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Jayden McGregory’s football journey from public parks to Division I | Senior Superlative

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5 months ago

October 15, 2025

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Jayden McGregory’s football journey from public parks to Division I | Senior Superlative

Jayden McGregory, a top Iowa high school football senior, began his athletic career at a young age, influenced by his mother.
He transferred from Des Moines North to Valley to face higher competition, leading to success in both football and basketball.
McGregory’s decision to focus on being a defensive back at camps led to numerous Division I offers, and he has committed to Louisville.

This story is part nine of a series on the Des Moines Register’s top 10 Iowa high school football seniors. Each week until the end of the season, we will feature a different senior, showing readers a side of them that goes beyond the Friday night lights.

Sometimes, the best sports stories begin in public parks.

There is a quiet green space on the east side of the Drake neighborhood, Good Park, made up of a large grass field on one end, a pair of basketball hoops and a chain link fence-enclosed row of tennis courts on the other, with three swings, a playground, a gazebo and a splash pad sandwiched in between.

One seemingly unending breeze funnels through the trees, and there’s a city soundtrack produced by an ambulance speeding down University Avenue and cars rolling past on Interstate 235.

Jayden McGregory spent a lot of time at Good Park, one of the places where he played football as a child.

It’s one of the places that turned the Valley senior into the athlete he is: one of the top football players not only in Iowa but in the entire country.

McGregory’s athletic endeavors began early, and never stopped

McGregory was born to be an athlete.

Growing up, he spent plenty of time in the halls of a high school and competed in organized sports by the time he was 2 years old. And his first word, “ball,” was a sign of things to come.

Marissa Townsley doesn’t recall a time when her son wasn’t around sports. She was a sophomore at Des Moines North High School when she had him, and with an athlete for a mom, he tagged along to her basketball games. McGregory can still recall those memories, like when he shot a basketball at halftime of those Polar Bears contests.

That’s the sport he fell in love with first, and Townsley realized early on that athletics were going to be a large part of both of their lives.

“On Saturday mornings, he wasn’t watching cartoons,” Townsley laughed. “He was watching ESPN, and he was like 4 years old.”

She put him in a basketball league for 3- and 4-year-olds when he was 2. He skipped flag football and began playing tackle ball at 5 years old, because he just wanted to be in pads – like the professional athletes he’d started to idolize.

Townsley thought that her son would take one or two hits and be done with football, but that obviously did not happen. During his youth football days – growing up on teams sponsored by the Des Moines Parks and Recreation department – he made all-star teams for sixth and seventh graders when he was still in fourth grade.

McGregory’s life revolved around sports, which meant Townsley’s life revolved around sports.

She started to volunteer with his youth programs. While McGregory practiced or played, Townsley would help with bookkeeping or registration. The pair would wake up early to shoot hoops – on any net they could find – before school and work. Townsley turned into McGregory’s most consistent practice partner.

It wasn’t always easy for the single mother of three – McGregory and his younger siblings, Amari and Mariah – to keep up with her oldest child’s aspirations.

“At times, it really broke my heart because I’m a single mom, and so having to sometimes make those sacrifices or tell him no was hard,” Townsley said. “It was a lot of, ‘If we have the money.’ Financially, that was the hard part. Showing up was the easy part.”

But the work they put in together paid off.

McGregory gravitated toward the quarterback position, and that’s where he played during most of his youth football years and even into his first season at Des Moines North. He didn’t have an easy transition to the high school game, though.

He didn’t register any statistics in the Polar Bears’ first game of his freshman season. In game two – a win over Des Moines East – he was credited with half a tackle. And then came game three.

The freshman receiver caught two passes totaling 32 yards from senior quarterback Nick Crispin. But then, Crispin got hurt in the middle of that game, and then-head coach Eric Addy put McGregory in at quarterback. He completed three of three passes and threw one touchdown pass, but the Polar Bears lost.

That’s when the real work began.

“That Saturday, I had to learn the whole playbook from the quarterback’s standpoint,” McGregory said. “It was a roller coaster, for sure, in my freshman year. But it was a good learning lesson.”

Before the start of his sophomore year, McGregory transferred from North to Valley.

