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Defensive effort carries Cyclones to 60-50 win over Beavers

AMES — Iowa State has matched last season’s win total in its second game.

The Cyclones beat the Oregon State Beavers 60-50 on Friday in Hilton Coliseum for their second win of the year.

This was Iowa State’s first win over a power conference team since beating TCU on Feb. 25, 2020.

Iowa State’s defensive intensity carried it throughout the game. The Cyclones (2-0) made shots and went on runs at times, but the defense was a steady force throughout.

Oregon State (1-1) shot just 34 percent from the field and an abysmal 13 percent from 3-point range.

“We’re still trying to get that rhythm, offensively,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We’re still getting to understand what guys do well on the offensive end. But the defense is what will carry us. For our group, there are times we’ll play bigger and there are times we’ll play smaller but the constant is defense.”

Otzelberger wants his guys to pressure the ball, speed teams up and force turnovers. That’s exactly what happened on Friday. Oregon State had 14 turnovers to go along with its poor shooting performance.

“That has to be our identity,” Otzelberger said. “There will be nights that we shoot the ball well and there will be nights where our offense is still a work-in-progress as we bring together a whole new group of guys. Yeah, it’s nice to win games by making 10 or 12 3-pointers — we haven’t had that luxury at this point and it’ll be nice when we do. But I know we can hang our hat on our defense and that will be our calling card, whether it’s at home, on the road or wherever moving forward.”

The defensive mindset is a change of pace from what Iowa State has had over the previous decade with Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm as its coaches.

The players have bought into the approach.

“Habits are what get you wins like this,” ISU guard Izaiah Brockington said. “We just beat a team and we only scored 60 points. I feel like that’s something we can rely on. When the offense isn’t going as good as you want it to, we still have to find a way to win. Doing all the little things like rebounding are what’s going to win you the game when you’re not hot, offensively.”

Speaking of rebounding, the 6-foot-4 Brockington had a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with his 10 points.

“Just go get it,” Brockington said of his mindset when rebounding. “If it’s up there at its highest point, I feel like I have an advantage over most people to be able to go get it. That’s a way that I can always help us win and produce. That’s about effort and energy more than anything else. I’m always trying to grab as many boards as I can.”

Otzelberger was happy with the total team effort Iowa State had rebounding. Oregon State had a height advantage at almost every position but the Cyclones still out-rebounded the Beavers 39 to 34.

“It’s that effort,” Otzelberger said. “Izaiah stood out and I feel like he can be as good as any guard in America in terms of rebounding the basketball. He has tremendous instincts, he’s an athlete and competitor. But it’s a team effort. Guys like (Geroge) Conditt and (Robert) Jones were holding it down in the paint and (Aljaz) Kunc had some really good box-out situations and our guards rebounded down. Tre Jackson had five rebounds in 10 minutes.”

The Cyclones got offensive contributions across the board. Brockington and Gabe Kalscheur were the only two Cyclones in double figures — Kalscheur had 15 points to go with Brockington’s 10.

Tyrese Hunter and Caleb Grill both scored nine points. Hunter had seven assists to go with his scoring production.

“This certainly wasn’t our masterpiece — we have a lot of things we need to get better at,” Otzelberger said. “But we’re hopeful that it’s a team effort and as we continue to play at a high level and ultra-competitive basketball with toughness and aggressiveness that it’s going to get our fans excited and it can make Hilton the place that I know it is where nobody wants to come play here because it’s the best venue in college basketball.

“That to me is what Cyclone basketball is and will be moving forward. It’s about tremendous effort. It’s good for our guys to see the fruits of their hard work by getting a win over a team that was in the Elite Eight last year and is a very physical and big team.”

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