AMES – Gabe Kalscheur continued his hot shooting while leading No. 14 Iowa State (13-2, 4-0 Big 12) to an impressive 84-50 victory over Texas Tech (10-6, 0-4 Big 12) Tuesday night in Hilton Coliseum.
Kalscheur was making baskets from everywhere, drilling 10-of-14 shots from the field, including a 5-of-6 effort from downtown, enroute to a game-high 25 points.
The Cyclones raced out to a 19-point lead at the half and their 34-point margin of victory ties for the sixth largest against a conference opponent in school history. The win also allowed ISU to remain unbeaten in the conference at 4-0 to match its best start in Big 12 play, tying the 1999-2000 squad.
Caleb Grill was also on the mark, helping the Cyclones connect on a season-high 12 3-pointers behind 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He had 14 points. Jaren Holmes added 15 points and Tamin Lipsey scored nine points and equaled his career high in assists with eight.
ISU forced 19 TTU turnovers, including 13 in the first half.
How It Happened
Iowa State broke open a tie game with a trio of 3-pointers on three-straight possessions to move ahead 17-10 with 11:03 left in the first half. Grill hit a pair of treys and Kalscheur connected on a triple to give the Cyclones an early lead.
After Texas Tech cut the Cyclone lead to 19-17, the Red Raiders went nearly six minutes without scoring as the Cyclones jumped to a 28-17 lead. TTU’s Jaylon Tyson finally ended the drought with a 3-pointer, but Lipsey hit a trey followed by a Jaren Holmes 3-pointer with the shot-clock winding down to push ISU out in front 34-20.
ISU finished the half with the final five points, capped off by a Kalscheur corner trey at the buzzer to give the Cyclones a 39-20 lead. Kalscheur had 15 points at the break.
The Red Raiders trimmed the lead to 15 points (48-33) at the 15-minute mark of the second half. ISU then went on a 16-2 run to jump ahead by 29 points (64-35) with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Kalscheur scored 11 points in the run behind three more treys to give the Cyclones a comfortable lead.
Grill later buried a pair of 3-pointers and the Cyclones led 72-39 with eight minutes left.
Top Performance
Kalscheur is getting comfortable in Hilton Coliseum by posting his second-straight 20-point outing (25) at home. Kalscheur, who also grabbed a team-high seven boards, is 17-of-27 from the field, 10-of-15 from downtown and averaging 24.0 points in his last two home games. Kalscheur’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was the game-winner at TCU on Saturday. Hit another buzzer-beater, this time a trey at the end of the first half.
Notes
-ISU’s seven first half 3-pointers is the most it’s made in the first half this season and tied for the most 3-pointers the Cyclones have ever made in a half.
-Iowa State is 4-0 in conference play for the third time in program history. The last time ISU was 4-0 was in 1999-00 when the Cyclones began conference play 4-0 and in 1943-44 when it went 8-0 to begin conference play.
-Tre King became the fourth active Cyclone with over 1,000 career points (Kalscheur, Holmes, Osunniyi)
-Tonight marked the first time ISU netted 10 or more 3-pointers against Texas Tech since 2017.
-ISU’s 34 point margin of victory over Tech is the largest margin of victory over a conference opponent since 2013 when ISU defeated TCU 87-52. Additionally, it’s the largest margin of victory over a conference opponent in the Otzelberger era.
What’s Next
Iowa State travels to No. 2 Kansas on Saturday (Jan. 14). Tipoff is at 3 p.m. on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.
