Iowa State Cyclones Wrongly Stay Put in College Basketball Power Rankings

Should the Iowa State Cyclones have moved up in a prominent college basketball power rankings this week?

Jan 17, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger answers questions from the media after his team’s game against Cincinnati Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena. | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones were able to have a strong week on the hardwood and snapped a two-game losing streak. Now, the program will once again be seeking to build some momentum and start to rise back up in the rankings. 

There was undoubtedly some cause for concern following two straight losses on the road for the Cyclones, especially since they didn’t look great in either game. Iowa State struggled quite a bit against both the Kansas Jayhawks and the Cincinnati Bearcats. 

Slow starts are what plagued them in each of those games, and the team made it a mission this past week to avoid that. Against both the UCF Knights and the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Iowa State played much better to start things off, and that helped result in some easy wins. 

While the Cyclones might be a much-improved team offensively, they are a team that is built on playing strong defense. Turning other teams over is one of their best attributes, and they lost that a bit during the two-game skid. However, with the team bouncing back, they are now aiming to get back toward being considered a top team in the nation.

CJ Moore of The Athletic (subscription required) recently released his NCAA power rankings, and despite a couple of wins this week, the Cyclones remained in the ninth spot.  

Cyclones Surprisingly Don’t Move Up 

owa State Cyclones forward Milan Momcilovic | Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Seeing Iowa State coming in ninth for the power rankings and not moving up is a bit surprising. There were a lot of big games around the nation last week, and some of the teams in the Top 10 slipped up. Of the teams ahead of the Cyclones in the rankings, it was surprising to see the Houston Cougars remain ahead of them by one spot following a loss. 

Furthermore, both the Michigan State Spartans and Illinois Fighting Illini were able to jump Iowa State despite them not suffering a loss. That is certainly surprising, especially considering that the Illini have three losses on the campaign so far. While they have been red hot of late, their moving up as far as they have with quality teams behind them is a shocker. 

For the Cyclones, they will have two games this coming week that will both be winnable to try to continue to build momentum and improve their resume. After fantastic week led by Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State has appeared to fix some of the issues that resulted in their losses and should be back on their way up in the rankings soon enough.