There were rumblings swirling around the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn that an Iowa State opponent was vocal during its shoot-around they expected to beat the Cyclones by at least 30 points.
In return, the Iowa State Men’s basketball program made a statement to them and the college basketball world during Thanksgiving week: If you are going to play the Cyclones and are not looking for a fistfight (metaphor), it might be best to not get off the bus.
I was reminded of the backyard football scene in Wedding Crashers where one team was looking to play touch football and the other was Bradley Cooper blitzing off the edge. “Big tree fall hard.”
Energy and effort carried this team through its first three victories, but what we saw this past week was more than just effort and energy.
Immense improvement in their offensive execution was on display both against Xavier and Memphis.
Of course, getting back-to-back 30-point performances by Izaiah Brockington and Gabe Kalschuer was a big factor in both wins, however, several other things stood out to me.
Iowa State quietly won the turnover battle in both contests. Turnovers have turned into a significant part of this team’s offense as the Cyclones have excelled in transition off them.
In their half-court offense, the ball is moving more consistently and as a result, Iowa State has received increased production from forwards Tristan Enaruna and Aljaz Kunc.
Caleb Grill and Tre Jackson are providing great minutes off the bench with shot-making and terrific defense.
Shooting more than 30 free throws against Memphis was a surprising development.
Much credit needs to go to Tyrese Hunter. He struggled against Memphis’ pressure in the first half with four turnovers and zero assists.
However, the standout freshman collected himself at halftime and had five assists in the second half and was a key reason the Cyclones were able to handle the Memphis press and extend their lead to over 20 at one point.
Suddenly this team has nine players capable of touching double digits in scoring and multiple players capable of going for twenty on any given night.
Considering their egoless approach to offense, that becomes much more difficult to game plan against.
This team does not waste possessions chasing statistics, instead, they are focused on making the correct basketball play. Putting 82 on Xavier and 78 on Memphis merits a tip of the cap that this team is more than just energy and effort.
And let us acknowledge the job that TJ has done early in his tenure as head coach.
His message has been clear and simple. They are going to guard you harder than anyone, dominate the 50/50 balls, and rebound with all five players.
Offensively, they will take opportunities to run in transition or else get to a couple of core concepts to feature their primary playmakers driving downhill and playing off that.
My advice to the team in the coming weeks would be to remember the simple rule of basketball that got you here: the hungriest teams eat.
Thus far this team has dwarfed its competition in this regard, and Cyclone Nation can’t get enough of it.
