Iowa State cyclones guard Keshon Gilbert (10) drives to the basket in opposition to Mississippi Valley State throughout first half within the NCAA males’s basketball house opening at Hilton Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. No. 5 Iowa State gained its season opener by 39 factors, however that does not imply coach T.J. Otzelberger is totally happy.
The group’s mentality is to at all times discover areas to enhance, and that would be the case as Iowa State (1-0) ideas off in opposition to Kansas Metropolis (2-0) on Monday evening in Ames, Iowa.
“Yeah, we’ve to do a greater job of taking part in easy basketball,” Otzelberger stated.
“I believe, offensively, there are occasions the ball acquired caught with one man and we over-dribbled it,” he stated. “There are performs on the defensive finish that we did not end with two arms. We (would get) a rebound, we dribble it off of somebody’s foot or we’ve a careless turnover. Issues that had been simply sloppy which might be uncharacteristic of how we play.”
Regardless of these imperfections, Iowa State cruised to an 83-44 win over Mississippi Valley State in its opener final Monday. Keshon Gilbert scored 17 factors, Tamin Lipsey contributed 16, and Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic added 10 apiece to steer the Cyclones, who shot solely 23.8 p.c (5 of 21) from past the arc.
That is an space Otzelberger will look to enhance upon in opposition to Kansas Metropolis.
“I believed we had beauty,” he stated. “Curt (Jones) and Milan, particularly, had actually beauty. Total, we wish to shoot the ball higher than we did. However I did not assume it was as a result of we did not have beauty. It was as a result of they weren’t falling for no matter cause.”
Kansas Metropolis will intention to problem the Cyclones after opening its season with back-to-back, double-digit victories. The Roos cruised to a 124-36 win over Kansas Christian of their most up-to-date recreation Friday evening.
The 88-point margin of victory in opposition to the NCCAA Division II program is the largest in program historical past for Kansas Metropolis. The earlier document was a 73-point win over Bacone (111-38) on Nov. 18, 2019.
“I felt like we put ourselves in place early to simply execute and never have to fret about successful the sport, so to talk,” Roos coach Marvin Menzies stated. “That is one thing we did not do in our final recreation (91-68 win over Hannibal-LaGrange final Monday), so I felt like we took a step in the correct course.”
Anderson Kopp scored 22 factors to steer Kansas Metropolis on Friday. He added 5 rebounds and three steals.
Kasheem Grady II additionally will look to remain sizzling for the Roos. He scored 21 factors on 7-of-11 capturing from the sector, together with 5 of seven from past the arc, in opposition to Kansas Christian.
Menzies stated his crew must be targeted for a tricky take a look at at Iowa State.
“The practice is out of the station now,” he stated. “So it is rolling. We’ll put this recreation behind us and put all our focus into the subsequent possession.”
Menzies and Otzelberger share a connection: Each males had been head coaches at UNLV. Menzies spent three seasons there (2016-19) and was instantly succeeded by Otzelberger (2019-21).
Monday will mark the sixth assembly between Iowa State and Kansas Metropolis. The Cyclones are 5-0 within the collection.
–Area Degree Media