The decision to leave the community that had essentially raised him didn’t come easy. But McGregory and Townsley both knew that getting recruited out of the Des Moines Public School programs was an uphill battle, and they understood that consistently playing against a higher level of competition would only aid his development.

He emerged as one of the top two-way players on the Tigers’ roster in his first year in West Des Moines, recording 247 receiving yards and three touchdowns on offense and 16.5 tackles, one fumble recovery taken 70 yards for a touchdown and two interceptions on defense.

That success continued into his junior season, where he helped Valley to a state runner-up finish, recording 173 receiving yards and one touchdown plus 13.5 tackles and three interceptions – including a pick six – along the way.

And his accomplishments weren’t just limited to the football field.

McGregory earned a spot in the starting lineup of Valley’s basketball team, and he played a large role in the Tigers’ back-to-back state championships in 2024 and 2025.

He missed out on the three–peat, with Valley also winning the title in 2023, since McGregory still played for Des Moines North. In that 2023 season, he led the Polar Bears in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game as a freshman.

McGregory’s athleticism – on the gridiron, on the hardwood – made him a standout in Iowa.

It also made college coaches around the country take notice of his talents.

McGregory’s motivation leads to Division I offers

Quarterback, wide receiver, cornerback, safety, punt returner, kick returner and punter.

“That’s really it,” said McGregory, after rattling off all the positions he played during his four-year, two-program high school career.

So, the ‘athlete’ distinction – given to two-way players who were recruited as both an offensive and defensive player – fit McGregory perfectly. He’ll be a defensive back in college, and that’s by design, since it’s not a position that he just fell into naturally.

The motivation that pushed McGregory to excel in sports at such a young age is also the reason why he stood out at college prospect camps.

Always the quarterback on his youth football teams, he quickly noticed that it was the largest position group at almost every prospect camp he attended. McGregory noticed something else, too: the defensive backs were typically the smallest group.

“He quickly noticed how slim the lines were at the defensive back position,” Townsley recalled. “Everybody wants to be the quarterback, and everybody wants to be a receiver. Jayden just wanted to be seen.”

He’d never really played that position before, but he’d always been athletic, and he took to it easily. And that one decision to camp at a position unfamiliar to him changed McGregory’s life.

In the summer after his freshman year, McGregory landed his first Division I offer. It came from Iowa State, and it came after one of those prospect camps. He earned a second offer – from Minnesota – that summer, but it wasn’t until after his first season at Valley that the floodgates opened.

Over the next year and a half, he picked up offers from Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, Southern Miss, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

He climbed to a four-star ranking – the second highest in the recruiting world – by 247Sports Composite, making him one of the top 375 players in the country in his senior class.

On July 7 – a date partially picked to coincide with his No. 7 jersey – McGregory committed to Louisville. It marked the end of a recruitment process that had brought him and his mother even closer together.

When his recruitment picked up, Townsley made one thing very clear: education came first, and football came second.

“If his grades were not there, then this does not happen,” Townsley laughed. “I made sure he understood like, Cs are average and please don’t bring me a C because you’re not an average kid.”

She not only pushed him to separate himself academically, but she also did everything she could to foster his football dreams. Townsley spent a lot of time on the road with her oldest son, making sure he set foot on almost every campus where he held an offer.

She spent those hours in the car – long weekends trying to stop at three or four colleges in one trip – trying to prepare McGregory for life after high school.

McGregory wouldn’t change anything about that relationship – from growing up in the halls of Des Moines North to long days on the road chasing his dream. It’s always been him and Townsley, and a dozen-or-so Division I offers didn’t change that.

“Man, my mom’s the reason why I’m here today,” McGregory said with a smile. “She put me in so many great positions, like I can’t thank her enough. It was fun growing up, just me and my mom for a little bit. My mom, she’s a very good one.”

McGregory sets high expectations for senior season

McGregory pulls a cell phone – protected by a bright orange case – from his shorts pocket and presses the power button, illuminating his home screen.

The screensaver is a thrown-together collage of football images, including a screenshot of a list, typed out in the notes application and partially obscured by the white letters and numbers spelling out the date and time.

His eyes hover over each line as he reads down the checklist.

