T.J. Otzelberger was Offended Iowa State was an Underdog vs. Houston
Iowa State went into its second game of conference play in the Big 12 taking on the No. 2 Houston Cougars at Hilton Coliseum on Tuesday night. The Cyclones were coming off a tough loss at Oklahoma on Saturday, but were hoping some of that Hilton Magic would return to kickstart conference play at home on a high note.
And that’s exactly what happened as the Cyclones beat the second-ranked Cougars 57-53, handing Houston its first loss of the 2023-24 college basketball season.
After the game, coach T.J. Otzelberger made it very clear that he knew the Clones were an underdog heading into the game and felt disrespected, saying, “All the respect in the world for their program and what they’ve done, but nobody’s going to come in here and push us around. Nobody’s going to come in here and bully us… not real happy about being an underdog, not that we follow any of that sort of thing, but nobody’s going to call us an underdog in Hilton Coliseum.”
Here’s the audio, courtesy of Cyclone Fanatic.
Houston went into the game as a 2.5-point favorite over Iowa State.
Tamin Lipsey scored 14 points, while freshman Milan Momcilovic made a baseline jumper with 30.2 seconds left to help Iowa State knock off the nation’s final unbeaten team.
The Cyclones also have had a knack for playing up to their compeition in recent seasons under coach Otzelberger. Iowa State now has seven wins against Top-10 opponents in the last two seasons — most in Division I.
The Cyclones are back at it on Saturday when they host Oklahoma State at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
