Gabe Kalscheur is playing with ‘swagger’ entering Iowa State’s Top-25 matchup with TCU

AMES — When Iowa State men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger took the job in March of 2021, he quickly identified a handful of key targets to help build a mostly new Cyclones roster.

One of them, Minnesota transfer Gabe Kalscheur, emerged as a top priority for one overarching reason: His commitment to constant improvement, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

“He came in here and immediately embraced that work capacity and did a great job every single day in the summer, which isn’t easy, especially when you’re going into your fourth and fifth years of college basketball,” said Otzelberger, whose 25th-ranked team faces No. 17 TCU at 1 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth (ESPNU). “His confidence has continued to grow.”

It’s always been there in terms of his defensive aptitude. Kalscheur locked down Oklahoma leading scorer Grant Sherfield most of Wednesday’s 63-60 win in Norman, holding the 17.3 points-per-game scorer to just four points. He also scored seven of his nine points in the second half and recorded both of his blocked shots in the final 8 1/2 minutes as the Cyclones (11-2, 2-0 Big 12) withstood a 20-0 Oklahoma run to secure the road victory.

“That’s why I came to this conference,” said Kalscheur, who has notched at least one steal in nine consecutive games. “Just knowing that every game is a game we can’t take lightly and be like, ‘Oh, this is kind of a day off game and you can just float by.’ Every game, you’ve got to bring it and that’s what I love. As a player, it heightens your game. It takes you to another level and every game you can show (you’re) continuing to improve.”

ISU hasn’t started 3-0 in conference play since the 1999-2000 season and reaching that mark won’t come easily against the deep and experienced Horned Frogs (13-1, 2-0). TCU is one of the Big 12’s best rebounding teams and ranks 17th nationally, according to KenPom, in offensive rebounding percentage at 35.7.

“They’ve got multiple front-line players and bodies they can throw at you and everybody’s relentless on the glass,” Otzelberger said. “Certainly (TCU forward Eddie) Lampkin’s one of the best offensive rebounders in America, so you’ve got to do a great job — you know, it’s kind of like the line of scrimmage (in football); we’ve got to control that line of scrimmage.”

The Cyclones have adopted an all-hands-on-deck approach to that task, especially as leading rebounder Aljaz Kunc continues to miss time because of a broken finger. Eight Cyclones average between three and six rebounds per game and one of those players — 6-foot-10 forward Osun Osunniyi — is coming off a season-best eight-rebound performance.

“He’s really starting to hit that stride of what he needs to do to make our team successful,” Otzelberger said.

Kalscheur hit his stride as a defender long ago. That’s why Otzelberger considers him to be the best defensive guard in the league. Now he’s emerging as a more consistent contributor on the offensive end, which makes ISU a much more formidable foe as the Big 12 season unfolds.

“Offensively, I really like where his head is right now,” Otzelberger said. “He’s continuing to build onto his game and play with a lot of swagger.”

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