Iowa State Basketball: Loss of Jeremiah Williams leaves clear hole at PG
Iowa State Basketball was hoping that transfer Jeremiah Williams would replace Tyrese Hunter as the starting PG. Now, they’ll need to make other plans.
Last season, there were three reasons why Iowa State Basketball went from a 2-win team to a 22-win team that made the Sweet 16. One was breakout senior star Izaiah Brockington, the team’s collective top-10 defense, as well as point guard Tyrese Hunter, who was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year after averaging 11.0 ppg and 4.9 apg as a freshman.
Unfortunately for the Cyclones, Hunter entered the transfer portal and remained in the conference, now at the Texas Longhorns. The program landed his replacement early on in the offseason in Jeremiah Williams, a 6’5 point guard from Temple. In two years, he started 37 games and averaged 9.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 4.2 apg, with both seasons producing similar numbers.
Although he’s not much of a shooter and overall scorer, Williams does give Iowa State a proven ball-handler in a conference full of them. Unfortunately for both the player and the team, that’ll have to wait until the 2023-24 season.
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It’s a brutal loss for the team, not having Williams after suffering an Achilles injury. This puts the Cyclones in a tough spot, as they have a pair of top-200 freshmen guards, Eli King and Tamin Lipsey that’ll have to take over the position for 40 minutes combined. It’ll be great if one of them breaks out as a freshman like Hunter did but he was a top-50 prospect compared to these three-star recruits.
If neither is ready for extended minutes, another option is Jaren Holmes, another backcourt transfer from St. Bonaventure. In three years and 77 career starts at around 35 mpg, the 6’4 guard put up around 13.1 ppg and 5.0 rpg. He played mostly off-the-ball with the Bonnies with Kyle Lofton at point but Holmes did average a career-high 3.6 apg last season. So he is capable but he’s more of a scorer first than a facilitator.
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Iowa State has a completely rebuilt roster and plenty of questions for the upcoming season. But the biggest now is what they’ll do at point guard to replace Jeremiah Williams. If they can’t answer it, the Cyclones will be closer to two wins than 22 when it comes to the total of victories.