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Iowa State Basketball: Three Takeaways from Iowa State Cyclones rout of Chicago State Cougars

By Doug Winkey

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Iowa State kept the hype train rolling with a massive victory over Chicago State in the Cyclones’ first home game.

The Cyclones started out a little slow again, but picked up the pace midway through the first half to deliver a dominating win that saw almost every player on the roster get minutes.

Jameel McKay led the way with a superb 25 pts, 11 boards, and two blocks along with a flurry of dunks throughout. The rest of the starters plus Hallice Cooke reached double figures.

The Iowa State Cyclones shot an excellent 59% from the floor, but only 32% from three-point range.

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    • The Cougars were nothing close to a quality opponent given last season’s 8-24 record, but still managed to get 18 points from guard Elliot Cole.

    These are just a few things I noticed during the game that I thought stuck out.

    Role Players look fine – I’m talking about the guys beyond Matt Thomas and Hallice Cooke, who are expected to be the bulk of bench scoring until Deonte Burton receives eligibility in December.

    Even though they got limited time, one can still be happy with the effort from Brady Ernst, Jordan Ashton, and Simeon Carter in eight minutes of garbage time. Collectively those three players scored six points, grabbed four boards, and even blocked a shot.

    If any of those guys can grab more time alongside Burton, the Cyclones go from being seven-deep to eight or nine and that means the team’s stars won’t be pushed to fatigue as often.

    Free Throws are still Cyclones’ Kryptonite – Iowa State continues to struggle from the free throw line. They are only shooting 57% from the charity stripe through two games.

    Jameel McKay in particular stands out with a mark of 14% so far. It’s a small sample size, but unless they show more team consistency from the line, close games will feel even closer in crunch time.

    Abdel Nader Keeps Chugging – Abdel Nader continues to shine in his expanded role. He scored 17 points and collected nine rebounds against the Cougars.

    Through two games he is averaging 15.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, and 1.0 spg.  He is showing the sort of well-rounded game that he possessed when a member of the Northern Illinois Huskies, but with better percentages.  The one thing that needs to improve at this point is his 25% three-point stroke.

    It’s still far too early to say what this means, but it definitely looks like Nader is happy starting.  The key will be holding off Burton at midseason.  This is the only position that is even close to contention for the championship contenders.

    Next: Champions Classic Should Settle if Duke or Kentucky has the Best Recruiting Class

    Overall this is a great victory.  It showcased more players than the Colorado game and got the Hilton faithful a first taste of their team.  The defense is also somewhat improved from last season, ranking 58th through the very early part of the season.

    ISU takes on fellow 2-0 Chattanooga on Monday the 23rd.  Keep your eyes on Busting Brackets for all your college hoops news and analysis.

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