Football state champion, 1,000 receiving yards, zero catches against him in coverage. Ten interceptions, four pick-sixes, at least 70 tackles, seven tackles for loss. Be a great teammate, lead by example, earn first team, all-state honors for defensive back and wide receiver. Player of the year.

During his official visits to college programs during the summer, he thought a lot about what he wanted to accomplish this season and the type of football player he wanted to be in his senior year.

The goals are lofty, almost unattainable, especially for a player who spends little time catching his breath.

This season, he threw one pass for 24 yards and a touchdown, has racked up 434 receiving yards and seven touchdowns through the air, and recorded 4.5 tackles and a fumble recovery on defense.

So, he has some catching up to do on some of those preseason goals.

But it was never about checking each of those things off the list; it was about making his mark. And, even before the season started, McGregory’s done that.

The Valley senior partnered with Back 2 School Bash – an event that provides free school supplies, haircuts, food and resources for local families – in an NIL deal this summer. It was an event that McGregory and Townsley attended when he was growing up.

He wanted to remind people where he came from and how he got to where he is now.

“He’s just such a role model in his community where he’s from, which is really the inner city,” Townsley said. “Yes, we’re at Valley now, but everybody knows where he started. And there’s just so many kids in that community that really look up to and idolize Jayden because they know him.”

McGregory accomplished a lot in his 18 years of life, and there is a lot more to come.

It’s too early to know if his final season of high school football will end with a state championship or how he’ll play in college.

But McGregory made a name for himself in Des Moines – and showed other children what’s possible in the process – and that’s enough, at least for now.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

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Explore Effigy Mounds, Iowa’s ancient earthworks above the Mississippi

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6 hours ago

March 9, 2026

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Explore Effigy Mounds, Iowa’s ancient earthworks above the Mississippi

High on the bluffs overlooking the Upper Mississippi River, Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves more than 200 ancient earthen mounds shaped like bears, birds, and spirits of the natural world. Built by Indigenous peoples more than 1,000 years ago, these formations stand as powerful reminders that America’s story stretches far beyond European arrival. At this quiet landscape of forested ridges and sweeping river views, visitors can walk among sacred sites that continue to hold meaning for many Native nations today. Effigy Mounds is both a cultural touchstone and one of the most visually striking archaeological landscapes in the United States.

Location: Harpers Ferry, Iowa

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/2WhrGJ8cqh2nsC8L6

Why it matters

Effigy Mounds honors the artistry, engineering, and spiritual traditions of Indigenous communities who shaped these hills centuries before the United States existed. As the nation marks 250 years, this landscape reminds us that America’s story begins long before 1776. The bear, bird and linear mounds — some perfectly aligned with celestial patterns — preserve cultural memory, identity and resilience. They stand as a testament to the first peoples who understood this land as home.

What to see today

Visitors can follow wooded trails to some of the most iconic shapes, including the Great Bear Mound and soaring bird effigies perched above the Mississippi. Interpretive exhibits explain the moundbuilders’ cultures, craftsmanship, and the region’s deep archaeological significance. Listen for wind moving through oak forests and watch eagles ride the river’s currents below. Rangers and tribal partners share stories of ongoing cultural ties, helping visitors understand these earthworks not as relics, but as living heritage.

Ask a local

Stop in nearby McGregor for a bite at Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery, where locals drift in for beers and scenic river views or the Backwoods Bar & Grill, a popular spot for casual American pub food.

Plan your visit

• Best time: Fall colors or late spring• Hours/admission: Visitor center open daily; free entry• Getting there: Parking at the visitor center; trails begin onsite• Learn more: nps.gov/efmo

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.

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Iowa can use flat Big Ten final to get sharper for NCAAs | Leistikow

Published

18 hours ago

March 8, 2026

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Iowa can use flat Big Ten final to get sharper for NCAAs | Leistikow

INDIANAPOLIS — An overachieving body of work over 31 games left the Iowa women with an ideal situation for 2 hours of championship-game basketball opportunity at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Go play free against second-ranked and top-seeded UCLA in the finals of the Big Ten Tournament, and see what happens.

