Monday, November 4
The college basketball season officially begins tonight. Several teams will open up their season today
Men’s Basketball: Iowa St. vs. Mississippi Valley St. 7 pm Tip Off, Coverage on KSOM
There’s big expectations for the Cyclones this season as ISU enters the season #5 in the AP poll. The Cyclones return their top four scorers from last year’s team — Keshon Gilbert, Tamin Lipsey, Curtis Jones and Milan Momcilovic. Lipsey is a pre-season first team All-American pick and is one of the top point guards in the country. Jones shot 35 percent from three point land and averaged 11 points a game. Gilbert was the Big 12 Tournament MVP a year ago and led the Cyclones in scoring with 13.7 points a game. And Momcilovic started 37 games as a freshman and averaged nearly 11 points a game and shot 36 percent for his threes.
ISU also returns Demarian Watson, Kayden Fish, Caden Kelderman, Conrad Hawley, and 7-1 redshirt J.T. Rock. Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger also went to the transfer portal and got 6-9 Forward Joshua Jefferson (10.2 ppg with St. Mary’s), 6-11 Senior Dishon Jackson (11.4 ppg, 6.4 rbg with Charlotte), 6-5 Senior Nate Heise (13.5 ppg with Northern Iowa), 6-10 Senior Brandton Chatfield (9.4 ppg with Seattle) and added 4 star freshman Nojus Indrusatis.
Women’s Basketball: Iowa St. v. Chicago St. 11am Tip Off
Nobody in the Big 12 is ranked higher than the #8 Cyclones in the AP Pre-Season Poll. ISU will be led by 6-11 Sophomore Audi Crooks who recorded an historic season for an Iowa St. freshman. She broke multiple records and became the first ever Cyclone freshman to be an All-American. Crooks was ISU’s leading scorer with 635 points for 19.2 points per game while shooting .577 from the floor, the best field goal percentage by an NCAA DI freshman in 2023-24.
Crooks often has room inside because the defense is busy guarding Iowa St’s three point shooters. Head Coach Bill Fennelly has multiple players who has shot close to 40 percent or better from three point range — Senior Emily Ryan (43.5%, Sophomore Addy Brown (39%, Sophomore Kelsey Joens (39%), Sophomore Arianna Jackson (41.3%), and then throw in top freshman recruit Aili Tanke who won the national three point shooting competition as a high school senior.
Men’s Basketball: Iowa v. Texas A&M Commerce, 7pm Tip Off
Fran McCaffrey is entering his 15th season in Iowa City and will try to return the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament after missing the Dance last season. Payton Sandfort declared himself eligible for this past NBA Draft but decided to return for his senior season — Sandfort led the Hawks a year ago in scoring with 16.4 ppg and also had 6.6 rbg. Sophomore Brock Harding and Junior Josh Dix will return and are expected to increase their numbers from a year ago — Dix was a Big 10 Honorable Mention selection. Joining them in the backcourt will be 6-3 transfer from Morehead St. Drew Thelwell who will replace Tony Perkins who transferred to Missouri.
The Big 10 Freshman of the Year was Owen Freeman (10.6 ppg, 6.6 rbg, 1.8 blk) exceeded expectations last year. The rest of the front court is more unproven with another transfer 6-7 Sophomore Seydou Trafore (11.9 ppg and 8.1 rbg with Manhatten) plus Payton’s brother Pryce and 6-8 Sophomore Ladji Dembele. One interested prospect is 6-5 Redshirt Junior Carter Kingsbury, the son of legendary Chris Kingsbury who only appeared in 5 games a year ago but was moved from walk on status to a full scholarship.
Men’s Basketball: Nebraska v. Texas Rio Grande Valley, 7 pm Tip Off
It was mass exodus for the Huskers — Head Coach Fred Hoiberg lost 8 players from last year’s NCAA Tournament team either from graduation (Keisei Tominaga) or transfer portal (C.J. Wilcher). So Hoiberg went to work and dipped into the portal which he has always done whether he is in Ames or Lincoln. The Huskers have 7 transfer newcomers including 5 from Big Ten schools. The biggest addition was Connor Essegian from Wisconsin. The 6-4 guard did not have huge numbers with the Badgers last year (3.4 ppg) but lost a lot of playing time behind AJ Storr and was on the All Big Ten team 2 years ago. Braxton Meah (Washington), Gavin Griffiths (Rutgers), Berke Buyuktuncel (UCLA) and Ahron Ulis (Iowa) can count as one too since he did not play at all last season.
Andrew Morgan is a 6-10 center from North Dakota St. who averaged 13 points a game with the Bison. 6-5 Senior Rollie Worster has made the rounds — Lincoln is his third stop after playing with Utah St. and last year with Utah. The leader for the Huskers is 6-6 Senior Juwan Gary who averaged 11.6 ppg and 6.1 rbg last year and might be the one go to player for Nebraska to start the season.
Women’s Basketball: Nebraska v. Omaha, Noon Tip Off
The Huskers enter the season #23 in the country and its the inside play of Alexis Markowski that is the reason why. The senior is a pre-season All Big Ten honoree this year and has already tied the Husker school record for most career double doubles (40). She had a career-high 19 double-doubles and averaged career bests of 15.7 points and 10.5 rebounds as a junior. Natalie Potts is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, averaging 10 points and 5.5 rbg. 5-10 Redshirt Junior Allison Weidner is back after missing all of last year with a knee injury — she averaged about 10 ppg a year ago. 5-11 Freshman Britt Prince was the 2 time High School Player of the Year in Nebraska and stayed in state to play for the Huskers. Another player to watch is 5-9 Senior Transfer Alberte Rimdal who is originally from Denmark and played the three seasons for Florida.
