March 12, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Christian Anderson (4) protects the ball from Iowa State Cyclones forward Blake Buchanan (23) during the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Image Tamin Lipsey scored 20 points to lead fifth-seeded Iowa State to a 75-53 win over fourth-seeded Texas Tech on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City and advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
Joshua Jefferson added 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as the seventh-ranked Cyclones overcame an early 12-point deficit in the quarterfinals. Dominykas Pleta added 11 points off the bench as Iowa State (27-6) notched its second big performance in two days.
The Cyclones will face either top-seeded Arizona or eighth-seeded UCF in Friday’s semifinals.
LeJuan Watts had 12 points and seven rebounds and Christian Anderson had 10 points for No. 16 Texas Tech (22-10).
The Red Raiders fell to 3-3 after losing star big man JT Toppin to a season-ending ACL injury.
The Cyclones won their two Big 12 tournament games by a total of 71 points. They won by 49 points to set a Big 12 tournament record while passing Arizona State on Wednesday.
Iowa State shot 53.6% from the field, including 7 of 18 on 3-pointers. The Cyclones held a 39-29 rebounding advantage.
The Red Raiders shot 33.9% and were 9 of 29 from 3-point range.
In the second half, Iowa State shot 65.2% from the field, while Texas Tech shot only 22.2%.
Iowa State turned the game into a blowout by making nine straight shots, eight of them while being outshot 21-4 to take a 22-point lead.
Milan Momcilovic started with a burst with a trey to give the Cyclones a 47-39 lead with 15:41 remaining. Jefferson fell back, Lipsey converted a layup and Jefferson scored again to make it 53-39 with 12:31 left.
Jamarion Batemon and Lipsey followed with 3-pointers to cut the lead to 20 with 10:39 left.
After Texas Tech moved to within 60-43, Lipsey drained a trey and Pleta added a fastbreak dunk to make it 65-43 with 8:37 to play.
Pleta later scored four straight points and Jefferson hit a fast-break dunk to increase the margin to 24 with 2:55 left.
Texas Tech was hot from the start and a layup by Watts gave them a 17-5 lead just six minutes into the game.
But the Cyclones quickly recovered with a 15-2 run, and Lipsey’s 3-pointer gave Iowa State a 20-19 advantage with 9:57 left in the first half.
Batemon hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to give Iowa State a 36-33 halftime lead.
Lipsey had 10 points for the Cyclones in the first half. Watts had 11 points for the Red Raiders and Anderson added 10.
–Field level media