What happened wasn’t pretty. The Hawkeyes, in a polar-opposite performance from their first two games in downtown Indianapolis, stumbled out of the gates and played poor defense and lost decisively, 96-45, before another pro-Iowa crowd.

The 51-point margin tied for the fourth-most lopsided margin of defeat in program history and largest since the pre-NCAA era of women’s basketball, in 1976. The previous biggest loss of the 26-year Lisa Bluder/Jan Jensen era was 43 points, a 103-60 loss against Kansas State in the 2002-03 season.

So yeah, this one was tough to take. It was a disappointing ending and a realization that UCLA is much, much better than Iowa right now.

“A good win for them, a lot to learn for us,” Iowa sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow said. “We’re ready for this postseason.”

The postgame vibe in the Iowa locker room was that this was still a successful tournament for Iowa, and it was. The Hawkeyes (26-6) have taken a major step forward in Year 2 under Jensen, not only reaching the Big Ten semifinals (which it fell one point shy of a year ago) but making it to the CBS-televised championship game.

Whether the final margin was one point or 51 points, the game vs. UCLA needed to serve as a learning experience to prepare for what the Hawkeyes hope is to come, three weekends from now in either the Fort Worth or Sacramento regional.

One of the “why-not” things Iowa tried against UCLA was a zone defense, which it practices often but rarely uses, to try to slow down 6-foot-7 Big Ten player of the year Lauren Betts. If Iowa is going to advance through the NCAA Tournament, it’ll undoubtedly come up against a team with more size — maybe Oklahoma in the Sweet 16, perhaps South Carolina in the Elite Eight.

In 2025-26, Iowa matches up better with opponents that feature guards, with Chit-Chat Wright and Kylie Feuerbach as elite defenders. The goal with playing zone against UCLA was to hope the Bruins were cold from deep … and that was certainly not the case.

UCLA knocked down 6-of-11 3-point attempts in the decisive first half and 13-of-26 for the game (50%).

“With it being three back-to-back games, I think it was a good way to rest a little bit defensively, but also kind of give them something new … try to throw them off a little bit,” Feuerbach said. “Once again, they were hitting everything against the zone as well. Tough day.”

UCLA led, 42-20, at the break even though Betts had four points on 2-of-5 shooting. UCLA never cooled off, shooting 63.5% for the game. It rattled off 13 points in the first 2:09 of the second half to grow the advantage to 55-23, triggering Jensen to use the third of her four timeouts.

Things never got better for the Hawkeyes, who shot 27.9% from the floor. To show how tough a day it was, they were only 12-for-38 on 2-point shots … the team’s bread and butter typically with Ava Heiden (who led Iowa with 15 points and made the all-tournament team, along with Hannah Stuelke) in the middle.

Iowa’s Ava Heiden looks forward to playing at home in NCAA Tournament

The sophomore center talked about reasons for the 96-45 loss to UCLA in the Big Ten championship game.

“Now we’ve been there, we’ve done that,” Heiden said. “We have the knowledge of how to play in these high-emotional games with the turnaround time. That’ll help us in the NCAA Tournament.”

If you think about it, this Big Ten Tournament progression provided the perfect NCAA prep. Iowa’s 64-58 win over Illinois in the quarterfinals felt like a quintessential round-of-32 matchup, considering Shauna Green’s Illini are projected as a No. 7 NCAA seed.

Then came the toss-up type of game that Iowa could see, if it gets to the Sweet 16, against seventh-ranked Michigan. The Hawkeyes’ forceful 59-42 victory demonstrated they have the capability to put away a No. 3 seed if they bring their best defense to the Sweet 16.

And then … the Elite Eight-type challenge that the Hawkeyes, if they can somehow keep this magical season going, would need to conquer. UCLA will be a definitive No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament when the brackets come out March 15. The other No. 1s will likely be UConn (which beat Iowa, 90-64), Texas (the only team that beat 31-1 UCLA) and South Carolina (which needs no re-introduction to Iowa fans).

For now, the gap looks large between Iowa and any No. 1 seed. But the Hawkeyes realistically shouldn’t have Final Four expectations with an eight-player rotation Sunday that included three freshmen and three sophomores.

