T.J. Otzelberger Hints Iowa State Cyclones Starting Lineup May Not Be Permanent

Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger spoke about the team's starting lineup for the season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson.

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The Iowa State Cyclones opened the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season in dominant fashion on Monday night. Hosting the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at Hilton Coliseum, they came away with an 88-50 victory.

There were a lot of positive takeaways from the team’s performance. Milan Momcilovic put to rest any concerns about his struggles in the exhibition games. He scored a career-high 29 points, knocking down seven 3-pointers.

The team also welcomed back point guard Tamin Lipsey to the lineup. He suffered an MCL sprain a few weeks ago during practice while going up for a rebound.

The injury sidelined him for weeks. He missed both exhibition games, but was able to get in three full practices before the opener on Monday night. That was enough for head coach T.J. Otzelberger to play him, as Lipsey was confident he could get the job done.

Highlights from Last Night's Victory ⤵️#Cyclones | #C5C pic.twitter.com/HHYe5QFfAN

— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) November 4, 2025

And that he did, stuffing the stat sheet. He made some program history by recording at least five steals in a game for the sixth time in his career.

Iowa State surprises, starts Killyan Toure with Tamin Lipsey

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With Lipsey back in the lineup, it meant a change to the starting five. Many different predictions were shared about what that group would look like in recent weeks, with freshman Jamarion Batemon and sixth-year senior Nate Heise being the most popular selections.

All of those predictions ended up being incorrect. It was freshman Killyan Toure, who stood out during exhibition play as Lipsey’s replacement, who started in the backcourt alongside him.

Part of the reason that Otzelberger went with Toure was the consistency that he has shown leading into the season.

“I mean, Killyan's been ultra-consistent. I mean, if there's one thing you can say in the three times that we played in front of people, it looks about the same every time from him,” the head coach said, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network.

Welcome to James H. Hilton Coliseum, Killyan Toure.#Cyclones | #C5C | @killyan_toure pic.twitter.com/WjzwuKxJl8

— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) November 4, 2025

Also, an emphasis was put on the defensive side of the ball. It made sense to have another aggressive on-ball defender in the lineup with Lipsey coming back from such a long layoff.

Having Toure, who has the perfect kind of skill set and physical build to learn from and replicate Lipsey’s impact, on the court to take pressure off of him after the injury made a lot of sense.

“Tonight, I just felt like getting started with Killyan's on-ball defense and setting the tone defensively was gonna be important, and Killyan did a great job,” Otzelberger added.

With Toure starting, it pushed Heise to a role off the bench. He was involved prominently, playing 24 minutes as the team’s sixth man. Three points, five rebounds and four assists were recorded in a solid all-around game.

Starting lineup could change frequently for Iowa State

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While he came off the bench in Game 1, that may not always be the case. Otzelberger shared that he views Heise as a sixth starter, and he could be in the starting lineup depending on matchups.

“I look at Nate Heise as like a sixth starter, right? So, there was some, Tamin would have been out. We just started Nate. If any situation presents itself, we can start Nate. So really, it's out of strength that I view it like we have six guys that are in contention to start, and it could be dependent on matchup or game or opponent,” he said.

That is certainly a luxury not every head coach has. Having that amount of talent is one thing, but having players who are bought in and willing to play whatever role is asked of them on a given night is even more impressive.

It speaks volumes to the kind of culture that Otzelberger has developed during his tenure in Ames and the character of the players whom he is recruiting to the program.