Iowa State basketball sent a touching message to its former point guard Tyrese Haliburton following Game 7 of the NBA Finals. It's no secret what happened on Sunday night. Haliburton, who played two years in Ames, was trying to follow up his legendary playoff run with the first championship in Indiana Pacers history. And the 25-year-old looked like he was primed for a storybook ending to this journey with nine quick points. Unfortunately, the superstar point guard tore his Achilles in the first quarter, and the Oklahoma City Thunder subsequently won their first title ever.

It was a tragic sight for a player who has inspired the league throughout this playoff run. Haliburton went on a somewhat of a revenge tour after being named “most overrated” by his peers, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot down the stretch of games. While this run was a surprise to many, Tyrese gained this belief in himself during his two seasons with Iowa State basketball. The Oshkosh, Wisconsin native started all but one of the games he appeared in for the Cyclones, improving drastically throughout his college career.

Iowa State's floor general averaged 15.2 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.9 rebounds on highly efficient shooting during his sophomore year with the program. Haliburton went on to be the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and has continued to reshape his ceiling every season. This is one of the more heartbreaking injuries in recent NBA history, but the Cyclones took this moment to send a beautiful message over Twitter to their beloved former player.

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Haliburton has a long road to recovery, but he is still young and has a game that doesn't heavily rely on explosiveness. There is a solid chance that the star point guard can get back to the level he was playing at this season and throughout this playoff run. As for Haliburton's college, the Cyclones are in healthy shape under head coach TJ Otzelberger. The 47-year-old has a team in Ames that should be a contender in the Big 12 conference. Iowa State basketball is returning several key players from last year's squad and some highly regarded transfers.

Overall, Tyrese's relationship with his former school is as strong as ever. Haliburton is on pace to be the greatest NBA player ever from a school steeped in basketball tradition. While Pacers' fans will have to wait most, if not all of next season, for the face of their franchise to be healthy again, it's abundantly clear that Indiana made one of its greatest decisions ever, trading for Haliburton in 2022.