Instant analysis: No. 12 Iowa State bests No. 7 Texas in Tyrese Hunter's return

AMES – Somehow, it lived up to the hype.

The matchup between No. 7 Texas and No. 12 Iowa State, fueled by a swirl of controversy and bad blood, delivered on the big-time bout it was billed as.

And it worked out for the home team.

The Cyclones won the battle of bullying and battering to take a critical 78-67 victory Tuesday night to move into a tie for first place in the Big 12. The win also brought a measure of satisfaction, toppling a former teammate.

As much as Big 12 positioning and NCAA seeding, the game – or at least the external noise about it - was about Tyrese Hunter, the Texas guard who transferred from Iowa State following a magnificent 2021-22. That decision left many of the faithful at Hilton Coliseum waiting to rain boos on him for the last nine months.

More:What kind of reception will ex-Cyclone Tyrese Hunter get at Hilton? We asked Adam Haluska.

It led to one of the more raucous crowds in this building in recent years.

"Surreal," said Iowa State's Jaren Holmes. "It almost felt like an NBA playoff game. That intense."

Hunter got off to a strong start despite the vitriol sent his way, but ultimately his former team wore down his new one. The Cyclones held the Longhorns to 38.5% from the field and 15.4% from beyond the arc in the second half and pulled away late to improve to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12. Texas slipped to 15-3 and 4-2.

Holmes and Caleb Grill led the way offensively for Iowa State with 21 and 17 points, respectively. Gabe Kalscheur had 16 points while Osun Osunniyi contributed 11 points and seven rebounds.

Iowa State will try to keep its spot atop the Big 12 with a trip to Oklahoma State on Saturday.

The Hunter spectacle

Despite being a game between a pair of top-15 teams trying to keep pace with league leaders Kansas and Kansas State, this game’s intensity and hype derived largely from Hunter’s presence.

His decision to leave Iowa State, where he was considered the cornerstone of what coach T.J. Otzelberger began building in Year 1, certainly landed a blow to Cyclone fans, especially in the NIL era where money is often assumed to be the main – if not only – factor.

So for him to leave Iowa State and its moderate budget for the land of vast resources in Texas – which nearly imploded the Big 12 for a second time in 10 years with its impending move to the SEC – provided a sobering reminder of the obstacles Iowa State has to overcome, at least in the minds of many.

More:Peterson: Iowa State-Texas is about more than one player, it's Cyclones vs. Longhorns

It’s worth noting that Hunter said NIL money did not factor into his decision, not that the statement carried much weight with those cheering against him Tuesday.

Hunter was treated to plenty of boos every time he touched the ball and a number of two-word chants in which the second word was "Tyrese" and the first was unprintable. There was also play money on display in the student section.

"I was prepared for it," Hunter said after the game. "I expected it. But I was having fun with it."

It wasn’t just the fans, though. At one point late in the first half, Kalscheur stood over a fallen Hunter and barked something at him that was unintelligible to reporters. When Grill made a 3-pointer with 6 minutes to play to put Iowa State up 9, he gestured to the Longhorns bench to call timeout as the Hilton Coliseum crowd went bananas.

"You’ve got to let your emotions show a little bit," Kalscheur said, "but not to where you’re getting yourself out of your comfort zone.

"Just do a good job showing your emotions to feed into the crowd and let the crowd get into it even more, but doing a good job of being composed and saying, yeah, we’ve been there, and we’re here and we’re ready to fight."

Mostly, it was the type of experience that most would have predicted in an emotionally charged college basketball game.

"We talked about it on the front end," Otzelberger said, "but I trust our guys and how they carry themselves, how they handle themselves. I’m very proud of them as people.

"I’m proud of how they handled it because we handled it with a lot of maturity and class. It’s not easy to do that. You can get caught up in things."

Hunter scored 10 points on the night, but was held scoreless in the second half when he went 0-for-4 from the floor. He finished the night with three assists. He and Otzelberger shared an extended moment in the postgame handshake line.

"I told him I appreciated what he did for our program last year," Otzelberger said, "and that I respect him. Stay healthy and have a good season."

The return game in Austin for these two teams comes on Feb. 21. The Longhorns’ Moody Center won’t be able to replicate the same level of menace as Hilton Coliseum, but it seems like the animosity between the two teams will travel.

"There’s a lot of competitive people over on that side," Holmes said, "and there’s a lot of competitive people on this side. You knew it was going to be a fight and it’s going to be a war."

Big 12 race

It would have been absurd to talk about Iowa State’s path to a Big 12 title just a few months ago when the league’s coaches picked the Cyclones eighth due to a roster without much continuity or obvious high-level talent.

Now, though, it’s at least worth a mention of where the Cyclones stand a third of the way through the league race.

At 5-1, Iowa State is tied with Kansas and K-State for first place in the Big 12.

With a win over the top-10 Longhorns, the Cyclones have held serve and maybe even a little bit more. With its lone loss in league play coming in Lawrence, Iowa State has navigated its schedule as well as any conference contender could hope to.

"We work hard. We put the work in. We wake up early mornings," Holmes said. "We're there. We put the work in. We earned this. We deserve this because of our daily habits every single day."

The Cyclones aren’t the favorites, but put them squarely in the conversation in the battle to win the country’s best conference.

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Cyclones win top-15 matchup against Texas, former teammate Hunter