Iowa State men’s basketball begins T.J. Otzelberger era with win over Kennesaw State

AMES — Iowa State began the T.J. Otzelberger era on the right foot.

The Cyclones beat Kennesaw State 84-73 Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

Both teams dealt with foul trouble throughout the game, with five total players fouling out and 57 combined fouls — 31 on Iowa State and 26 on Kennesaw State.

“Hopefully we didn’t set basketball back too far with that foul fest,” Otzelberger said. “We’ve been a team, defensively, that’s been very intentional and very disciplined and that certainly wasn’t the case tonight. There were a lot of unnecessary fouls that were the result of guys gambling, which put us in some tough spots. That’s not what we work on and that’s not who we are.”

That foul trouble limited Iowa State freshman point guard Tyrese Hunter, who picked up his fourth foul with 18:08 left in the second half. He still showed why he was such a highly-touted recruit.

Hunter scored 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting with six rebounds, five assists and four steals in 20 minutes.

“He’s a guy that bounces back from things,” Otzelberger said. “A lot of times with guys, when things aren’t going their way, they struggle to get it going. What I’ve seen from Tyrese is he has tremendous maturity for a freshman. Overall he did some good things but I have a lot higher bar and expectation for how he can play. I know he can do that.

“It’s good to get this win under his belt. He had about every kind of adversity you can have in a first game.”

Hunter returned with seven minutes left in the game with the four fouls and managed to play foul free while maintaining a defensive intensity.

But maybe more impressive, the freshman was able to compose his Iowa State team when he returned in the second half.

“I think he had a lot of poise,” Iowa State’s Gabe Kalscheur said. “He was very aggressive and he kept us under control. In that second half, we were a little discombobulated. When he came in, he did a really good job of getting us under control and being a floor general.

“It’s rare for a freshman to do that. It shows a lot of maturity. He’s spent a lot of time with the coaches and learning the game. He has a bright mind for the game. It’s definitely rare and it was great seeing that.”

Kalscheur was Iowa State’s leading scorer with 19 points on 5-for-11 shooting. He also made eight of his 13 free throw attempts.

Izaiah Brockington was Iowa State’s leading scorer with 18 points before he fouled out with 6:22 left in the game. Brockington was 6-for-10 from the field with six rebounds and two steals.

“Izaiah is a gifted player,” Otzelberger said. “He’s aggressive and attacking, offensively. And defensively, he sets the tone for our pressure and disruption. We turned them over 24 times and that’s something we’ve been doing in our scrimmages. We’ve been turning people over with our aggressiveness. He’s the guy that sets that tone. He takes tremendous pride in guarding and rebounding the ball.

“And as you saw at times, he can be electric attacking with the ball and he has a very unique mid-range (shot) that he’s been highly successful with.”