IOWA CITY, Iowa — Heading into Thursday night’s matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes, Iowa State point guard Tamin Lipsey had struggled as of late to find ways to get the ball into the basket.

While Lipsey had not taken a lot of shots, he still could not find a way to be a bigger contributor on the scoreboard with a one-point performance against then-No. 5 Marquette and a five-point performance against Jackson State.

But the one thing about Lipsey that has been the most prominent has come in ways that don’t show on the stat sheet.

Those plays come in the form of hustle plays. These plays can be wide-ranging, including chasing after loose balls and securing rebounds to keep offensive possessions alive.

In Thursday night’s 89-80 win over Iowa, Lipsey was able to stand out in that fashion yet again, helping the No. 3 Cyclones narrowly avoid an upset in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Whether it came from fighting for loose balls or trying to keep an offensive possession alive, Lipsey was all over the court making plays that helped contribute to the big win in enemy territory.

Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger admired Lipsey’s ability to make hustle plays happen to help contribute to Iowa State’s nine-point win over an in-state rival.

“The shots are great, but there’s so many hustle plays, rebounds, loose balls, it felt like [Lipsey] was so tenacious in that department,” Otzelberger said. “Those plays aren’t 50/50 balls. He commanded and demanded all of those.”

These specific plays are what Otzelberger has instilled into his team, but is most evident in Lipsey’s game, as even when the shots aren’t going in, it won’t waver the point guard’s mentality to keep plays alive for his team.

“As much as the shot-making is great, the play-making is great, the defense is great, I believe those [hustle] plays are the energizing plays that take your team to another level,” Otzelberger said. “The way [Lipsey] makes them and the consistency he makes them is a huge credit to his character and who he is as a person.”

Even his teammates recognize Lipsey’s ability to be vicious when attempting to attack the ball to keep an offensive possession alive or try to flip the court for the Cyclones.

“They say everything is a 50/50 ball, but for Tamin [Lipsey], it feels like 80/20,” Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson said. “He’s going to get every single one of those and it changes everything for our team, getting another play after play.”

“That was bigger than any shot he hit,” Iowa State guard Curtis Jones said. “[Lipsey] was getting every 50/50 ball, it felt like. So many offensive rebounds and tip-outs that we got points out of those, so just grateful to have him.”

Aside from his point total, Lipsey collected six rebounds, three of which were on the offensive glass, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

Going back to his scoring abilities, Lipsey struggled to see the ball go through the hoop in the first half as he had missed all three of his attempted shots, with each shot being from beyond the arc.

“The first half was a little rough,” Lipsey said. “Just missed some shots and didn’t feel like myself out there.”

But going into the second half, it looked like Lipsey found a spark in his shooting strides as he went on to score all 11 of his points in this half on 4-of-6 shooting, 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

“Second half, I was able to come out there and stay confident in it,” Lipsey said. “I just kept shooting and knocked some in while staying on the glass and getting loose balls.”

Two of his three 3-pointers came in back-to-back possessions for the Cyclones, which eventually helped keep the game tied at 72 heading into the final five minutes.

“He was the reason we won the second half,” Iowa State guard Nate Heise said. “A lot of the things he does don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

His 11-point total also came while dealing with a rolled ankle he sustained in the second half, as Lipsey continues to deal with injuries hitting him left and right.

“[Lipsey has] dealt with various injuries and challenges that most guys wouldn’t be able to play through and he does,” Otzelberger said. “When you put the work in that he does, you could see a look in his eye at half that he was able to dial into some mental toughness to dig deep. When that first one goes in and you see that rhythm, his confidence took another step forward.”

“Tamin is a superhero,” Otzelberger said.

But even despite all the challenges he faced, Lipsey was able to find a way to be a major contributor in taking down a team in the city that he had grown up disliking as an Ames native.

“It meant a lot,” Lipsey said. “I really didn’t feel like we were going to win until like 10 seconds left, just because of how the shots were going for them, especially in the first half, but it felt amazing.”