Coming off a strong campaign in the 2025-26 season, the Iowa State Cyclones will be hoping to be even better next year. However, a lot of that success will rely on some players developing.
While it might have been a frustrating exit for the Cyclones in the Sweet 16, the program has to be pleased with how they performed overall. This was a team that started the year (16-0) and was ranked number two in the entire country. Even though they had some struggles on the road in the challenging Big 12 conference, Iowa State was a real threat to make the Final Four.
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Unfortunately, the injury to Joshua Jefferson derailed those hopes, and the result from the season became a bit of a “what if”. Now, with a lot of their production from last year no longer being on the team, the Cyclones will have to have some of their new players step into new roles, and some of their returning talent improve.
One player who the team will be relying on to be better and continue to grow as a player is freshman guard Killyan Toure.
Toure Will Be Key
Iowa State Cyclones guard Killyan Toure | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The freshman guard made an impact right from stepping on campus and started all 37 games that he played in. With a long frame at the guard position, Toure was instantly a great defender right from the start.
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With the mindset for Iowa State to play a physical brand of basketball and be one of the top defensive teams in the country, Toure played a big part in that. He, alongside Tamin Lipsey, was a really talented duo with Lipsey creating turnovers and Toure being a lockdown man defender. Toure’s size allowed him to guard multiple positions effectively, and that is a major luxury to have.
While he was an elite defender as a freshman, there were some struggles on offense for the talented young guard. Struggles shooting the ball were the main issue at times for Toure, and being a better offensive player as a sophomore will be key.
Overall, he averaged 8.6 points and shot 31.3 percent from three-point range and 46 percent from the field. While those numbers aren’t terrible, they will need to be better in year two.
What should be seen as encouraging was how he finished off the campaign. In the NCAA tournament, he totaled 44 points in three games, which included 25 points in their first game of March Madness. There is certainly reason to believe that Toure can be an effective offensive player, as he did show glimpses as a freshman. If his offensive game does improve to go along with his defense, he could become one of the best guards in the Big 12.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/iowa-state as Development of Freshman Guard Will Be Key for Iowa State Basketball .
