MAUI INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY NOVAVAX

November 27, 2024

T.J Otzelberger

Tamin Lipsey

Milan Momcilovic

Lahaina Civic Center

Iowa State Cyclones

Postgame Press Conference

Iowa State 99, Colorado 71

Q. Talk about your three days here. What did you like about your team?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: I think we grew up a lot in those three days. Throughout the season, you have to handle adversity. You have to handle success. We were fortunate here from that perspective to have to fight through both.

Proud of our guys. Feel like we really came together as a group, and we learned a lot about ourselves. It'll help us moving forward, so it's been a great experience.

Q. For both players, just kind of building on what Coach just said, what do you think you learned about yourselves over these past three days, high-level competition?

TAMIN LIPSEY: Yeah, I'd say it's just a great test for us to come together and play these great teams at this great event. Obviously there's going to be ups and downs in many games, like we saw playing the three games here. Just coming together as a team, just learning about each other. We haven't played very many games together yet, so just learning, getting better, improving, and having fun, most importantly.

MILAN MOMCILOVIC: We still have a lot of room to get better. I think today we scored 99 points. Our offense is getting better. But we've still got to clean some things up on the offensive and defensive end, but we're going to be really good.

Q. Milan, was this the expected way that you thought it might play out for you personally? Obviously you had a really good game. The team did, as well. What did you see in the scouting report? Three games in three days, first tip of the day, were you surprised by your level of energy? Do you feel like it was catching up with Colorado a little bit?

MILAN MOMCILOVIC: Yeah, I think first of all, Colorado, great team. On the defensive side they were more gap heavy, so the guards, Tam and Key, Curt, they just drove downhill and kicked it out to me and I was wide open. Give credit to all the guards. You never know what to expect on the third day early in the morning, so just go out, whatever the energy is, and play hard.

Q. Tamin, three games, three days, you could have been 1-2, instead you go home 2-1 and I believe Marquette is your next opponent in about a week. Getting to carry this feeling of winning more games than not here, how satisfying is that for this group versus what the alternative could have been?

TAMIN LIPSEY: Yeah, obviously the goal here is to win it all and go 3-0. Came up a little bit short, but 2-1 with this greet field of great teams, nothing to be sad about. Obviously learned about ourselves, each other, so going into some good time to get some rest, heading back into Marquette. Looking forward to that game and preparing and getting healthy.

Q. It was clear yesterday Malone had a really good game. You pretty much neutralized him on the glass. What did you do to take him out of the game?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, we were fortunate, our two front line guys, Dishon and Brandt, played extremely hard. I think they made his catches tough. We brought the double early offensively, which I think, again, we have a lot of confidence in our ability to double-team and try to disrupt, and then you've got to be aware of him on the glass.

He's a very efficient player, somebody that he's very smart and cerebral. It's a team effort when you're going to stop a great player.

Q. Coach, kind of along those lines, you shut down Malone, but quick turnaround, what did you see out of CU as you prepared for this that you wanted to take away today?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: You know, I have so much respect for Coach Boyle. He's somebody I've looked up to for a number of years, how he runs his program. So we knew coming in they would be a team that was very well prepared and that his teams move the basketball, they play the right way, and we just felt like for us, we had to get out in transition.

We know they really go to the offensive boards and felt like when we got a rebound, get out and go.

We were fortunate to be able to attack the paint, get to the rim and get enough shots. But we play those guys again in open league play, and we know that they're going to continue to get better. There's a lot of new players on the roster, and like I said, we have so much respect for how they do things, so we know it's going to be a totally different game when we see them in a few months.

Q. Today you tied a program best against a power conference opponent. You had 99 against DePaul in a previous season. Right now it's early and you had some easier opponents, but your offense is clearly out-rating any previous one that you had at Iowa State. How do you account for that, and what changes have you been able to institute to really adjust your efficiency on that end through the first 15 percent of the season?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, it starts with the four guards that return for us with Milan, Tamin, Keshon, and Curt. Those guys are all a year older. They've had the experiences. They bring tremendous leadership every single day. So I think their confidence has grown from last season.

Certainly you've seen with Keshon here, the maturity and the step that he's taken, but I think with all four of those guys, they've stepped up.

Our front court players, Jefferson, Jackson, those guys have good hands. They're skilled. I think we've got more presence to be able to score it in the post, guys that can help facilitate offense.

We have a team that it's really difficult to prepare for because we're going to end up with five, six guys in double figures that any night, one of them could be the guy. We're trying to play more in transition. We're trying to play with more pace.

We're really trying to force the ball to the paint and get to the foul line, and our guys did a good job of that here.