AMES, Iowa — Iowa State lost Big 12 Freshman of the Year Tyrese Hunter to the transfer portal in the off-season, but they found another first-year guard to make a difference: Tamin Lipsey.
Last spring, Lipsey led Ames to a 4A Iowa High School State Basketball Championship. Now, he's leading the Cyclones into Big 12 play.
"I didn't expect anything," Lipsey said. "I was just going to come in here and work. I knew that we had a lot of older guys on the team. So I didn't really know what to expect. But I knew what to expect for myself and I was just come work hard. So that's what I did."
Through 12 games, Lipsey has averaged 6.3 points and 4.7 assists. But his impact isn't shown on the stat sheet.
"You know, when you recruit guys that have great character with work habits and come from a great family and really love Iowa State, that's the equation to be successful," said Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger. "But to be able to say we could see that he would play this well, in the magnitude of some of the games that he has. You know, nobody could predict that."
His impact is more than just on the court. After Iowa State's 77-62 win over Baylor on Saturday, Lipsey was surrounded by 30 fans asking for autographs.
Just eight years ago, he was one of those kids.
"I still kind of just think about it," Lipsey said. "And I'm like, 'am I really in this position like these kids are actually like looking up to me how I looked up to Monte and those guys?' So it feels kind of weird, but it feels awesome. And I know that all the little things that I do will impact people's lives."
Otzelberger says that's why he loves working for Iowa State.
"It builds that rallying effect around our program and makes people care more and then you look at the impact the actions of somebody who's you know a great player and a great person like Monte, you know his acts what it impacted on Tamin and now Tamin is carrying that torch."
Iowa State is back in action on Wednesday against Oklahoma at 6 p.m. in Norman.
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