AMES — After a week off of play following its season-opening win against Mississippi Valley State, No. 5 Iowa State looks to improve in its upcoming game Monday against Kansas City.
While the team did cruise to an 83-44 victory over the Delta Devils, there’s some areas Iowa State wants to better itself at for the 2024-25 season.
“We have to do a better job of playing simple basketball,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Offensively, there were times where the ball got stuck with a guy over-dribbling it and on the defensive end, we didn’t finish with two hands, so things were just sloppy and uncharacteristic of how we play.”
The issues began right out of the gate for Iowa State. The Cyclones struggled to put up any points until Saint Mary’s transfer forward Joshua Jefferson converted on two free throws with 18:48 left in the first half.
From there, the Cyclones seemed to have found their groove by going up 6-0 before giving up the first basket of the game to Mississippi Valley State.
But it wouldn’t stay this way, as Iowa State would try and build a big lead, only to have that lead get shrunken by a tenacious Delta Devils squad.
In the end, the much stronger Cyclones team pulled away enough to hold the large lead and win their first game of the season.
While returning players like guards Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert were the main highlights of the game, the win may not have been achieved if not for the transfers that Iowa State had recruited over the offseason.
Transfers in Jefferson, guard Nate Heise and centers Dishon Jackson and Brandton Chatfield all played an important role in the Cyclones’ big win, whether it may have come from the offensive end or the defensive end.
“Each one, in their game, does things offensively and defensively to take us up another level,” Otzelberger said. “[Jackson] can score around the basket, [Jefferson] has tremendous skill passing the ball and making plays, Nate Heise is a great cutter and when he’s aggressive offensively, really helps our team and [Chatfield] with his abilities on the offensive boards.”
Jefferson led the transfers in scoring with 10 points, Jackson and Chatfield took control of the rebounds and Heise contributed two steals.
Iowa State will need the new transfers to continue to make an impact as the season goes on, and that starts by hosting the Roos.
In two games this season, Kansas City has found ways to easily best its opponent, taking down both Hannibal-LaGrange and Kansas Christian by at least 23 points.
While both of the schools the Roos have faced are not the cream of the crop, it still gives Kansas City an extra game to evaluate the talent they’ve had, and it has shown thus far.
The Roos have six scorers on average over double digits on average, with guard/forward Jamar Brown leading the way with an average of 17.5 points per game.
However, Kansas City will come into Ames facing a stout Cyclone defense that has been known to halt opponents from scoring.
Iowa State will host the Roos at 7 p.m. Monday in Hilton Coliseum. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN+.
