Iowa State basketball coach Prohm wants improvement against Milwaukee

AMES — Iowa State men's basketball started its season with a wake-up call against Missouri.

The Cyclones lost, 74-59, and in the process learned what they need to improve on and what they need to excel at for the rest of the season, starting Monday against Milwaukee in Hilton Coliseum.

'I'm going to beat my head over a wall,' ISU Coach Steve Prohm said during the postgame news conference in Columbia, Mo. 'It's my job to make it easy for these guys. I'm the head coach, that's my job. If we're not making shots, if we're not making free throws — I hope we do — but I have to get these guys in better positions to be successful.'

Milwaukee (1-0) finished just 11-24 last season. The Cyclones should have an opportunity to work on the things Prohm wants to address, which includes transition defense, early offense and executing the scouting report.

'We're trying to figure out our best way, offensively, to spread people out and get movement,' Prohm said. 'When we've been five out, it's been good for us. That's something I thought we could go do, I didn't know if we'd go to it super early in the year. There's a lot to work on.'

But the third-year Iowa State coach knows he can't overload his young team.

Freshman Lindell Wigginton is just getting his feet wet, senior Donovan Jackson has officially taken over the team and Nick Weiler-Babb is trying to find the right balance between facilitator and scorer.

'Let's just find one thing that we can be really good at and get really darn good at that because we're not going be a team right now that can run 10 sets or 3-5 things in transition,' Prohm said. 'It's just not going to happen right away. We've got to get stops and play in early offense, get the ball moving. We have to continue to get more looks, and that's my job to do that.'

Milwaukee (1-0) at Iowa State (0-1)

Where: Hilton Coliseum

Tipoff: 7 p.m.

TV: Cyclones.tv

Radio: KGYM-AM (1600)

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