Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic is nation’s top 3-point shooter faces TCU

AMES — Milan Momcilovic is a man of the world.

Iowa State’s slick-shooting 6-8 junior doesn’t live in a roundball bubble, so he’s well aware of the chatter and buzz his nation-leading accuracy from beyond the arc has generated — online and in real time.

“I think (I’ve read) a couple things,” said Momcilovic, who enters the No. 5 Cyclones’ road matchup with TCU at 8 p.m. Tuesday (FS1) in Fort Worth with a 3-point shooting percentage of 53.3 percent. “I’m on social media a little bit, so I see a couple things and I see that I’m having a really good year.”

Facts confirm.

Momcilovic is on pace to break ISU’s single-season record for made 3-pointers (102, set by the late Dedric Willoughby in 1997), and 3-point shooting percentage (47.2 percent, set by Jake Sullivan in 2002). He could also set the Cyclones’ single-season mark for 3-pointers made per game, as he’s currently at 3.9 and Willoughby knocked down an average of 3.78 deep balls in that sterling 1996-97 season.

ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger has routinely said that Momcilovic’s numbers are “absurd” — and they need to stay in that rarefied realm if the Cyclones are to max out this season and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

But first things first for ISU (21-2, 8-2 Big 12). The Horned Frogs (14-9, 4-6) are on the wrong side of the tournament bubble right now, but nearly beat No. 2 Michigan before outlasting No. 14 Florida in the nonconference season. So they’re capable of beating anyone — including a red-hot Cyclone squad that’s on a five-game winning streak.

“They’re a team that plays with tremendous spirit,” said Otzelberger, whose team is off to its best start in school history. “They’re very physical. They play hard. Defensively, they’re very disruptive. They’ve been turning teams over at a high rate. … They’re gonna continue to give people trouble because they play really hard. So we know we’re gonna get their best, and we’ve gotta be at our absolute best going into this one.”

In other words, the team that protects the basketball on Tuesday will likely win. ISU remains elite in forcing turnovers, ranking seventh nationally in that regard according to KenPom. But TCU’s a rock-solid 45th nationally in that regard, and features a leading scorer in forward David Punch who’s also an elite shot blocker.

“The physicality they play with, the disruptiveness they play with — a lot of the elements of things that they’re really good at are things that we’re trying to do, as well,” Otzelberger said.

One area the Horned Frogs don’t excel is keeping opponents from getting good looks from the 3-point line, which Momcilovic and teammates such as Joshua Jefferson and Jamarion Batemon will try to exploit. The Cyclones are coming off a poor performance from beyond the arc (6-for-21) in Saturday’s win over Baylor, but rank fourth nationally — and first among Power Five teams — in 3-point accuracy at 40.7 percent.

That all starts with Momcilovic, of course, and it’s not mere talk, nor buzz. He’s not crunching numbers, he’s piercing defenses. One long shot — or occasional paint-based fadeaway — at a time.

“I’ve been shooting it really well, but (my percentage is probably) gonna drop, so I’ve just gotta be OK with that, and still get a lot of 3s up,” Momcilovic said. “Know that that’s the best shot for the team right now.”

How good a shot is it? Well, as of now, it’s getting ISU three points 53.3 percent of the time. And when Momcilovic’s long-range shots don’t fall?

“Then our percentage on the offensive glass is around 30-something,” he said. “That’s, what, 80-something (percent) if you do the math, so 80 percent (chance) we get something good? Obviously that’s why I’ve got to keep shooting them.”

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