3-Point Shooting Ability of Veteran Wing Will Be X-Factor for Iowa State Cyclones

A veteran win player's 3-point shooting is an x-factor for the Iowa State Cyclones on the court.

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The Iowa State Cyclones are returning several players from their 2024-25 roster that reached as high as No. 2 in the men’s basketball top 25 rankings. However, there are some prominent roles, especially on the offensive side, that will be up for grabs.

Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert, their two highest-scoring players from last season, have both moved on. That is 30.8 points per game that head coach T.J. Otzelberger is going to have to find elsewhere from his team this year. Those two also had the highest usage rates on the team, so the ball will be in other players' hands more often.

Point guard Tamin Lipsey was in line for a big year. But a knee injury is already putting a damper on things with just about six weeks until opening night. Will he be healthy enough to be in the lineup for Game 1? Only time will tell.

Forwards Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson will have more on their plates this year, too. They were already looking at increased roles before Lipsey suffered an unfortunate injury. That duo could certainly be the focal point of the offensive attack with their diverse skill sets.

Nate Heise is an x-factor for Iowa State

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Another player to keep an eye on is Nate Hiese. He has a chance to be in the starting lineup alongside Lipsey in the backcourt, depending on what Otzelberger is looking for. Lipsey, Momcilovic, Jefferson and transfer Blake Buchanon likely fill four of the starting spots.

Hiese will be in the mix, along with freshman Jamarion Batemon. In Year 2 with the Cyclones after four campaigns with Northern Iowa, Hiese brings a ton of experience to the table. He already has 126 games under his belt, 94 of which were starts.

Nate Heise closed out the final 10 games of the 2024-25 season shooting 60.7% from three.

T.J. Otzelberger talks about how Heise has built off of that strong finish heading into his final year. pic.twitter.com/pNmZ1DV5xI

— Cyclone Fanatic (@cyclonefanatic) July 24, 2025

What will determine if he sneaks into the starting five and how prominent a role he possesses will be his 3-point shooting. As his first year in Ames moved along, his confidence grew on the court, and his performance reflected that.

"You kind of grow a sense of confidence that even if you experience spells where you're not making a shot, that I think you push through that," Heise said last season, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247 Network. "When you have the whole summer, working through it every day, I think you can lean on that [previous experience]."

3-point shooting is Nate Heise's best attribute

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Things got off to a rocky start for Heise. He wasn’t playing with much confidence, especially when it came to his 3-point shooting. Over his first 23 games with Iowa State, he made only 8-of-33 attempts. But, from that point on, something clicked.

Heise found his shooting stroke over the final 12 games of the season. He attempted the same number of 3-pointers as he did over the first 23 games, but this time he buried 19 of them. That comes out to a scorching 57.6% from beyond the arc.

I had a nice chat with Nate Heise today. About Lipscomb, his development this season and more. pic.twitter.com/nJCYUi2yRa

— Chris Williams (@ChrisMWilliams) March 19, 2025

The 40.9% that he shot overall last season was the best mark in a single campaign in his collegiate career. That incredibly strong finish provided him with a lot of momentum heading into the offseason to build upon.

Hiese likely won’t get the same number of shot attempts per game that he was getting with Northern Iowa. But he should see his opportunities increase during the 2025-26 campaign. If he can showcase that shooting stroke during training camp, a starting spot, or at the very least a prominent spot in the rotation, will be his.