Jaren Holmes shines in Iowa State men’s basketball debut

AMES — First-year Iowa State guard Jaren Holmes called playing in Hilton Coliseum “a dream come true.”

It showed.

The fifth-year senior transfer from St. Bonaventure scored a game-high 23 points in Monday’s 88-39 season-opening pummeling of IUPUI — and the smile on his face hadn’t faded by the time he met with the media after the final horn blared.

“I’m thankful to play in this great coliseum with so much history and these great fans,” Holmes said. “It was almost a packed house — more fans than I’ve ever seen, so it was truly a surreal experience.”

Holmes shot 50 percent from the field and hit six free throws while notching four rebounds, three steals and two assists in just over 24 minutes of action. Second-year Cyclone guard Gabe Kalscheur excelled as the team’s sixth man, drilling 4 of his 7 3-point attempts en route to 16 points. ISU (1-0) outrebounded the Jaguars (0-1) 41 to 25 and mounted first- and second-half runs of 15-0 and 21-0 to stoke the runaway victory.

“We had stretches where we had eight, nine, 11 stops in a row,” Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We took six charges, so that’s who we need to be. I was pleased with that throughout the night. I thought we got better when we subbed and went to the bench. I thought guys gave us great energy off the bench, which was impactful, so overall a good team win and good to see a lot of guys step up and make plays for us.”

One of those guys — Virginia Commonwealth transfer forward Hason Ward — provided ISU with an energy surge in every phase of the game. The 6-9 senior compiled six points, seven rebounds and three steals in just 12 minutes and 35 seconds of playing time. He also added an assist while going 3-for-4 from the field.

“Hason is just different when it comes to defense,” said Holmes, who played against Ward, not with him, in the Atlantic 10 conference for most of his career. “You can see he has a knack for getting deflections, getting blocks. The energy he brings — he’s brought that havoc that VCU is known for here to Ames and everybody should be excited for that.”

Aljaz Kunc and Caleb Grill joined Ward in grabbing seven rebounds apiece. Holmes’ longtime teammate with the Bonnies, forward Osun Osunniyi, contributed 10 points and two blocked shots. True freshman point guard Tamin Lipsey didn’t score in 17-plus minutes, but he only attempted one shot while dishing out a game-high five assists and playing turnover-free basketball.

“Everyone contributed and brought great energy,” Kalscheur said. “I thought we were all communicating on each level, on defense and offense. Just the edge everyone brought was big for us, especially in a game like this that sometimes you underestimate an opponent, but we didn’t do that. We brought it and we came out with a win.”

The Cyclones forced 29 turnovers and shot 58.1 percent from the field in the second half. They held IUPUI to 33.3 percent shooting and crafted a 50-16 edge in points in the paint. Hence Holmes’ dream-like state even as bigger games and larger crowds loom once Big 12 play begins.

“This is a special team,” he said. “I’m just excited to see where we take this thing.”

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