Iowa State basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger on higher expectations
Iowa State men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger discussed the higher expectations surrounding his basketball team for the 2024-25 season.
AMES – After racking up 29 wins — the second-most in program history behind the 1999-00 season — winning a Big 12 Tournament title and reaching the Sweet 16 last year, the Iowa State basketball team is ready for more this season.
With its four scorers back — Keshon Gilbert, Tamin Lipsey, Curtis Jones and Milan Momcilovic — plus some promising newcomers, expectations are unsurprisingly high for Iowa State, which closed last season ranked No. 8 in the nation.
There won’t be a public glimpse into how the team will gel on the court until the Cyclones’ season-opener against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 4. But according to Gilbert, Iowa State’s depth will take the team far.
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“I just feel like we got two of everything, it’s a great thing for us,” Gilbert said. “We got a lot of guys that score the ball. We got a lot of guys that can pass the ball. We got a lot of defenders, so I feel like we’re in a good position this year.”
While the Cyclones are optimistic, the added buzz and excitement generating outside of Hilton Coliseum hasn’t been a distraction.
“Outside expectations don’t impact what we do internally in our program, and they won’t,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “For the last three years, when we came in, there were not any expectations and I recognize that. Now, as the guys that have been here before have done the hard work and performed, now there’s an outside expectation, but it doesn’t change anything for us.
“It’s something that our guys, as the season moves on, need to do a tremendous job of keeping their focus on the team and not falling victim to social media, polls and things other people say.”
Three of Iowa State’s top four scorers from a season ago were in the backcourt — Gilbert, Lipsey and Jones, who accounted for 37.1 points per game last season. That group has taken a larger leadership role in the practice gym.
Momcilovic hopes to build off of his promising freshman campaign as a stretch big. He averaged 10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game last season and his 61 made 3-pointers were the second-most by a freshman in Cyclone history.
After the graduation of Tre King, Robert Jones and Hason Ward, plus the outgoing transfers of Omaha Biliew (Wake Forest), Jelani Hamilton (Georgia State), and Jackson Paveletzke (Ohio), Otzelberger and his staff worked hard to replenish the ranks.
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Josh Jefferson (Saint Mary’s), Brandton Chatfield (Seattle), Nate Heise (Northern Iowa), and Dishon Jackson (Charlotte) bring experience as incoming transfers. Nojus Indrusaitis, a consensus four-star recruit from Chicago, is the lone true freshman.
“It’s like the external expectations — we don’t look at recruiting rankings, we don’t care what the transfer rankings say, we don’t care how many stars guys have by their name,” Otzelberger said of his recruiting approach. “We’re looking for blue-collar guys that have shown those attributes of doing hard work, bring something to the table, have self-awareness, know how you can impact and drive winning.
“For the most part, when we start to talk to transfers, we’re at the point where we’re saying, ‘Do not come here if you’re not ready for this.’ … We want guys here who understand (our values). It usually doesn’t take more than one conversation to see if this is for somebody or not for somebody, and for those that it’s not, that’s great too. We wish those guys the best, but I think the guys we brought in embody those traits and characteristics.”
Demarion Watson, as well as J.T. Rock and Kayden Fish — who are coming off of redshirt years — are looking to take a step forward this season.
Heise and Chatfield have impressed their new teammates so far through summer workouts and the first few weeks of official practices.
“(Chatfield) is a super physical guy, probably the strongest guy on our team,” Lipsey said. “Sets great screens, so I love that being a point guard, coming off those screens. The way he rebounds the ball is super impressive. He’s hard to box out.
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“…Nate Heise, super impressed with him so far. He does basically a little bit of everything, sort of that all-around basketball player that can do everything from defense to shoot the ball to handle it, rebound, so it’s impressive to see what he does just coming in every day, working, and we have three guards returning, so him not shying down, working has improved all of our games this year.”
The blend of newcomers and returners has worked well together, so far. Newbies have adjusted and have learned the program’s expectations.
From now, until the regular season officially tips off, they have been emphasizing defense. Last season, the Cyclones finished as KenPom’s top-ranked team in the country for defensive efficiency.
“We need to finetune our defensive principles, just being in the right positions off the ball,” Jackson, a center, said. “I think our on-ball defense is really good. Rebounding, I think is a big part of this. We have a lot of skill guys, but we need to get in there and do the dirty work.”
With less than a month to go, the countdown is on.
“We know last year was last year,” Curtis Jones said. “What happened last year really has nothing to do with this year. We still take the experience that we had last year and can use those to help us with this year, all the losses and the wins, you learn from all of them, so just try to take all that, but remember that this is a new year as well.”
Reach Eugene Rapay at erapay@gannett.com and follow him on X/Twitter @erapay5.