“We learned how resilient we can be. It’s hard on the body and the mind, this tournament, especially for young girls,” Stremlow said. “I still consider myself to be learning a lot. … Just getting this experience is really good for our team.”

This team has earned the No. 2 seed it will receive on March 15 from the NCAA selection committee. One blowout loss to an elite team will not change that.

The Hawkeyes’ next step is to make the Sweet 16 in Jensen’s second year after getting blown out by Oklahoma in the round-of-32 in a game that looked a lot like this one. We know from even the Caitlin Clark years that getting out of Iowa City won’t be a piece of cake (first two rounds will be at Carver-Hawkeye Arena). If the Hawkeyes can do that, they’ve shown enough this week to think they’ll have a realistic chance of reaching an Elite Eight.

“Just being in the final after people didn’t think we’d be in the top five at the beginning of the season, I think just proves a lot of people wrong,” Stuelke said. “We should take pride in that and how hard we’ve been working and try to make a deep run in the NCAA.”

Iowa’s Taylor Stremlow says UCLA loss will be a learning experience

Taylor Stremlow finished with six points in the Hawkeyes’ 96-45 loss to the Bruins in the Big Ten championship game.

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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3 takeaways from Iowa State basketball’s win over Arizona State

Published

1 day ago

March 8, 2026

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3 takeaways from Iowa State basketball’s win over Arizona State

AMES — Whether they were Iowa State basketball lifers like Tamin Lipsey or late arrivals through the transfer portal, all of the Cyclones’ seniors embraced the roaring cheers at Hilton Coliseum in one final home game.

Arizona State looked to be a spoiler early, with the Cyclones trailing at the half, but Iowa State responded with a resurgent second-half effort to enjoy an 86-65 win over the Sun Devils and send their seniors off in style to close out the regular season on Saturday, March 7.

The Cyclones (25-6, 12-6 Big 12 Conference) deployed an all-senior lineup in the closing minutes of the game, before coach T.J. Otzelberger pulled Nate Heise, Joshua Jefferson and Lipsey out of the game with 1:10 remaining for a standing ovation from the crowd.

“It was a long day,” Lipsey said. “Just thinking about it right when I woke up in the morning, it hit me more than the past couple days. There’s a lot of emotions from when I stepped on the court for my pre-workout and when we all lined up out there. I was holding back tears sometimes. I saw a bunch of the students with the headbands on. That meant a lot to see that.

“A lot of tears have been in my eyes, as I’ve tried to keep them in a little bit, but I was just grateful for it.”

Lipsey had 16 points, six assists and six steals. Jefferson also chipped in 16 points, with seven boards, two steals and a block. Milan Momcilovic shot 4-of-9 from deep and also finished with 16 points. Off the bench, Jamarion Batemon had 13 points, while Dominykas Pleta had 11.

For Arizona State (16-15, 7-11), Massamba Diop had 12 points, two blocks and seven turnovers. Moe Odum and Anthony Johnson each chipped in 10 points.

Here are three takeaways from Iowa State’s win over Arizona State:

Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger on 24-0 run vs Arizona St

Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger on the Cyclones’ 24-0 run in the second half of their win over Arizona State.

Tale of two halves, with a decisive 24-0 run for Iowa State

A sloppy finish to the first half for Iowa State allowed Arizona State to go on a 10-0 run over the final 2:04 to take a 41-37 halftime lead. The Cyclones had three turnovers during the Sun Devils’ blitz and quickly saw a nine-point lead disappear.

After the break, Iowa State emerged reinvigorated. It outscored the Sun Devils, 33-7, over the first 13 and a half minutes out of the locker room. At one point during that dominant run, the Cyclones scored 24 unanswered points.

The lopsided second-half showing was an encapsulation of the Cyclones at their best. Iowa State was generating turnovers at a high clip, Arizona State went more than 10 minutes between made shots and various Cyclones were making momentum-boosting plays.

“It obviously starts with Killyan (Toure) and I guarding the ball, but it’s great to see the plays that (Dominykas) Pleta was making and Blake (Buchanan) get up to the ball screen, they can create turnovers and deflections as well,” Lipsey said of the 24-0 run. “When they’re doing that, it’s hard to move the ball against us and score against us, so when all five guys are playing together and playing on a string, rotating like we were in the second half, it’s definitely hard to play us.”

