Iowa State men’s basketball getting healthier as Kansas visits Hilton

AMES — Caleb Grill’s back is feeling better.

Aljaz Kunc — Iowa State’s top rebounder — returned to the practice floor Thursday and could be cleared to play Saturday against No. 8 Kansas after missing the first half of the Big 12 men’s basketball season with a broken finger.

So consider the 13th-ranked Cyclones to potentially be near full strength when they jostle with the Jayhawks beginning at 11 a.m. (ESPN) in a sure-to-be packed and noisy Hilton Coliseum.

“Does’t appear to be anything holding (Grill) back at this point,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said of his high-energy senior guard, who’s been playing through back pain the past several games.

As for Kunc? Whether he’ll play for the first time in over a month against Kansas (18-4, 6-3) hinges on how he feels in the handful of practices leading up to tipoff.

“We’re hopeful that he’ll return here soon,” said Otzelberger, whose team is 15-6 overall and 6-3 in Big 12 play. “We want to be smart, but he could get cleared for Saturday.”

Grill drilled a career-high eight 3-pointers in ISU’s startling, 80-77, overtime setback at Texas Tech on Monday, so it’s clear he’s been mending nicely. Kunc, on the other hand, appears to be right on schedule in terms of his projected recovery window — and could provide the Cyclones with a considerable boost on the boards and the scoreboard.

“I think having him back, whenever he comes back, just adds another layer for us,” said ISU guard Jaren Holmes, who averages a team-leading 13.5 points per game. “He’s a great player, great competitor. He opens up the floor.”

He also contributes on the defensive glass — an area the Cyclones struggled mightily in while letting a 23-point second-half lead slip away against the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech, which notched its first conference win with the comeback, used trapping full-court pressure to stun ISU. The Red Raiders also sagged off true freshman point guard Tamin Lipsey, who uncharacteristically struggled with turnovers and decision-making in the troubling road loss.

“We’ve just got to have a stubborn toughness to it, knowing that teams are going to ramp up the pressure and we can’t let it impact us,” Otzelberger said. “It hasn’t impacted us at home and we can’t let it impact us on the road.”

That’s easier said than done, of course, but despite that loss and being without Kunc for the first half of conference play, the Cyclones are locked in a four-way tie for second place in the league standings with the Jayhawks, Kansas State and TCU. Texas leads the Big 12 at 7-2, but as many as six teams — including Baylor, which lurks at 5-4 after an 0-3 start — retain realistic hopes of attaining a regular-season title.

“We feel good about where we’re at,” said Otzelberger, whose team hopes to avenge a 62-60 loss to the Jayhawks last month in Lawrence. “If you would have said with the slate of games we had the first half of the league, ‘would you be good with 6-3?’ At the start of it, we’d probably all say that would be a great spot to be in.”

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