It’s rare for Iowa State to win in Allen Fieldhouse. What history says about KU-ISU
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- Iowa State has lost seven straight and 21 of 23 games at Allen Fieldhouse.
- Cyclones stand 16-0 overall, 3-0 in Big 12 and opened as a 3.5-point favorite.
- Matchup focus: KU’s Darryn Peterson vs. Iowa State team defense with Killyan Toure.
Iowa State senior guard Tamin Lipsey was born in 2003, two years after his hometown Cyclones last won a game in regulation at Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse.
Let the record book show undefeated and No. 2-ranked ISU has dropped seven in a row and 21 of its last 23 games in KU’s tradition-rich building (the two wins in OT) heading into Tuesday’s KU-ISU contest, set for an 8 p.m. tip in Lawrence. The game will be shown on ESPN.
“That’s crazy. I mean, (that’s) longer than I’ve been alive,” said Lipsey, who personally is 0-2 at Allen. KU and ISU played on campus just once — in Ames — during the 2023-24 campaign.
“We can accomplish that, but at the same time, that shows you how hard it is to play down there,” Lipsey added during a session with reporters Monday in Ames.
Iowa State opened as a 3.5-point favorite over KU on Monday, which perhaps seemed a bit low of a spread to some analysts well aware the Cyclones are off to a 16-0 start, the best start in school history.
Iowa State is also 3-0 in Big 12 play
KU, meanwhile, is unranked (receiving votes in the AP poll) with an 11-5 record — 1-2 in conference action.
“Kansas is always a great program. Obviously, they’re up and down sometimes, but at the end of the day, they’re still a great program, great coach. Everyone respects them,” Lipsey said. “To go into Allen Fieldhouse and get a win is not easy. It definitely would mean a lot, especially coming off, I think my first year, going down there (we) lost by two or three or whatever it was. We had a close one down there that we could have come away with.
KU escaped ISU 62-60 in Allen Fieldhouse during Ames, Iowa native Lipsey’s first year in college (2022-23).
After the schedule makers elected to have the teams play just once (in Ames) his sophomore season, Lipsey and the Cyclones dropped a 69-52 decision in Lawrence a year ago.
The Cyclones’ two overtime wins over KU in Allen in the last 21 years were 92-89 on Feb. 4, 2017, and 63-61 on Feb. 19, 2005.
ISU’s last win in regulation in Lawrence was 79-77 on Feb. 5, 2001. Lipsey was born on June 25, 2003.
“Looking forward to it a lot. It’s always a good atmosphere, a good time. Haven’t been able to come up with a win, so hopefully we can change that this time. But look forward to the fun atmosphere,” Lipsey, who is 3-0 versus KU in Ames, said of the Tuesday matchup.
As an Ames native, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Lipsey does indeed remember ISU’s overtime victory over Kansas in Lawrence in 2017.
“Is it Donovan Jackson who shot?” Lipsey asked reporters, referring to a late dagger 3 by Jackson. “Obviously, watched a ton of games over the years. But now as you’re saying that I remember that specific shot for some reason. (I’m) pretty sure Monte (Morris) threw that maybe baseline pass or something, but obviously that was a great team, and they were able to get it done. So it’s been a while, but hopefully we can pull that off and make something happen.”
In ISU’s last win in Lawrence, KU trailed 87-86 late in OT when Jackson, who indeed accepted a pass from Morris on the baseline, cashed a 3 with 26.7 seconds left to give the Cyclones a four-point cushion.
Devonte Graham hit a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to cut the gap to 90-89. But after Morris hit both free throws at the other end, Svi Mykhailiuk’s long 3-pointer at the buzzer was off target and ISU had snapped KU’s 51-game homecourt win streak.
ISU coach TJ Otzelberger on Monday said the current Jayhawks “have had their moments this year. They’ve had their challenges, and at the same time, we know that we expect for them to be at their best. We know that they have an opportunity now to come back (from West Virginia where KU lost Saturday) and be on their home court. And so we’ll aim to be at our best, because we have a lot of respect for them and respect for their program.”
Otzelberger remembers seeing KU’s Darryn Peterson competing for Prolific Prep on the recruiting trail.
“He’s an amazing, dynamic scorer, playmaker. He shoots it so well, gets in the paint at will, makes such hard shots, a competitor,” Otzelberger said. “He’s a guy that, even when you watch on the summer circuit and you see him play, a lot of guys that have his acclaim draw a crowd, but when he drew a crowd it was for people talking about the integrity he played with, the toughness, how hard he played every possession. He’s a winner.
“He rebounds as a guard. He defends, and so just lot of respect for his game, his talent, his ability, and know that even in the realm of all these really good players, he’s somebody that separated himself by how he’s always done this and how he’s gone about it.”
ISU’s Killyan Toure, a 6-3 freshman guard from Pamiers, France, who played last season at Brewster Academy, figures to open the game guarding Peterson.
“I mean he’s done a great job against some guys that are some of the better guards in the country, for sure, yet at the same time it’s never for us about a singular matchup, or one on one. It’s a team defense,” Otzelberger said. “And because of transition, which they’re elite, and because of the switch ability that we have, matchups change. Things change all the time throughout the course of the game.
“So I know that it’s great that Killyan does take that tremendous sense of pride in what he does do defensively and how he guards, and at the same time our team defense wants to be in position where it’s five guys all together that are connected doing that job.”
Of possibly guarding Peterson, Toure said to media members Monday: “First of all, it’s a team effort. We all defend on him. It’s not just one player over there. They have a good team. We have to be focused on that. Of course, guarding him ... that will be a good game for everybody.
“It’s most important to make sure we play with our identity as a team and come back with the win. But yeah, of course, that would be pretty cool for me to guard him if I have that occasion for sure.”
Toure added that Peterson “is a good player for sure. He knows how to create his own shot. ... That will be interesting for me because I like to play against those type of players, especially because I like playing defense. That’d be nice for sure.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 10:23 AM with the headline "It’s rare for Iowa State to win in Allen Fieldhouse. What history says about KU-ISU."
