Coming off a nice win against Southern Miss, the Iowa State Cyclones were back in action at home looking to build a winning streak. 

Following their loss to the Memphis Tigers, the Cyclones fell out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since January of 2024. That is a great indication of the type of program that Iowa State has become, and Tuesday night was an important one for them to get back on track. 

Right from the start of this one, it was clear that the Cyclones were going to be bringing it on the defensive end of the court. Following the bad outing against Memphis in that area, the team was much better against Southern Miss, and arguably even better against Southern on Tuesday. 

Coming into the game one of the top players to watch for the Cyclones was Tre Singleton. The sophomore has been fantastic to start the year and he was off to a good start in this one, but ended up picking up three fouls. 

Defensive Domination

One of their top players being in foul trouble really didn’t make too much of a difference in the first half. The Cyclones jumped Southern with a 20-0 run to start the game and this game was pretty much over after that. 

Overall, Iowa State led at the half 41-18, with the defense being pretty suffocating throughout. However, there were some good things offensively with nine players scoring in the first half. 

Jamarion Batemon was certainly one player that was aggressive and looking to get going early in this one. The sophomore guard hasn’t got off to the best start so far, but he led the team in scoring at the half with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting from the floor and 2-for-8 from beyond the arc. 

In the second half, the Cyclones did not slow down, and it ended up being a pretty balanced attack on offense. It was a little bit surprising how much the starters played in this game, but it was an impressive showing.

Easily the biggest takeaway from this lopsided win was the defense. Even though Southern might not be a great team, this was a total domination and one of the best defensive performances that any team will put together in the country this season. Overall, the Cyclones held Southern to just 47 points in a fantastic defensive performance.

Next up for Iowa State will be Niagara as the team gets closer to head to Las Vegas for the Players Era.