If you are a fan of the Iowa State Cyclones basketball team, which is consistently ranked as one of the top teams in the state of Iowa, then you might be interested to know who are the best former Cyclones who are currently playing in the NBA.
Since the season started in late October, we figured it would be the perfect time to look into how many Cyclones are in NBA rosters.
In total there are 4 professional players that have played for both the Cyclones and that are currently registered in teams of the National Basketball Association.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers
One of the most promising Cyclones that play in the NBA at the moment is Tyrese Haliburton, who is part of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers.
During his time at Iowa State University, he was a star basketball player, and the Sacramento Kings picked him up in the 2020 NBA draft. He is a point guard and has a height and weight of 6 feet 5 inches and 185 pounds, respectively.
When he was a freshman at Iowa State, he established a new school record for most assists in a game. Despite concluding the season with a wrist injury, he had a breakout year as a sophomore and was chosen to the Big 12 Conference’s second-team All-Conference.
At the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, held in Heraklion, Greece, Haliburton captained the United States to a gold medal and was named to the tournament’s all-tournament team.
"I just want them to know it's okay to mess up…when I was little I used to get really frustrated at myself when I'd mess up in drills, but that's the fun of it."
it was all about learning and having fun at @TyHaliburton22's first youth camp.☺️🙌 pic.twitter.com/Qdx2s1A6VP
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) September 18, 2022
Monte Morris, Wizards
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Monté Robert Morris is a Nigerian-American basketball player that currently is part of the NBA’s Washington Wizards team. He was a member of the Iowa State Cyclones during his college career, up to 2017.
During his four years at Iowa State, Monte Morris was the driving force behind one of the most productive attacks in college basketball. His Cyclones team never finished lower than 12th in offensive efficiency.
Morris, who was a starter for the Cyclones since the middle of his freshman year, is widely considered to be one of the best players in the program’s history, with his four years there culminating in an appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the establishment of a number of new school records, including the best ever in steals and assists.
Morris has a high feel for the game on both sides of the court and lots of intangibles after running an NBA-style offense for four years at Iowa State, where he started 121 consecutive games and played in 140 total games.
As a fourth-year NBA player, Morris appeared in 47 games for Denver and made a career-high 13 starts. Morris scored 10.2 points, pulled down 2.0 boards, and dished out 3.2 assists a contest on average. The guard had a field-goal percentage of 481 and a three-point percentage of 38,1.
Picked by the Denver Nuggets in 2017, Morris was involved in a trade earlier this year, on July 6th, joining the Washington Wizards. Will the Nuggets regret that move?
“People keep overlooking us and I love it.”
– Monte Morris on the Wizards pic.twitter.com/M1zsC7fySu
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 23, 2022
Georges Niang, 76ers
Georges Niang, a dual citizen of the United States and Senegal, plays basketball for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. He played college basketball at Iowa State University, where he received All-American honors.
In 2013, during Niang’s first season as a professional basketball player, he was selected to the Big 12’s All-Rookie Team. On the offensive end for Iowa State, he was third-best behind Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane, averaging 16.7 points and 4.5 rebounds as a sophomore.
As a senior, Niang averaged 20.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, pushing his career total to over 2,000 points. On February 11, he was among the 35 players on the shortlist for midseason Naismith College Player of the Year.
Niang is the all-time leader in games played and victories at his university, and he is the first player in program history to make four consecutive NCAA tournaments.
Just recently, the center completed the finest season of his NBA career. He shot a career-best 42.5 percent from outside the arc and added 2.4 boards per game to his 6.9-point total. Over the course of the season, the power forward appeared in all 72 games. His 16 minutes per game played were a personal high.
Georges Niang quick release from deep 💦pic.twitter.com/cLzNlersEj
— Sixers Nation (@SixersNationCP) October 24, 2022
Talen Horton-Tucker
The last one on our list is Talen Jalee Horton-Tucker, an American basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the NBA. Before graduating from college, Horton-Tucker played basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones.
In a victory over Illinois on November 20, 2018, Horton–Tucker set a new record for himself by scoring a career-high 26 points and grabbing a new career-best 14 rebounds.
Horton–Tucker played 27 minutes per game as a freshman and averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 steals in addition to his scoring. After completing his first year of eligibility, Horton–Tucker entered his name into the 2019 NBA draft.
During his second year in the NBA, Horton-Tucker emerged as a major cog in the Lakers’ rotation.
The guard started 65 out of the Lakers’ 72 games in the regular season and scored 9.0 points per contest on 26.8 percent shooting with 2.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game in 20.1 minutes per game.
However, on August 25, 2022, Horton-Tucker together with Stanley Johnson was traded to the Utah Jazz, while the Lakers received Patrick Beverley.
This story about Talen Horton-Tucker from Tony Allen is 🔥 pic.twitter.com/c4xvmUFV4q
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) August 23, 2022
Credits on Featured Image: Max Goldberg from USA – This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
