Iowa State basketball: Cyclones getting back to having ‘F.U.N.,’ rediscovering identity

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AMES — With only so many days and weeks of guaranteed basketball left in the 2024-25 season, Iowa State aims to get back to having fun every single second it steps onto the practice court and on game days.

Sure, there’s the dictionary definition of fun, but coach T.J. Otzelberger has his own spin on it.

“Fun is fierce urgency now,” Otzelberger said. “Everything we do, fierce urgency now.”

Iowa State is 22-8 overall and 12-7 in the Big 12. While injuries have had a part in the Cyclones’ losses during conference play, Otzelberger attributes their recent bouts of inconsistency to allowing frustration during shooting droughts and offensive lulls to affect their focus on the defensive end.

Their recent double-overtime loss to BYU was an encapsulation of all the different forms of the Cyclones this season, all within 50 minutes of game action on Tuesday night. They allowed BYU to pull ahead in the first half and build a 21-point lead before rallying in the second half with stifling ball pressure and scoring off turnovers.

“Whether they’ve scored it well over games, a stretch or half of a season, whatever that may be, or within the realm of the game, that can be somewhat intoxicating,” Otzelberger said why offensive performance can detract from defense. “‘I like getting credit for scoring or for shot making.’ I like credit for offense and that’s great, as long as you’re focused on the other things that are more important that go into winning, because there’s a lot of great teams that win and aren’t awesome on offense.

“… We’re trying, fighting and competing and being relentless to find that same physical toughness, mental toughness, focus on what matters and not get distracted, even when we have a great offensive game or somebody writes a story about how great our offense is or how much we can score. Now, it’s still about winning the possession game, be the mentally tougher, more together team and then, this time of the year, part of that is to have fun. You have fun by doing…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/iowa-state-basketball-cyclones-getting-120547982.html

Author : The Des Moines Register

Publish date : 2025-03-07 12:05:00

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