Tough Big 12 now awaits Cyclones

AMES — There’s one thing Iowa State graduate transfer Izaiah Brockington can’t do for his head coach T.J. Otzelberger: Surprise him.

That’s saying something, considering how Brockington’s first six career double-doubles have come this season, helping to fuel the No. 9 Cyclones’ unlikely 12-0 start.

“It doesn’t surprise me when he plays as well as he does, because he only knows how to do one thing one way, and it’s highly competitive,” Otzelberger said Tuesday after ISU dispatched Chicago State, 79-48, before 11,894 fans at Hilton Coliseum. “It’s with a winning spirit and a tremendous amount of passion. We’re fortunate to have such a great player on our team and excited to see what he’ll continue to do.”

Brockington continued his season-long double-double spree against the Cougars (4-8). He scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while snaring a career-best four steals.

Fellow transfer Tristan Enaruna notched his first career double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds) to help the Cyclones remain perfect in the win-loss ledger entering their Jan. 1 Big 12 season opener against top-ranked and defending national champion Baylor.

“Rebounding wise, I’ve just tried to do that more and more,” Enaruna said. “Use my body, my athleticism. Coach really emphasizes it a lot.”

Defense and rebounding. Those are the bedrock principles that Otzelberger has instilled in his mostly new-look team.

Brockington embodies that blue-collar mentality — and has done so since joining the Cyclones over the summer after stops at Penn State and St. Bonaventure.

“I just go back to that first conversation that we had and he talked about what he was looking for in an opportunity,” Otzelberger said. “I asked him how hard he works every day. What are your habits? How much are you willing to give? How much are you willing to lead by example? Do you practice hard every day? Do you get extra work? Do you watch extra film? Because if you want the responsibility that you want, and you want to be that guy, then everybody's watching your actions, everybody's, you know, seeing what you do every day, and making a judgment on what they should do. And he has been terrific every single day. He practices like he plays.”

But even Brockington — who stands 6-foot-4 and averaged a then-career high 4.7 boards per game last season as a Nittany Lion — smiled briefly when asked about his spate of double-doubles.

Hard work can’t solely explain how he’s averaging eight rebounds per game this season, right?

“It’s just the coaches really pushing me to go out there and get all the rebounds I can,” Brockington said. “Just go out there and play with a high motor; go out there and be aggressive on both ends. I feel like that aggressiveness just translates into production.”

Much more will be needed from each ISU player as Big 12 play swings into view.

First up, the unbeaten Bears. It will be the first top-10 matchup at Hilton since Jan. 7, 2014.

What happened that day?

The No. 9 Cyclones beat No. 7 Baylor, 87-72. That result didn’t surprise anyone. The fact that this one will rise to that stature is a shock to almost everyone outside of ISU’s locker room.

“We just know the job isn’t finished,” Brockington said. “I mean, (we’ve had) a good start, but we don’t want to be the team that started out good and then flamed out or whatever. The team that got comfortable and the team that got away from everything that got them there.”

Comments: robgray18@icloud.com