Iowa State men's basketball runs away from No. 13 Baylor in Big 12 opener

AMES – Iowa State would like to remind the rest of the Big 12 that Hilton Coliseum is going to be a problem for them once again this season.

The Cyclones bruised and bullied No. 13 Baylor in a 77-62 win Saturday to begin its run through the league with a 1-0 start.

Iowa State (10-2) used its signature defense to shut down the Bears (10-3, 0-1) in the second half while combining it with huge shooting performances from Gabe Kalscheur and Caleb Grill.

Kalscheur, who came into the day shooting 27 percent from 3-point range, made 5-of-9 shots from long distance and finished with 23 points. Grill, meanwhile, connected on 5-of-9 as well from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points.

Baylor, playing without 15-points-per-game scorer LJ Cryer, got 18 first-half points from Adam Flagler, but the senior managed just 2 points in the final 20 minutes as Iowa State’s defense clamped down.

Iowa State plays its first Big 12 road game Wednesday at Oklahoma.

Shooting makes the difference

Iowa State can nearly always count on its defense to show up, but the offense is much more fickle.

Saturday it proved to be an asset rather than a liability.

More:Peterson: Iowa State's Robert Jones showed his potential the last time he faced Baylor

The Cyclones came into the game ranked 133rd offensively by KenPom.com (16th defensively), but the big shooting nights from Kalscheur and Grill made all the difference in the world.

Both players have proven to be streaky – at best – shooters over their careers, but when things click into place for them, the results can be red-hot.

"The way that they work and the people they are and the things that they do every day," said Iowa State coach. T.J. Otzelberger, "you love seeing those guys have success."

It’s probably unrealistic to count on both players being this accurate throughout the Big 12 schedule, but just the threat of these sorts of games is worth something too. If opponents have to at least account for them on the floor, that makes things easier elsewhere.

"We talked about it a lot all week how the backside 3 will be open," Grill said of the gameplan against Baylor. "I’m just glad me and GK were able to capitalize this game."

And if each can have a few more days like this one going forward, that’ll be all the better for the Cyclones.

"It was just getting hot and getting the right looks and taking the right ones," Kalscheur said.

Iowa State was able to absorb Jaz Kunc’s absence

Jaz Kunc isn’t Iowa State’s best or most important player, but the 6-foot-8 senior does so many of the things that the Cyclones value on both ends. He stretches the floor as a credible 3-point shooter from the power forward position, and on defense, he’s their best rebounder and maybe their most reliable big when they get into their rotation.

More:Iowa State men's basketball starter Jaz Kunc sidelined indefinitely with a broken finger

So losing him for a month is a big deal.

Against the Bears, though, Iowa State was able to do well without him.

The Cyclones went small, starting Kalscheur in Kunc’s place and playing for stretches with four guards. It seemed to open the floor up a bit offensively with both Kalscheur and Grill having big nights from beyond the arc. Defensively, Iowa State was its normal swarming self.

"We had some choices to make and certainly Gabe is somebody I really trust," Otzelberger said. "We knew going four guards, that was probably going to place a greater emphasis for them on going to the boards."

Grill answered the call there with a team-best seven rebounds while Tamin Lipsey had five. Tre King, playing in his second game of the season, had five as well filling in for Kunc as a more traditional power forward.

"On a given night, we need all the guys we put in the game to step up and do the things to do their job," Otzelberger said.

Is it sustainable in the long term? That’ll be the question as Iowa State tries to navigate during January with the Slovenian big man on the bench. Given how much he does for the Cyclones, it’ll be a tough task. But Iowa State started off by achieving it in Game 1 of Big 12 play.

Second-half adjustment

As a whole, Iowa State's first-half defense was solid enough, holding Baylor to 40.7 percent shooting from the floor and 25 percent from 3-point range while forcing 11 turnovers. The Cyclones, though, surrendered 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting by Baylor's Flagler.

In the second half, Flagler had just 2 points while going 0-3 from the floor.

"We had a really specific focus, certainly, on Flagler after he had the big first half," Otzelberger said.

The main emphasis was simply not allowing Flagler to shoot as frequently by making him give the ball up to his teammates.

"We were trying to blitz ball screens with him," Kalscheur said, "try to get it out of his hands, making him uncomfortable."

As good as Iowa State's defense has been this year, the ability to make an adjustment at halftime and absolutely stick the landing back on the floor is quite the accomplishment.

"Certainly it was our point of emphasis at half and taking pride in defense, especially here in front of our fans," (Otzelberger said. "As terrific as some of our guys are individually, it’s our collective team effort and our focus (is) on doing that."

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Instant analysis: Cyclones begin Big 12 play 1-0 with win over Baylor