Iowa State basketball is 2-0. What stood out early from T.J. Otzelberger's Cyclones?

AMES – The one thing that is indisputable about Iowa State men’s basketball right now is that the Cyclones are undefeated.

While much of the ins and outs of this team may remain a mystery after just 80 minutes of basketball, the fact that they are 2-0 is a welcome respite for a program that amassed just a pair of wins in 24 outings a season ago.

“We’re really together,” senior center George Conditt IV said Monday ahead of the team’s Tuesday matchup with Alabama State (7 p.m.; ESPN+) at Hilton Coliseum. “We’re down for each other. We’re happy for each other.”

The Cyclones’ schedule over the next week is not particularly demanding with the Hornets and Grambling State, both ranked outside the top 340 nationally by the college basketball website KenPom.com. Then it ramps up significantly with power-conference foes making up five of the following six games.

So this week provides a chance at identity-building, something of which first-year coach T.J. Otzelberger has a clear vision.

“I know who we need to be to be successful,” Otzelberger said. “Our team has to be an effort-based group that every night when we take the floor that we play a lot harder than the opponent and when we do that, good things will happen.”

While the 80-minute sample size is certainly too small to draw any grand conclusions, it’s worth looking at the trends that have emerged through Iowa State’s first two wins of the season.

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Otzelberger emphasized defense – and it's showing

The Cyclones have been strong on the defensive side of the floor, which has been an emphasis for Otzelberger and Co. since they began assembling the roster in the spring.

Opponents are shooting just 23.8 percent from deep and 47.6 percent from inside the arc while turning it over on nearly a quarter of their possessions.

While Iowa State rose to prominence in the previous decade on the strength of its new-age offense, Otzelberger's team likely will need to rely on defense to re-create the success the Cyclones had in going to seven NCAA Tournaments in eight years.

“I’ll always be somebody that believes that defensively you set the tone for everything – mentality, toughness, physicality, competitive spirit,” Otzelberger said, “and that’s what we’re going to continue to build this program on.”

And while the earliest returns defensively have been good, there are still obvious areas for improvement, starting with communication on defense.

“It’s below average at this point,” Otzelberger said. “There’s a lot of times we confuse ourselves because we don’t talk early, so whether we’re switching a screen or enacting a ball-screen coverage.

“For us to get it to move forward, it’s really important that our older guys who have played more college basketball have it be their habit every single time so everybody knows what the plan is and what we’re doing. “

Two of those experienced players are centers Conditt and Robert Jones, both of whom said their position is key in communication.

“The center position talks the most on the court,” Jones, a junior transfer from Denver, said. “Being on the back row, you can see all the actions that are happening in front of you so you have to be the biggest talker on the court.

“That being said, the big man sets most of the screens and sets the screens the hardest, so without a good talk from the center line, your guards are going to get hit by screens they never knew were coming just because of how hard the big man plays on every team. We have the most responsibility in terms of talk and defensive presence.”

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The center position is especially important given the pressure Iowa State is asking its guards to put on the ball.

“Being the five on this team, you’ve got to be the anchor on defense,” Conditt said. “You’ve got to be the guy that sees everything before it happens.”

Given the success Iowa State’s defense has found early, improved communication figures to have the power to make things even more cohesive.

"We have been fortunate that even though we haven’t communicated as well,” Otzelberger said, “our effort has been good enough to still stay in the play and compete in the play even though we’ve created that miscommunication or confusion for a moment.

“It’s below average, but it’s another one of those points of urgency that we’ve got to clean up and do it quickly.”

Iowa State offense needs to reduce turnovers, improve 3-point shooting

The Cyclones’ 41 turnovers through two games was the first thing acknowledged by both Otzelberger and his players as an area that needs to be improved upon with haste.

"Unnecessary turnovers, and they’re happening in a lot of ways,” Otzelberger said. “Whether it’s a moving screen, a ball that is tipped out of bounds, a travel, a turnover that’s a live-ball turnover. We have to really value the basketball.”

The Cyclones rank 320th nationally in turnover rate as they’ve coughed it up on 26.7 percent of their possessions. The natural place to look for improvement is at point guard, where turnovers are expected from true freshman Tyrese Hunter. While Hunter’s turnover rate (27.5 percent) is elevated, the Cyclones have only one player (Caleb Grill) under 20 percent, making it a team-wide issue.

“One of our biggest things that has been holding us back is our turnovers,” Jones said.

Iowa State’s offense also has been hampered by poor 3-point shooting, something that was a concern entering the season. The Cyclones are shooting just 29.4 percent from distance through two games.

Otzelberger believes it’s a number that will rise naturally as the team comprised of seven program newcomers acclimates itself.

“Part of the three-point shooting not being as great as we’d love at this point is guys just getting in their rhythm,” he said. “Where are their shots going to come from, being really intentional about the quality of pass we’re throwing. I’d say more than anything, when it comes to the shooting, there’s a lot of guys that have made shots in college games that I have confidence will make those shots.

“It’s more of getting the rhythm of knowing where they come from and when they come.”

An offense that can’t make shots from deep and turns the ball over at a high clip, though, is one not likely to survive even the best defensive efforts over the long term.

“The turnover thing is something we’ve got to clean up and it’s got to be with a tremendous sense of urgency,” Otzelberger said. “We can’t take the ball out of our hands.

"The turnover thing is the one I’m more focused on fixing immediately because I know those guys will make the shots as they come.”

What to expect from this year's Cyclones

Iowa State still is working to put all of its pieces together. Two games of basketball is hardly even a data point with a new coaching staff, seven new players and a freshman point guard when the task is pulling a program out of a tailspin. That is a long-range project that includes continuing to raise the levels of talent, experience and continuity over a number of seasons.

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But in the short term, some shape seems to be forming.

This appears to be a team that will be defensive-focused and offense-conscious. In other words, as currently constructed, the defense exists to win games, and the offense has to protect the ball.

Essentially it is the opposite of the Fred Hoiberg-coached teams Otzelberger assisted on. Those teams aimed to score a ton and hope the other team scored a little less.

This version means curtailing the turnovers in a hurry and trying to make the 3-point shooting something closer to average. If Iowa State can do that, it might have a path to competitiveness in the Big 12 with the cohesive, swarming defense it is building.

“It needs to be scrappy and it needs to be competitive and we need to be flying around,” Otzelberger said, “and see what happens.”

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: Iowa State basketball 2-0. Analyzing the Cyclones' defense, offense