Iowa State's surprising offense gets toughest test at Oklahoma State
If anything has come to define coach T.J. Otzelberger’s Iowa State program over the last year-and-a-half, defying expectations would be as good a characterization as anything.
Whether it’s turning a 2-22 team into a Sweet 16 participant or taking a rebuilt and nondescript roster to the brink of a top-10 ranking in January, Otzelberger’s teams have overachieved just about every step of the way during his short time atop the program.
Even among those accomplishments, though, a contender for the most surprising development during his tenure is how spectacularly his current team’s offense has performed through six Big 12 games.
“It’s balance,” Otzelberger said Thursday. “It’s not one person to take away. It’s not one dynamic to take away. It’s our ability to do a lot of different things relatively well that makes it harder to take one thing away from us.”
No. 12 Iowa State (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) was projected to have a fringe top-100 offense nationally before the season started, according to KenPom.com. Now, though, the Cyclones have the second-most efficient offense during league play that when paired when their top-ranked defense has them tied atop the league standings after Tuesday’s win over No. 7 Texas.
It’s a remarkable feat driven in no small part by the Cyclones’ 3-point shooting, which figured to be a weak spot for the Cyclones with a roster made up mostly of poor or inconsistent shooters. Instead, the Cyclones are connecting on a conference-best 41.7 percent of their 3s.
Gabe Kalscheur, who after shooting 41 percent as a freshman spent the last two seasons shooting sub-25 percent, has made 46 percent of his 3s against Big 12 opponents. Jaren Holmes and Caleb Grill, the only other two prolific 3-point Cyclone shooters, are both over the 35 percent benchmark for the year.
While Iowa State’s 3-point shooting is fueling the offensive strength, Iowa State isn’t simply bombing away from deep. The Cyclones are sixth in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting volume. Instead, they’re relying on a bevy of different looks offensively to wring points from a roster that doesn’t much resemble the high-octane offenses the school fielded in the previous decade.
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“We’re lucky our guys trust each other,” Otzelberger said. “They’re willing to cut hard, to screen, do things that involve sacrificing or doing the thing that leads to the play. It’s the variety in how we go about that.
“It’s some pick and roll, it’s some motion, it’s some post-ups, it’s some play through (Osun Osunniyi) at the high post. It’s trying to keep varying it so the defense can never have a rhythm either. Variety has been good for us and it keeps all five guys continuously involved so it’s not just one guy coming off pick and roll over and over.”
Iowa State’s offense will face perhaps its stiffest and truest test Saturday at Oklahoma State (1 p.m.; ESPN+), which ranks eighth nationally in defensive efficiency.
“They do a great job pressuring the basketball,” Otzelberger said. “Across the board, they do a really good job rotating and contesting at the rim.
“They're really good. As good of a defense as we’ll play against.”
Iowa State, though, is confident its surging offense will hold up.
“They can be a tough team, they can give us some problems,” forward Tre King said, “but if we do what we’re supposed to do and take care of business, we’ll run through them.
"The key for us is doing what we’ve been doing. Playing inside and out. Touching the paint and spraying the ball to the next open man.”
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: Defense first for Iowa State, but offense isn't far behind
