Randy Peterson
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March 21, 2025
The mind wandered to last season’s Iowa State-Houston Big 12 Conference championship game, as Milan Momcilovic was sinking shot after shot during the Cyclones’ 82-55 first-round NCAA Tournament route against Lipscomb Friday.
Swish from the deep corner. Splash from the wing. Spin move to the hoop.
Milan was doing it all, as T.J. Otzelberger’s team was building a 16-point halftime lead in a regional at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.
He scored 10 of his team’s 14-0 run, as the Cyclones were establishing just who was the boss. At 6 foot 7 and a few inches taller than anyone that failed to guard him, it was see mismatch, abuse mismatch.
Boom.
Swish.
Splash.
It was reminiscent some of what he did during last year’s conference championship game – shortly after a large and muscular guy with mammoth-sized hands walked into his seat at the downtown Kansas City arena.
Yeah, it was Shaquille O’Neal, who shook the hands of both then-colleague Travis Hines and myself, before settling into a cushy courtside chair, directly next to our not-so-comfy seats on press row.
Momcilovic’s play was so impressive during that game, that the NBA legend leaned over and asked one from his entourage seated next to him:
“And he’s just a freshman?”
He’s really just a sophomore now, and, Shaq, he’s better than when you saw him in person last season.
Friday, Momcilovic scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in just 31 minutes. He made 8 of his 14 shots, including half his eight three-pointers.
Iowa State found the mismatch -- and Milan even acknowledged it during a halftime interview with CBS. “I was shooting over a smaller defender,” he said after a 17-point first 20 minutes.
He was shooting it very well, over a smaller defender. When not doing that, he took a similar-sized defender to the basket.
“We want him to stay aggressive,” Otzelberger said after the game. “I think there's been times over his first two years, where a shot maybe doesn't go in early and maybe that deters him from the next one. To me, we just want to trust the work.”
Yeah, good Iowa State things happen when Momcilovic shoots, instead of passes.
“Milan is killing us,” Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said during in-game interview.
He certainly was, and the only counter-point he had, was to swarm him with defenders. Just like he saw the mismatch, he saw that, too.
“Milan, truthfully, just took over the game,” Otzelberger said.
After helping Iowa State establish early dominance to the extent the Cyclones didn’t need him to score much during the final half, the double-teaming he saw opened his teammates.
Pass to walkon Cade Kelderman?
Swish for threeeeeeee.
Quick inside feed to Joshua Jefferson?
And one.
The largest margin of NCAA tournament game victory in Iowa State history.
Hometown kid makes good.
Again.
Remember Tyrese Hunter in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, also in Milwaukee – just 20 miles from his Racine, Wis. home?
An unstoppable 23 points, three assists and five steals in a first-round victory against LSU, as a section full of Tyrese’s friends and family roared approval. Then two days later, he played a wonderful floor game, as the Cyclones beat, ahem, Wisconsin, to advance to Iowa State’s first Sweet 16 under Otzleberger.
“I think it's a home court advantage for our team in general, because Iowa State is close to Milwaukee,” Momcilovic said after Friday’s game. “For me, it’s 20 minutes away in Pewaukee. It's the closest game we've had since I've been at Iowa State. It's cool to have the fans come, and glad I could put on a show for them.”
Put on a good show?
On this occasion, it's like we were watching an episode of:
Milan Is in Charge.
**
Sunday against Ole Miss or North Carolina won’t be nearly as easy. While Keshon Gilbert missing the remainder of the season because of a strained groin was no factor against Lipscomb, the Cyclones will need all the backcourt firepower it can get, if it’s to advance to another Sweet 16 and beyond.
Tamin Lipsey, Curtis Jones, and Kelderman handled it all right Friday, but Sunday’s opponent isn’t Lipscomb. That trio again must be on collective A-games. Momcilovic and Jefferson, too.
Of course, Iowa State can win without him, but I’d stop short of what some on social media were saying about the Cyclones being better with Keshon back in Ames.
Iowa State is elite, it’s Final Four(ish), with all hands on court, and remember this:
The Cyclones have the Chess pieces that, if moves are made with precision-like accuracy, are good enough to check mate any opponent they’ll face.
**
As for the Iowa State women, which lost against Michigan a few hours earlier Friday . . .
Now-departed senior Emily Ryan has to stay around. Whether it’s someday as a fulltime assistant or a graduate assistant or something like that – she’s got so much to give young Cyclones. On and off the court, there have been none finer.
Hilton Coliseum’s rafters await.
(Award-winning columnist Randy Peterson can be, and has been, reached at randypete4846@gmail.com or at any Okoboji-area beverage/food establishment between the hours of open and close.)