PROVO, UTAH – Iowa State hits the road for the first of two Top 25 battles this week, as the Cyclones face No. 20 BYU Tuesday night in Provo. This will be the first meeting between the Cyclones and Cougars with both teams being in the AP Top 25 Poll.
The Cyclones are coming off a perfect week, beating No. 2 Houston 57-53 on Tuesday and Oklahoma State 66-42 on Saturday. It marked just the second time in Iowa State’s Big 12 history to hold back-to-back league opponents to under 100 points. It was Houston’s lowest point total since Dec. 3, 2022.
T.J. Otzelberger’s lone game against BYU as a head coach came during his first season as head coach at UNLV, meeting the Cougars in Salt Lake City.
BYU Head Coach Mark Pope was an assistant coach at BYU when the Cougars and Cyclones faced each other in 2012 and 2013. Otzelberger was also an assistant coach at Iowa State for the 2012 game, a 83-62 Cyclone victory in Ames.
Pope played six years in the NBA, including his first two with the Indiana Pacers. While with the Pacers from 1997- 99, he played with former Cyclone Fred Hoiberg.
BYU Assistant Coach Cody Fueger was the BYU Director of Operations in 2013 when the Cyclones won in Provo.
The Cyclones travel to No. 19 TCU on Saturday for their second Big 12 road game of the week. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. in Fort Worth, Texas and will be broadcast on ESPNU.