Peterson: Too early to tell if Iowa State basketball's defense is better than last season

AMES – You can make an argument that the Iowa State men’s basketball team plays better defense this season than it did in 2021-22.

So far.

Is the 20th-ranked team that went to 7-1 with Sunday’s 71-60 victory against St. John’s on Sunday better overall than last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16?

Too early to tell.

Is there a legitimate path that can lead to a second NCAA Tournament in a row?

Absolutely, and again, that starts with the way this team plays defense, and Sunday was a clinic in how aggressive, sometimes-physical play on that side of the floor not only can force turnovers and missed shots, but also get into the heads of a non-conference opponent that’s not seen that type of pressure before.

More:Peterson: No. 23 Iowa State was dominating against St. John’s in the Big 12-Big East Battle

“We want them frustrated. We want teams to think twice about driving the lane and we’re going to be there every single time,” Iowa State Jaren Holmes said. “At the end of the day, we’re just trying to focus on what we do best, and not really what other teams do.

“We’re trying to be the best defensive team that we can be.”

I heard a few people among Sunday’s loud and enthusiastic crowd of 13,377 speculate this defense is so good that it could even top the shut-down defense played during the Cyclones’ Sweet 16 run.

I heard that after Iowa State’s near-flawless determination caused the Red Storm havoc during the Big 12-Big East Battle event.

Better defensively? I’d say yes, with an asterisk.

Better overall? This season’s averages of 56.8 opponent points a game, opponent 26.3% three-point shooting, and 20.8 forced turnovers are wonderful. But those numbers have come against eight non-league foes facing Iowa State under coach T.J. Otzelberger for the first time. There’s one more major opponent to face before the Dec. 31 Big 12 opener against Baylor at Hilton Coliseum.

That major opponent, among the four left before the Bears come to down, is of course Iowa. Let’s see what happens during that 7 p.m. Thursday game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena before declaring many Iowa State defensive best-ofs.

After that, it’s home games against McNeese State, Western Michigan and Omaha, before starting play in what’s generally considered the nation’s best conference.

The nine other conference teams have faced Iowa State’s defense, but not the one that includes 6-foot-11 lane-clogger Osun Osunniyi in his first season after transferring from St. Bonaventure.

“We take tremendous pride in how we pressure the basketball, turn people over, and make them play at a faster pace,” Otzelberger said Sunday night. “We came out with great intent, great energy and great togetherness.

“We put them in a really tough spot in how we guarded. A lot of possessions, they didn’t get shots on goal.”

The Red Storm’s first field goal came 10 minutes into the game, a 3-pointer. By then, they had 11 turnovers, eight missed shots and Iowa State led 17-5.

The quick pace with which St. John’s prefers to play didn’t happen. It’s tough to play fast when you’re coughing up the ball and missing shots on 19 of your first 20 possessions. The outliers during that Iowa State defensive exhibition were two Red Storm free throws.

“We work every single day on our defensive pressure,” Holmes said. “We want to be the best defensive team in the country. We want to be known as that. We’re going to continue to impose our will. That will always be our staple.”

Twice during the first half, the Cyclones frustrated St. John’s so much that players received technicals. Coach Mike Anderson also got a first-half technical.

More:Peterson: Iowa State men's basketball facing an early-season defining stretch of the schedule

“We want to dictate what they do − make them not play their game,” Osunniyi said. “We want to get in their heads. We want to frustrate teams.”

That aggression sometimes results in flare-ups like what happened Sunday night. And like what happens in practice. Holmes even said practices have a way sometimes of being more physical than games.

“And there’s no fouls,” Holmes said of practice. “We want teams to think twice about driving in the lane.”

Speaking of driving the lane, perimeter players have an interior role, too. Caleb Grill, for instance, had 10 rebounds. Jaz Kunc had eight. They combined for 16 of the Cyclones’ 26 defensive rebounds.

"Caleb Grill has 10 rebounds. That’s huge,” Otzelberger said, scanning the stat sheet. “It seems like he was all over the glass. There’s probably a few more that he was close to having.

“Kunc has eight rebounds. If we were going to control the tempo, we were going to control the glass. They answered that call for 40 minutes.”

As did their teammates.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson embarked on his 50th year of writing sports for the Des Moines Register in December 2021. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter @RandyPete.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State men's basketball again is playing lockdown defense