Iowa State men's basketball overcomes slow start to ground Flying Hawks
AMES – It took a while, but eventually Iowa State looked like the top-25 team it recently became.
The 23rd-ranked Cyclones shrugged off a sluggish start to eventually pull away from and defeat North Dakota, 63-44, on Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum.
The Cyclones (6-1), fresh off a runner-up showing at the Phil Knight Invitational that featured an upset of top-ranked North Carolina, were slow out of the gates, but built a double-digit lead a few minutes into the second half and were never again seriously threatened by North Dakota (5-4).
"I think we were a little bit complacent," Robert Jones said after his 10-point, five-rebound performance, "even coming off the win we had against UNC, flowing through the UConn (loss Sunday), coming in here tonight – we were a little sluggish, hoping they would lay down, but they gave us a good fight.
"We were definitely sluggish that first half, for sure."
Caleb Grill led the way offensively for Iowa State with 16 points powered by 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range.
North Dakota managed to shoot just 35.4 percent while turning it over 19 times against the Cyclones’ tough defense.
Up next for the Cyclones is what figures to be a much more significant test when St. John’s, 8-0 with wins over Temple and Syracuse, visits Hilton Coliseum on Sunday (2 p.m.; ESPN2).
Here’s what we saw in Iowa State’s bruising blowout Wednesday:
Iowa State looked jet-lagged
In the NBA, they have what they call ‘schedule losses.’ It’s when the schedule – playing back-to-backs, last game of a long road trip, etc – is what beats you, rather than your opponent.
This wasn’t a loss for Iowa State, but it was a ‘schedule performance.’
The Cyclones looked gassed and somewhat disinterested, which isn’t too surprising given their last week.
Iowa State flew out to Portland, played three games in four days and then flew back across two time zones to get back to Ames on Monday morning around 6 a.m. That’s about as grueling as college basketball gets, and it makes getting excited to play North Dakota – ranked outside the KenPom.com top-300 – something of a challenge.
And it showed.
"I hate to admit that could be a factor, but it probably was," Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "I would like to think we call on what we do every single day and there's a mental toughness component to it, but certainly multiple guys that are usually very impactful in a positive way for us didn’t have great nights tonight so it would be reasonable to think that could have been a factor. "
Iowa State leading scorer Jaren Holmes had just four points as he went 1 of 8 from the field. Gabe Kalscheur managed just six points.
The Cyclones were mostly miserable in the first half, missing eight of their first nine shots, shooting 32.4 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from deep. They were also 2 of 6 from the free-throw line, and they allowed a clearly inferior North Dakota to lead for stretches of the first 20 minutes.
Iowa State shot just 44 percent in the paint for the game.
"We had a lot of plays at the rim we didn’t finish," Otzelberger said. "It was multiple guys – two feet in the paint and if we finish a reasonable amount of those, we’re probably going into the locker room at half up 10 or 12 and it feels like an entirely different game."
Eventually, with a little urgency, a significant talent gap and what was likely an unhappy halftime talking to by coach T.J. Otzelberger, the Cyclones started getting separation early in the second half and pulled away.
A classic ‘schedule performance’ that isn’t pretty or particularly fun, but ends with no harm done or alarm bells ringing. Especially with St. John's looming Sunday and the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa next week.
"This is a tough game," Grill said. "Turnaround after a big tournament and then we have two big games coming forward. We just have to be better mentally focused going into games like this and we have to know what the job is, and we’ve got to put them away early."
Lipsey stays steady
In a perfect world, Tamin Lipsey would probably be coming off the bench playing maybe 10 minutes a night for Iowa State. Instead, he’s the Cyclones’ starting point guard, routinely playing over 25 minutes per game as Temple transfer and presumed starter Jeremiah Williams misses the season with an Achilles injury.
And Lipsey is making the most of the opportunity.
He’s not showing up huge in the box score – he had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists Wednesday - but he’s adding a positive contribution. Most importantly, though, he never looks overwhelmed or uncomfortable in what is a way bigger role than this staff envisioned giving to him during his freshman season.
Lipsey has always drawn rave reviews for his poise – even going back to when he was an underclassman at Ames – and it has absolutely translated to the collegiate level.
"Tamin’s confidence is growing," Otzelberger said. "He’s commanding the team more every day. He’s working really hard.
"He’s been a huge bright spot."
The rookie makes Iowa State better, and that’s a very bullish statement for a man with a lot of career in cardinal and gold ahead of him.
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Watson warrants attention
Demarion Watson came to Iowa State with a lot of potential, but also plenty of questions about how and when he’d tap into it. The freshman hasn’t gotten a ton of run yet this season, but he had an intriguing night against the Fighting Hawks.
The 6-foot-6 wing had 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. Four of those boards came on the offensive glass.
"He came into the game with a look in his eyes that he was ready to go," Jones said. "He was one of the few of us that took our offensive rebounding challenge to heart tonight. He really produced.
"Those offensive boards helped us stay around in the game and helped us propel forward in the second half."
Watson has been a pretty high-percentage rebounder in his limited time on the court, but a little breakout like this against North Dakota could be a path to more playing time for him. Iowa State has gotten pounded on the defensive glass this year, and anyone who can help them clean that up is going to get chances to play.
It may not be a glamorous role, but it’s one that could get Watson on the floor more. Then who knows what a little experience and confidence might bring.
"Demarion was a huge positive for us tonight," Otzelberger said. "He came out, was going to the glass with force, getting us extra possessions when we were struggling to score.
"He really stepped up, and it’s awesome to see a guy who makes all those effort plays."
Cyclones go small to switch
Iowa State has used Osun Osunniyi extensively this season with the big man the Cyclones' best rebounding and shot-blocking center.
Against North Dakota, though, the 6-foot-10 senior saw just 8 minutes of action, including only 3 in the second half, as Iowa State went small with Jaz Kunc at the 5 for stretches to allow them to switch more liberally defensively.
"We decided to play Jaz at the five a fair amount and switch everything to try to disrupt their action," Otzelberger said. "We felt like that was better for us.
"When we play teams with a jumpshooting five man like they had, they’re able to space us out a little more. I felt like in the first half, they had us spread out and got us more into rotation. In the second half when we were able to switch more, we were a lot more successful."
Look for Osunniyi to go back to his large role this weekend, though, with the Red Storm's 6-foot-11 (and non-shooter) center Joel Soriano shooting 62 percent from the floor and ranking as one of the best defensive rebounders in the country.
"Tonight from an Xs and Os standpoint, felt better switching one through five," Otzelberger said, "and Jaz and Rob are probably our two besr options when we go with that plan."
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: Tamin Lipsey paces Iowa State basketball in win over North Dakota
