Players To Watch When Iowa State Faces Off With Utah in Men's Basketball

The Iowa State Cyclones suffered their fourth loss of the season, their last time out, losing on the road to the BYU Cougars.

Iowa State now seeks to recover from its road loss against BYU as they continue their Utah trip in Salt Lake City against the Utah Utes. With a 10-17 record, this game presents both a key chance for the Cyclones to regain momentum and the risk of overlooking a tricky opponent.

Following this game, they return to Hilton Coliseum to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders before heading back on the road to Tucson, Arizona, to face the Arizona Wildcats for a second Big Monday primetime game in three weeks.

Before moving on to those contests, business needs to be handled against the Utes. Who is going to help determine the outcome of this game? Here are three players to watch for in the game.

Jamarion Batemon

Coming into the 2025-26 men’s basketball season, it was Jamarion Batemon who was the much-talked-about freshman, expected to break into the starting lineup alongside Tamin Lipsey. Instead, that spot went to Killyan Toure, who has been excellent in his own right.

Batemon has slowly but surely worked his way into a more prominent role, gaining the trust of head coach T.J. Otzelberger. In the comeback against the Houston Cougars, it was Batemon on the court in crunch time.

He has played at least 16 minutes in each of the last three games against the Kansas Jayhawks, Houston and BYU. A stellar perimeter defender capable of navigating screens, he is a reliable 3-point shooter offensively as well.

Over those three games, he made seven of 16 attempts, including several clutch shots down the stretch. He is someone to keep an eye on with March Madness rapidly approaching.

Terrence Brown

Utah has almost an entirely new roster this season. Only 9.0% of their minutes from the 2024-25 season came back, and 10.5% of their scoring.

Picking up a lot of the slack offensively is Terrence Brown, a transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson. He is a one-man show on offense, leading the Utes with 20.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. Virtually the entire offense’s success is placed on his shoulders with a usage rate of 32.6%, which is the 13th highest in the country.

Creating offense against a stout Iowa State is no small task, and almost all of the responsibility is going to fall upon Brown to do it. Slowing him down will be the No. 1 priority for the Cyclones.

Milan Momcilovic

Over his last five games, Milan Momcilovic has been ice cold from 3-point land, at least compared to the ridiculous standard he has put in place for himself. He has made 12 out of 34 attempts, which comes out to a respectable 35.3%.

But that has dropped his season percentage to 50.8%, failing to make at least half of his 3-point attempts in five consecutive games. The one thing that Utah does well defensively is limit 3-point attempts, ranking second in the Big 12 in opponent makes per game and first in attempts allowed.

However, they are only seventh, allowing teams to make 33.8% of their attempts. There will be opportunities for Momcilovic to get on track, and all eyes will be on him as he looks to take down the Iowa State single-season record for 3-pointers made.