Iowa State Cyclones Men's Basketball Team Approaching Impressive Program History

A few more wins and the Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team will be re-writing the program record books.

Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger calls a play from the bench against Alcorn State Braves during the first half on Dec. 3, 2025, at Hilton Coliseum, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones picked up their 11th victory of the season over the weekend, defeating the Eastern Illinois Panthers, 78-53.

It was far from the team’s best performance this season, which drew the ire of head coach T.J. Otzelberger. A 25-point victory is nothing to sneeze at, but he was not thrilled with the effort level from his squad.

After playing against the previously No. 1-ranked Purdue Boilermakers and Iowa Hawkeyes in their annual Cy-Hawk Rivalry game, it isn’t too surprising that Iowa State took a little while to get going in a bye game against a team from the Ohio Valley Conference.

More than 12 minutes into the game, Eastern Illinois still led. But a 7-0 run put the Cyclones ahead as they started taking control of the game. Eventually, they came away with their 11th consecutive win to start the season, but Milan Momcilovic did not hold back when sharing his opinion on how the team played.

Iowa State knocking on the door of program history

Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger watches from bench against Iowa during the first half in the men’s basketball Cy-Hawk series on Dec. 11, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While their most recent victory wasn’t their best performance, at the end of the day, getting the win is what is most important. Iowa State accomplished that, moving one step closer to making program history.

This is only the third time a Cyclones men’s basketball team has started a season 11-0. The other instances came during the 2013-14 campaign and the first year under Otzelberger in 2021-22.

During the most recent occurrence four seasons ago, Iowa State lost its first Big 12 game of the year against the No. 1-ranked Baylor Bears on the road in Waco, snapping its winning streak at 12 games. That is the second-longest winning streak to begin a campaign, behind the 2013-14 team.

That squad, which featured four future NBA players in Monte Morris, Matt Thomas, Georges Niang and Nazareth Mitrou-Long, won their first 14 games of the season before being defeated by the Oklahoma Sooners on the road in Norman.

Iowa State has great odds of breaking record

Iowa State Cyclones forward Joshua Jefferson (5) looks for drives around Iowa Hawkeyes forward Cooper Koch (8) during the first half in the men’s basketball Cy-Hawk series on Dec. 11, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With two more non-conference games remaining on the schedule, both of which the Cyclones are projected to be massive favorites, they could enter Big 12 play with a perfect 13-0 record. That would be the most non-conference wins to start a season in program history, should they handle business against the Long Beach State Beach and Houston Christian Huskies.

Iowa State would then have a chance to tie the program record for 14 consecutive victories to open a season in the conference opener against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Hilton Coliseum.

A visit to Baylor would follow that, with a chance to exact some revenge and make program history after the Bears broke their streak 11 years prior.