Moments after Iowa State earned a No. 3 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday evening, Cyclones coach T.J. Otzelberger in a press conference announced stunning news that senior guard Keshon Gilbert, the team’s second-leading scorer and leader in assists and minutes, will not be available for the Big Dance.
Gilbert averaged 13.4 points and 4.1 assist per game in 29 games this season for the Cyclones.
“We’ve decided he needs to focus on his rehab and getting his body back right, so he won’t be available as we move forward,” Otzelberger said.
Otzelberger added that injured point guard Tamin Lipsey is “progressing well” but did not elaborate further on his injury status.
Both Lipsey and Gilbert missed the Big 12 Tournament’s quarterfinals vs. BYU in a 96-92 loss. Lipsey limped off the floor late in the previous game vs. CIncinnati with a groin injury. Gilbert has been dealing with a nagging lower body injury that he described at the Big 12 Tournament also as a groin injury.
Iowa State enters the NCAA Tournament with a 24-9 overall record after spending all but one week of the season ranked inside the top-10 of the AP poll. It ascended to as high as No. 2 in the rankings in Week 11 after starting the season 15-1.
Gilbert has been a key part of that success with 29 appearances in 34 games, in which he averaged 31.6 minutes per game. He was 18th in the Big 12 this season in points per game, 11th in the Big 12 in assists per game and 14th among Big 12 players in minutes per game.
Communication between teams and the selection committee regarding injuries is not uncommon — both in terms of transparency and the lack thereof. NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said this weekend that it was in communication with Duke regarding the status of star freshman Cooper Flagg, which relayed that it expected him to return by the NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas also made it public this weekend ahead of the bracket reveal that star freshman Boogie Fland has been cleared and will be available for March Madness.
Injuries can help or hurt teams depending on how the selection committee views each individual situation, as evidenced by its decision to omit West Virginia from the 68-team field on Sunday. Committee Vice Chair Bubba Cunningham told CBS that WVU’s exclusion was made because star Tucker DeVries, who is injured and has not played since December, would not be available.
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