charlotte 49ers) and Brandton Chatfield (Seattle Redhawks). Jefferson is the lynchpin and perhaps the sport’s most overlooked addition. Even on a night where he left multiple buckets on the board with missed shots at the rim, he still stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. When he catches at the elbows, he’s a threat to drive, knock down the jumper or distribute, and the pressure that puts on defenses is immense. Then there’s Jackson, a more effective post scorer than anyone the Cyclones had in 2023–24, who matched a season-high with 17 points and outplayed a potential All-American in Dickinson. These two pickups, in particular, ranked as the No. 131 and No. 202 portal players in the spring, have completely changed Iowa State’s identity and elevated the Cyclones clearly into the sport’s top tier in the process. 

“If the other team tries to take somebody away, somebody else is going to make the play … We’ve got so many playmakers,” Jones said. “You’ve really got to pick your poison.” 

Combine this added offensive firepower with the same principles that have lifted Iowa State through its past offensive struggles, and you’ve got perhaps college basketball’s most complete team. The defensive execution Wednesday? Superb, limiting Kansas to under 0.8 points per possession and just 11 shots at the rim all night. The hustle plays? Still an Otzelberger special. 

“I bet you they get 75% of the 50-50 balls,” Self quipped. “We tried hard, but there’s a difference between trying hard and competing [against them].” 

Iowa State led for over 35 minutes, rarely even seeming threatened by the traditionally daunting Jayhawks. The Cyclones’ five Big 12 wins have come by an average of 14 points, the lone nail-biter an overtime rally past the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock over the weekend. In all, ISU has won 12 straight, its only setback this season an 83–81 thriller in Maui against the No. 1 Auburn Tigers. Iowa State led by as many as 18 before a furious Auburn rally. The Tigers and the Duke Blue Devils get much of the typical praise as No. 1A and 1B in the national picture, but performances like Wednesday’s show Iowa State clearly belongs in that same conversation. 

Kansas has been the Big 12’s standard-bearer since the league’s existence. Iowa State has now beaten the Jayhawks in Ames in three straight years, each time less surprising than the last. Iowa State may not measure up recruiting rankings-wise with the nation’s elite, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better program right now in college basketball. 

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa Capitol Bureau) – Iowa’s top judge is calling on state lawmakers to make reforms to the judicial system this legislative session. In particular, she’s asking for changes when it comes to judicial pay and public defenders.

Before a joint session of the legislature Wednesday, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christensen laid out her vision to make the judicial system better in her Condition of the Judiciary address.

“While we respect the priorities of leaner government and fiscal responsibility, I ask for your partnership in ensuring the courts have the resources needed to fulfill this promise to Iowans,” she said.

Christensen says a top issue for the Iowa Judicial Branch is getting more attorneys who are willing to represent clients who can’t afford their own attorney. She says the state has only half the number of contracted attorneys to do that compared to 10 years ago.

“If a criminal defendant isn’t provided court appointed counsel, critical deadlines may be missed and the case could fall apart, allowing the defendant to avoid prosecution entirely. It’s that plain and simple,” she said.

Christensen says Iowa pays less than every surrounding state. She says judges have been asking attorneys to sign up for contract work, but aren’t having success.

“We’re told it’s little success because the attorneys won’t work at our low state rate when they have clients that can pay a competitive hourly rate,” she said.

Christensen also wants these lawmakers to increase pay for judges.

In Fiscal Year 2023, a state District Court judge made $158,000. Christensen says that’s lower than every state surrounding Iowa and 41st in the nation.

Iowa judges got a 5% raise last year, which Christensen says was the largest raise state judges have received in the past 16 years.

Christensen says the number of people applying for a judgeship has dropped 56% in the past 20 years. She believes pay for judges is part of the problem.

“We risk attracting a pool of applicants who may not have the qualifications or the proper temperament to serve effectively. This could lead to rulings that are inconsistent or poorly grounded in the law, which ultimately undermines the confidence in our courts,” she said.

Christensen wants the legislature to raise the salaries about $27,000 over the next four years. Kansas used a similar method and increased their judicial pay ranking from 51st in the nation to 29th.

Christensen did not address the Judicial Branch computer error that sent $27.5 million in court fees to the wrong accounts over a five year period in her speech.

Judicial Branch officials previously said that the problem has been corrected.

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Conner Hendricks covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email him at conner.hendricks@gray.tv; and follow him on Facebook at Conner Hendricks TV on X/Twitter @ConnerReports, and on TikTok @ConnerReports.

Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.

Men’s basketball leads our conversation this week, following the Hawkeyes’ 99-89 loss to USC late Tuesday night.

The Register’s Chad Leistikow and Tyler Tachman look at the mercurial nature of Iowa’s play of late, wonder who Fran McCaffery trusts and look ahead to Friday’s game at UCLA.

Chad and Tyler also discuss Mark Gronowski’s surgery and its impact on the Iowa football quarterback derby.

To finish, Chad is joined by Dargan Southard to help find perspective and solutions surrounding the Iowa women’s basketball team’s three-game slide.

For a direct link to the podcast, click here.