Both teams traded baskets to begin the second half, but Momcilovic and Jefferson each drilled 3-pointers to retake the lead for Iowa State and begin the streak of 24 straight points. Lipsey topped off the run with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 65-45 with 8:38 remaining.

The Cyclones shot 50.0% as a team in the second half. Defensively, they held Arizona State to just 6-of-19 (31.6%) from the floor for the rest of the game after it shot 58.3% in the first half.

Iowa State’s ball pressure was unrelenting. The Sun Devils turned the ball over 23 times, which Iowa State turned into 29 points the other way. Thirteen of those turnovers came in the second half.

“It’s been a surefire way to put ourselves in a great position, to have great on-ball defense, great ball pressure, speed our opponent up and force them to play under duress, get those turnovers and then get out and go in transition,” Otzelberger said. “We just have to do a very consistent job of maintaining that mindset for the full 40 minutes every single game, because when we do that, we’re really tough to play against. We generate those turnovers, get out and go, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger on Tamin Lipsey senior day

Iowa State basketball coach TJ Otzelberger shared his thoughts on Tamin Lipsey’s impact after senior day.

Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson and Iowa State seniors go out in style

The paths that led them to Ames may be different, but there’s no doubting Iowa State seniors’ gratitude for their time in cardinal and gold.

Lipsey, Jefferson, Heise, Dominick Nelson and Eric Mulder were all honored in the Cyclones’ senior day festivities before Saturday’s game.

Heise was honored again after also being honored in last season’s senior day. He decided to return for a sixth-year of college basketball due to a medical redshirt during his time at UNI.

“I actually asked Heise yesterday or earlier today, because he went through it last year as well, I asked him, ‘How does it work?’ and he had no clue,” Lipsey said. “That’s a funny story, but, yeah, just cherishing the moment was the most important thing.”

The five seniors were greeted with roaring applause from the home crowd during the pregame ceremony. Jefferson and Lipsey received extra cheers when they were introduced as starters one final time at Hilton Coliseum. The crowd was buzzing throughout the game, but they screamed one final time as Jefferson, Lipsey, and Heise checked out in the final minutes.

“Just a ton of gratitude and appreciation,” Jefferson, who also noted coming to Iowa State was the best decision of his life, said. “These people, with open arms, they let me in and I’m very appreciative for the two years I spent here and I’m excited to continue on with this year and continue playing.”

For Lipsey, there aren’t enough words from the hometown hero to describe his emotion.

“The gratitude I have for all the fans and obviously the coaches for believing in me since day one,” Lipsey said. “It’s been a long time, a quick four years, I guess you could say. For me, it’s been really quick, but I’m just thankful for the opportunity and obviously to keep going forward to winning more games.”

Iowa State basketball’s Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson on senior day

Iowa State basketball players Tamin Lipsey and Joshua Jefferson digest and react to the Cyclones’ senior day win over Arizona State.

Iowa State underclassmen step up on senior day

The spotlight might have been on the Cyclones’ seniors, but Iowa State also got good performances from a couple of its younger players.

Momcilovic shot 4-of-9 from deep and was tied with Lipsey and Jefferson with a team-high 16 points. He also had a game-high +31 plus-minus rating.

However, there’s no overlooking the contributions made by freshmen Pleta and Batemon off the bench.

Pleta was hyper-efficient and was strong on the glass and with his defensive effort. He had 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, with five rebounds, including three offensive, and two steals in just 14 minutes of action.

“Pleta had one of his best games,” Otzelberger said. “The steal he had early in the second half, where he did the German-Euro-foot-shuffle step, whatever that was, was pretty awesome. That really got our guys going. He had so many energy plays, he played terrific.”

Batemon added 13 points and shot 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, with a couple of his long-range baskets coming at crucial points to ignite his team and the home crowd.

“He just has such gravity to how he plays, so much energy and enthusiasm,” Otzelberger said. “When he’s at his best, when he’s defending and rebounding, his offense really goes well for him.”

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5

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