The 2025–26 Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team represented Iowa State University during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Cyclones were led by T. J. Otzelberger in his fifth season as head coach. They played their home games at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa as members of the Big 12 Conference. In the NCAA tournament they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, but All American Joshua Jefferson suffered an injury in the first round, similar to Georges Niang's season ending injury in the first round of 2014.

Previous season The Cyclones finished the 2024–25 season 25–10, 13–7 in Big 12 play to finish in fifth place. As the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament, they defeated the No. 13 seed Cincinnati in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to No. 4 seed BYU. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed in the South region. They defeated 14 seed Lipscomb before losing to No. 6 seed Ole Miss in the second round. On January 13, the Cyclones reached #2 in the AP Poll, which was the highest ranking in program history.

Offseason Departures Iowa State departures Dishon Jackson 1 C 6'11" 260 Senior Oakland, CA Transferred to Pittsburgh Demarion Watson 4 G 6'7" 215 Junior Minneapolis, MN Transferred to North Texas Curtis Jones 5 G 6'4" 175 Senior Minneapolis, MN Graduated/undrafted in 2025 NBA draft; signed with the Denver Nuggets Keshon Gilbert 10 G 6'4" 190 Senior St. Louis, MO Graduated Kayden Fish 11 F 6'6" 250 Freshman Kansas City, MO Transferred to Ball State Nojus Indrusaitis 15 G 6'5" 200 Freshman Chicago, IL Transferred to Pittsburgh Conrad Hawley 23 F 6'5" 220 Senior Raymore, MO Walk-on; graduated JT Rock 30 C 7'1" 245 Freshman Sioux Falls, SD Transferred to New Mexico Brandton Chatfield 33 F 6'10" 260 Senior Orofino, ID Graduated

Incoming transfers Iowa State incoming transfers Mason Williams 2 G 6'5" 180 Junior Seattle, WA Eastern Washington Eric Mulder 4 G 6'8" 225 Senior Oskaloosa, IA Purdue Fort Wayne Dominick Nelson 11 G 6'5" 180 Senior Miami, FL Utah Valley Blake Buchanan 23 F 6'11" 225 Junior Coeur D'Alene, ID Virginia

Recruiting 2025 recruiting class

2026 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results Source:

!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season

!colspan=12 style=""| Big 12

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Rankings

References