Cyclone Basketball: Vanderbeken goes big from the outside

AMES - Simple math and a desire for change helped Jamie Vanderbeken become the long-distance shooter he is today.

The Iowa State forward was always pushed to the block as the tallest kid on his team. As he got older, the 6-11 Vanderbeken started venturing farther away from the basket and extending his range to the 3-point line.

Now look at him.

“I've always been able to shoot a little bit,” said Vanderbeken, who enters tonight's game against Missouri (16-3, 2-2 Big 12) as one of the most accurate 3-point shooters (46.9 percent) in college basketball. “Honestly, I got a little bored playing in the post. I was taller than everybody. I could impose my will in high school. So I developed my game a little more.

“It's more fun in my mind. Three is more than two.”

The Cyclones (14-5, 1-3) are reaping the benefits of Vanderbeken's disinterest.

The senior has made 13 of his last 18 3-point shots and is shooting 52.9 percent over the last six games. Vanderbeken creates all kinds of problems for opponents, both defensively and on the backboards by pulling his man away from the basket.

“It's a tough match-up for the other team,” Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He's shooting the ball with a ton of confidence right now.”

His scoring comes almost exclusively from beyond the 3-point arc.

“For me it's pick and pop,” Vanderbeken said. “For other bigs it's pick and rolls. It's my kind of offense.”

ISU leads the conference in 3-point percentage (39.1) and 3-pointers per game (9.3). In four league games that number is 10.8 a contest.

“I knew that was going to be what we had to do to win games,” Hoiberg said. “Our guys have bought into that. We've got five legitimate 3-point shooters in our starting unit.”

Vanderbeken and roommate Scott Christopherson are in a back-and-forth duel to go down as the school's most accurate 3-point shooter. Christopherson's 46.3 percent clip is slightly ahead of Vanderbeken's 44.7.

“It's not like I'm out there wishing he misses them,” Christopherson said. “I want him to make every one of them. If I have to be second I guess that's a battle I'll have to lose.”

Going into Saturday's game in Columbia, Mo., the two are the nation's top 3-point shooting tandem with 109 baskets between them.

Vanderbeken sat out all but eight games a year ago with a variety of injury problems.

He was granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA much to the delight of Hoiberg, whose front line would have been even more thin without Vanderbeken, who also has been a defensive presence ranking third in the Big 12 with 2.0 blocks a game.

“I don't even want to think about that,” Hoiberg said. “I'm not sure where we'd be right now without Jamie. He's been awesome.”