By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
If you are an Iowa State fan, you know that point guard Tamin Lipsey played his final home game for the Cyclones on Saturday, March 7. His final game inside the storied Hilton Coliseum looked like many other Tamin Lipsey performances: 16 points, six assists and six steals.
Tenacious and unwavering on both sides of the court, he embodied what it meant to be an ISU basketball player — made even more impressive by the current college basketball landscape.
My first experience watching Lipsey came when he was a Little Cyclone at Ames High School. A friend of mine, who played at my alma mater, Des Moines Lincoln, faced Lipsey in a second-round substate playoff game. I was living in Ames at the time, so a few friends and I decided to attend. Lincoln lost, 68-41, but Lipsey shined, scoring 27 points. Little did we — and my fellow Cyclone fans — know at the time that he would become one of the greatest ISU basketball players of all time.
Lipsey spent all four years at Iowa State. It was a shock that he even kept his commitment at the time. He committed to ISU when the team went a dismal 2-22 — including 0-18 in Big 12 play. T.J. Otzelberger immediately turned the program around, winning 22 games the next season. Lipsey joined the team the following year and never looked back.
How rare is that? At the end of this season, there were only 22 major scholarship players who spent their entire college careers at one school. Just 22. There are 68 schools in the Power Four conferences. If each team had a maxed-out roster, that would be more than 1,000 players. Only 22 stayed at one school for their entire careers, and Lipsey was one of them.
Winning certainly played a role in why he stayed. He and the Cyclones have done plenty of it. With the Big 12 Conference Tournament semifinals and championship game still ahead — along with the NCAA Tournament — Iowa State has gone 100-38 with Lipsey on the roster.
The list of accolades he accumulated during that time could fill a column of its own. Here are a few eye-popping Lipsey statistics and numbers.
Lipsey holds the ISU record for the most career starts in program history with 127. He ranks fifth all-time in total games played and total minutes played. He is the 14th three-time All-Conference selection in school history. He ranks sixth all time in assists, first all time in defensive win shares and first all time in steals with 302.
Those are just a few of the jaw-dropping numbers Lipsey put up over the years.
It was recently announced that the Cyclones — for the first time in a long time — will retire a jersey number: the No. 3 worn by Melvin Ejim, another all-time program legend. If you have watched ISU games recently, you might notice another player wearing No. 3: Tamin Lipsey.
I like to think they held off on Ejim’s jersey retirement because they knew that someday they will likely add Lipsey’s name to that banner in one way or another a few years from now.
Iowa State posted a heartfelt tribute video for Lipsey, and he can still make history for the Cyclones with the NCAA Tournament looming. Whether the season ends with cutting down the nets or not, I simply want to thank Lipsey for his service and for providing Cyclone fans with countless memories during his time in Ames.
Go make some noise this March — and go make your mark in the NBA.
Reach out with comments, suggestions, story ideas and more at cyote@dmcityview.com.