Breaking Down Why Iowa State Cyclones Basketball Has Been a Surprise This Season

Here's why the Iowa State Cyclones have been a surprise this season.

Dec 3, 2025; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Killyan Toure (27) shoots over Alcorn State Braves guard Alex Hawkins (10) during the first half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. | Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

With the calendar turning to December, it has been an impressive first month of the season for the Iowa State Cyclones. 

Coming into the campaign, the Cyclones figured to be a team that was going to be able to contend in the Big 12 and be a Top 25 team in the country. However, they weren’t projected to be nearly as good as they have been this year. 

In the first month of the season, Iowa State was able to go a perfect 7-0, which included an impressive 3-0 record in the Players Era Festival. The Cyclones have been able to earn some wins against quality opponents and are rising in the ranks. 

Now, with the hot start to the campaign, expectations might be changing for the school. All of a sudden, this is a team that now has the looks of a true contender, and they have done that with a key player in Tamin Lipsey missing some time as well.

Brendan Marks of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about the Cyclones being one of the top surprises in college basketball following the first month of the season. 

Iowa State Showing Final Four Upside

Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

While the Cyclones were undoubtedly going to be a tournament team and likely win 20 games this season, they have now changed their entire outlook with a great start and some big wins. 

Coming into the year, Iowa State figured to be a strong, defensive-minded team that was going to cause opponents problems on that end of the court. That has certainly been the case with the team forcing an insane amount of turnovers early on. However, the big surprise for the team has been their success on offense. 

So far this year, the team has far exceeded expectations offensively, and the really encouraging thing is that it is coming from multiple sources. With Lipsey missing some time, it has allowed others to step up and showcase what they can do. Long-term, and to help solidify themselves as a contender, having multiple players they can rely on offensively will only help. 

Arguably, the emergence of Joshua Jefferson into an early National Player of the Year candidate has also helped. The senior forward is off to a hot start and is performing like one of the best players in the country. 

Now, while the hot start is nice, the program will be hoping to sustain it. With the team rising in the rankings and performing well on both ends of the court, they look like a real contender for the Final Four.