Iowa State starts strong, finishes strong

AMES — Aljaz Kunc started each half strong, then he and his Iowa State teammates finished with a flourish.

Kunc scored the first seven points of the first half and the first five of the second half for the No. 20 Cyclones, who pulled away from McNeese State for a rollicking, 77-40, men’s basketball win Sunday at Hilton Coliseum.

“They play a match-up zone, so it’s just about finding that open space, that spot, and then just trusting my teammates and they’re gonna get me the ball,” said Kunc, who scored a season-high 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting. “I feel like we executed the offensive game plan pretty well.”

Same goes for the defensive game plan.

ISU (8-2) opened the second half with a 15-0 run one game after falling behind 15-0 early in a 75-56 loss at Iowa and held the Cowboys (3-7) scoreless for nine minutes and 19 seconds at one point.

“Guys came out locked in and with great intent,” Cyclone head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Took a lot of pride in getting stops.

“We really demand that to start halves; to start the game and start the second half, that we bring terrific energy and that’s what happened in that second half to set the tone and allow us to separate.”

The Cyclones forced a season-high 30 turnovers. ISU guard Jaren Holmes added 17 points and fellow guard Gabe Kalscheur chipped in 15 as the Cyclones held an opponent to 53 or fewer points for the fifth time this season.

“It felt like just a bounce-back game for us,” said Kunc, who added a game-high eight rebounds.

Kalscheur played all 40 minutes and made his first start of the season because Caleb Grill was experiencing flu-like symptoms before the game. He went 6 of 13 from the field and 3-for-7 from 3-point range.

“We came out there, punched them in the mouth and set the tone right away,” Kalscheur said.

ISU shot 54.5 percent overall (30 of 55) and 55.6 percent from 3-point range (10 of 18), and Kunc and Kalscheur drilled three long-range baskets apiece.

“I think getting those penetrating catches (was important),” Otzelberger said of his team’s hot-shooting performance. “Getting it into the post, getting it into the foul line, driving it into the paint — when you’re shooting shots, and the ball’s coming inside out, you're body’s more naturally squared, you’re in rhythm.”

That rhythm turned into flow, especially in the second half.

The Cyclones led 33-24 at halftime and then struck with the 15-0 run to put the game out of reach by the under-16 minute timeout.

Holmes and Kalscheur led ISU in scoring before the break, notching nine points apiece. Kalscheur also snared both of his team high-tying two steals in the first half. Holmes closed the first half with a 3-point play and shot better than 50 percent (6-for-10) for the first time this season.

“Hopefully today is a game for him where some good things happened and he can build his confidence from there (in terms of) scoring the basketball,” Otzelberger said.

The Cyclones will focus on this week’s final exams before preparing to face Western Michigan (3-7) at noon next Sunday.

“We’re still learning about our team, so there’s things certainly from an identity standpoint defensively that we stand on and we believe in, (that) we’re convicted to,” Otzelberger said. “And we’re always trying to figure out, offensively, ways we can be more effective, ways the ball can move, everybody can be more involved. So those are things we’ll continue to discuss, practice on and work on.”

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