Dominykas Pleta hits ground running in summer practices

AMES — Dominykas Pleta did drills and drained shots as red tape momentarily grounded his hoops dreams.

But one question kept cropping up as the 6-foot-10 German and Iowa State freshman worked out with his local club team while waiting for his visa approval to arrive.

“‘Oh, you’re still here’?” Pleta said, recalling what his friends were saying. “‘I thought you were leaving tomorrow?’ That happened for two weeks almost every day, so they were surprised every day.”

Until he finally left.

Pleta hit campus on June 29 — weeks after his ISU teammates began going through men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger’s demanding summer practices. And by all accounts, the 20-year-old has hit the ground running, jumping and defending at a high level.

“He made an immediate impact when he came in for us,” said Otzelberger, whose roster features three new big men in Pleta, Virginia transfer Blake Buchanan and Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Eric Mulder. “He’s a guy that has great habits in terms of blocking out, screening. He’s a smart basketball player. He takes pride in making the right play. He has skill and then on the other end, he has personal pride in being able to give to our defense.”

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Pleta — the Cyclones’ first true international recruit in the Otzelberger era — averaged 19.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.2 assists and 1.0 blocks last season for Porsche Ludwigsburg, which is part of a third-tier German league. He also logged minutes with top-tier MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in the German BBL and represented his country in the 2024 FIBA U20 EuroBasket, where he averaged 9.6 points and 3.7 rebounds.

“I think the opportunities that international players have now, there’s certainly that development piece, but I think at younger ages they’re playing against older players, so they have more of an understanding of how physical (the game is),” Otzelberger said. “You take a guy like Dom — he’s played on a professional team and practiced against those guys, so he knows what it’s like.”

Pleta didn’t truly know what ISU’s summer practices were like until he arrived late last month. Now — after setting his body clock back seven hours — he’s working to fully adjust to the early-morning grit-based work Otzelberger and his staff routinely dish out.

“I think I came (in) two and a half weeks late, so I had to keep working to get that back,” Pleta said. “But it’s also different basketball than it is in Europe, so I had to learn way more. … I would say I’m still not there with the guys because I have to adjust to the basketball, to the playing style, and everybody, and everything. So, yeah, it’s going to take some more (time), I would say.”

Early returns have been promising, however, and that’s extra important as versatile returning forward Joshua Jefferson missed time this summer because of a wrist injury. His prolonged absence allowed Pleta, Buchanan and Mulder to get more practice reps, which should help ISU through the 2025-26 season.

“This probably has been a blessing in disguise, both for his body to bounce back and rest, and then also to give other guys opportunities,” Otzelberger said. “I think with Dom, Eric and Blake, what they’re gonna find when they play with Joshua is that because he’s such a great passer and commands so much respect and double teams, that those guys are gonna get much easier baskets here and there.”

Pleta’s already a proven basket-getter on the international stage and he’s confident he’ll provide similar scoring punch for ISU however large or small his role will be this season.

“My strength is being versatile and tall,” Pleta said. “So I can shoot the ball, I can dribble the ball, I can pass it as well. That’s my biggest strength. I’m also good on defense. I can block shots, wall up — (but) I’ve still gotta work on my physicality because it’s a lot different here. Also my shot has to improve and (I’m) just working on everything every day.”

That’s all the Cyclones can ask for now that Pleta’s finally here and fully contributing.

“He set the tone right away of the standard of what we can expect from him,” Otzelberger said. “I think that first impression is a really big deal.”

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