Iowa State men’s basketball beats Alabama State despite poor shooting

AMES — Iowa State point guard Tyrese Hunter got a steal that led to an and-1 dunk in transition with 1:34 left, bringing the crowd at Hilton Coliseum to its feet and essentially putting Alabama State away.

That play by the true freshman gave Iowa State an eight-point lead, which the Cyclones maintained until the final buzzer. Iowa State beat Alabama State on Tuesday, 68-60.

The Cyclones were abysmal from 3-point range, shooting just 1-of-20 from. Aljaz Kunc was the lone Cyclone to make a 3-pointer. Those were his only points of the game.

“We took some early shots and we got out of rhythm,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “When you get out of rhythm, you start second guessing yourself. But I have confidence in our guys. They’ll knock down shots. But when you start 0-of-9, it starts getting in everybody’s head. I’m not worried about that moving forward.”

Izaiah Brockington led the Cyclones throughout the night. The Penn State transfer had 23 points and 13 rebounds while attacking the rim. The play before Hunter’s breakaway dunk, Brockington got an offensive rebound and dunk off of a missed Hunter 3-pointer.

“I definitely felt like that was a big momentum boost for us,” Brockington said. “Our 3-pointers weren’t going down and I went up, grabbed it and there was no one around me, so I definitely wanted to put some emphasis on that dunk.”

Hunter had a streaky shooting night — he was just 5-of-16 from the field but still finished with 19 points, going 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. He also had six assists, three steals, two rebounds and just one turnover.

And the breakaway dunk.

“When (Brockington) got his dunk I thought in my head, ‘It’d be cool if I got one,’” Hunter said. “It was a momentum shift, for sure. When I stole the ball I thought, is this real?”

Brockington and Hunter have proved to be Iowa State’s two most impactful players through the first three games.

“Izaiah, at any point, has the ability to impose his will on the game,” Otzelberger said. “Whether it’s scoring points, getting rebounds or finishing at the rim. Tyrese took an early 3 and Izaiah had his back. He’s a terrific player. He does a lot of winning things. And I’m glad Tyrese thought it’d be ‘cool’ if he got a dunk, too, because we needed that one, as well.”

While the offense struggled at times, the defense was once again good for much of the night. The Cyclones forced 23 Alabama State turnovers.

“For us, our identity as a team can be a defense that sets the tone with ball pressure that turns people over,” Otzelberger said. “We’ve turned our opponents over at least 20 times a game. That’s not by chance. It’s by design.

“We speed people up, we take charges and we rotate. At times tonight, we didn’t do that as well. But when I look at who we can be, we can be a really good defensive team that values the ball and gets the right shots.”

Comments: benv43@gmail.com