Caleb Grill working his way back to 100 percent as Iowa State prepares for surging Oklahoma State

AMES — Twenty-five days.

That’s how long it’s been since Iowa State guard Caleb Grill injured his back late in a rousing, 78-67, win over fifth-ranked Texas.

It’s also how long the sharpshooting senior has been buffeted by waves of pain and, while his discomfort varies in terms of intensity, learning how to effectively play through it remains an ongoing issue.

“Initially, it pretty much hurt to do almost everything,” said Grill, who plans to help the No. 11 Cyclones (16-7, 7-4) hold off surging Oklahoma State (15-9, 6-5) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Hilton Coliseum (ESPN2). “Like running down the floor, getting in a stance, and shooting the ball, so I felt like I was a liability out there at first, but now I feel like I’m calming down. I’m not healthy yet, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks I’ll be back to 100 percent.”

He’s been pretty good at considerably less than full strength, especially on defense and from the 3-point line. Grill’s drained 12 of his last 26 3-point attempts after going 1-for-5 in limited duty immediately after sustaining the injury. He’s also a key element for ISU’s offense in terms of spacing and ball movement.

“It’s huge for us,” said Cyclones men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team is 12-0 at home this season. “I think every game, you know, Caleb’s a winning player and plays hard. He does a lot of things that help us win, so having him certainly in this game play (major) minutes is important.”

Grill’s played at least 36 minutes in each of ISU’s last three games. He’s also been saddled with four fouls in three of the past four games — and being on the wrong end of the whistle is a team-wide issue. Four Big 12 teams have made more free throws than the Cyclones have attempted and in Wednesday’s 76-71 loss at West Virginia, ISU was called for a staggering 30 fouls.

“We need to do a better job of not committing unnecessary fouls,” Otzelberger said. “Certainly we had five, six, or seven of those (against West Virginia). We’ve just got to be smarter. As much as we want to do things like offensive rebound, once we’re blocked out, we don’t need to have an unnecessary push in the back or things to put us at a disadvantage.”

In the moment, it’s hard to discern what qualifies as “unnecessary,” but doing so will be key against the Cowboys and beyond. ISU ranks second nationally in opponent’s turnover percentage at 26.4, so it must avoid getting sloppy while aggressively disrupting opposing offenses.

“When we’re not the aggressor, when we’re back on our heels, that’s when we tend to see more of those fouls happening,” said Otzelberger, whose team boasts six Top 25 wins this season. “We believe wholeheartedly that us pressuring the basketball does set the tone.”

It certainly has at home. The Cyclones are the only Big 12 team that hasn’t suffered a home loss, but Oklahoma State owns a rare two-game win streak at Hilton Coliseum — and came back to beat ISU, 61-59, at home last month when Grill first tried to return from his injury.

“We’ve got to do a really good job of playing for one another,” Grill said. “I feel like when we’re playing for one another and get the ball in the paint, that opens up a lot of opportunities for us.”

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