The Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team represents Iowa State University (ISU) and competes in the Big 12 Conference of NCAA Division I. The Cyclones play their home games at Hilton Coliseum on Iowa State's campus.

From 1907 to 1928, the Cyclones played in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, managing a few winning records in-conference but no championships. In 1929, the Cyclones moved to the Big Six Conference and named Louis Menze as head coach. Over the next 19 years, Menze would lead the Cyclones to four conference championships (their only seasons with a winning conference record in this period). Two of these teams earned consideration for the then eight-team NCAA tournament; the 1941 squad lost in a pre-Tournament "qualifying game" to Creighton. Three years later, the 1944 team beat Pepperdine to reach the semifinals in the tournament proper before losing its next game against eventual champion Utah, good for a spot in history as a Final Four participant.

After Menze's last conference win in 1945 and subsequent resignation as coach in 1947 (he would remain Iowa State's athletic director until 1958, having taken the position in 1945), the Cyclones floated between the bottom and the middle of the conference for decades, their main claim to fame being two wins of the conference's annual "Holiday tournament", played between Christmas and New Year's Day in Kansas City, in 1955 and 1959. Neither these tournament wins, nor their regular season performances, qualified the Cyclones for postseason play in the 33 years between Menze's and Johnny Orr's stints in the head coaching position. However, the 1957 Cyclones were ranked #3 in the nation after handing Wilt Chamberlain's #1 Kansas its first loss.

Gary Thompson outscored Chamberlain, while Don Medsker held Chamberlain to 17 points the 2nd lowest of his career and then hit the game winner at the buzzer. From the introduction of the Big Eight's postseason tournament in 1977 until Johnny Orr's fifth season in 1985, the Cyclones did not advance past their first game.

In 1971, Maury John left Drake University to move to Iowa State. John led Drake to the 1969 NCAA Final Four and the Elite Eight in 1970 NCAA tournament and 1971 NCAA tournament. John inherited an Iowa State team that was 5–21 the previous season. John was excited about the new Hilton Coliseum and led Iowa State to a 12–14 record in 1971–72 and a 16–10 record in 1972–73, a 15-year best. On Dec. 2, 1971, in the first game played at Hilton Coliseum, John led the Cyclones to a victory over Arizona 71–54. Said Cyclone announcer Eric Heft, a player for Coach John: "The place was sold out for the Arizona game and we doubled the capacity of season tickets from the season before. We didn't have all the fanfare you have today, but it was packed. It was my first game and Maury John's first game as the head Cyclone coach as well."

In the 1973–74 season, Iowa State was off to a 4–1 start. But, John sat out the remainder of the 1973–74 season after a cancer diagnosis. Assistant Gus Guydon (11–10) finished the season. In October 1973, John had seen a doctor after having health concerns. Two months later, on the day his Iowa State team lost at Drake, John was told he had an inoperable malignant tumor at the base of his esophagus. "It was a bolt out of the blue for someone who lived his life free of smoking or drinking," His son John said later. "There was high stress. But he was always healthy."

John was optimistic about returning to Iowa State in 1974–75, but his health worsened and he resigned on July 30, 1974. John said "It's going to be hard for me not to be on that bench. I won't have to sweat out all those games down on the floor. But truthfully, I'd rather be down there sweating them out." John died on October 15, 1974, at the age of 55. During a 28‐year coaching career, John had a 528–214 record. John's departure sent the Cyclones into free fall. In the next six years, Iowa State would only have one winning season, bottoming out in 1975–76 with a 3–24 record, still the worst in school history.

Johnny Orr came to Iowa State from Michigan in 1980. Iowa State's athletics director had called Orr to inquire about Michigan assistant Bill Frieder. When Orr learned of the salary Iowa State would offer Frieder, he negotiated the Iowa State head coaching job for himself. Orr is credited with building "Hilton Magic" and laying the foundation for Iowa State's success in men's basketball. A number of Cyclone greats played for Orr, including Jeff Grayer, Barry Stevens, walk-on Jeff Hornacek, Lafester Rhodes, Justus Thigpen, Victor Alexander, Fred Hoiberg, Julius Michalik, and Loren Meyer, many of whom would go on to success in the NBA.