CHICAGO — First-year Iowa State men's basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger has talked this postseason about "restoring the pride" in the Cyclones program.
One would say the former ISU assistant/South Dakota State and UNLV head coach has succeeded in taking over Steve Prohm's 2-22 team and leading it into the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
ISU (22-12) will meet Miami (25-10) in a Midwest Regional semifinal game on Friday night at the United Center.
"Iowa State is a place that took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity probably before my resumé truthfully had earned an opportunity to be coaching at a place of this magnitude," the 44-year-old Otzelberger said Thursday during the Cyclones' media availability at the United Center.
"I feel really fortunate for that. Greg McDermott (his former boss at ISU, now coach at Creighton) and Jamie Pollard, our athletics director, signed off on bringing in a guy who hadn't accomplished a lot, who was a high school coach (who had a) stint in junior college for a brief bit.
"And so that means a lot to me. When people believe in you before you have had the opportunity to really prove a whole lot, that says a lot. ... Being here is awesome. But what's even more awesome for us is each and every day we (he, his wife and three children) get to wake up living in Central Iowa, being Cyclones, and being a part of this program, which is really cool."
The Cyclones' 20-game improvement in wins this season is the best turnaround in school and Big 12 history, and best ever by a first-year head coach. Only Towson (plus 21) had a bigger improvement from one year to the next, going from 1-31 in 2012 to 18-13 in 2013.
One of the many ISU transfers who has helped the Cyclones reach this stage is former KU wing Tristan Enaruna, who transferred to Ames last offseason.
Enaruna, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound junior from The Netherlands, averages 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds a game. He has started 25 of 32 games and averaged 14.7 minutes per contest. During his 2020-21 season at KU, he averaged 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds after averaging 2.4 and 2.2 as a freshman.
"Tristan is a really versatile player," Otzelberger said. "He's a guard at a forward position. He's a great mover. He's a terrific athlete. Laterally, he's able to defend smaller guys when called upon. He's been a great offensive rebounder for us, somebody that when he comes in and whether he's starting is able to have a high activity level on the glass. (He) keeps plays alive with loose balls. We value that.
"So overall I'd say that versatility is something that in our conference is paramount — to have guys that can guard multiple positions, that can defend guards, defend interior players."
The Cyclones also hit the transfer portal to land Maize High (Kan.) product Grill (from UNLV), Izaiah Brockington (Penn State), Aljaz Kunc (Washington State), Robert Jones (Denver) and Gabe Kalscheur (Minnesota).
Otzelberger recruited Wichita native Grill to Iowa State out of high school, and did so again when he entered the portal at UNLV.
Grill, a 6-3 junior, averages 6.5 points and 2.6 rebounds.
"I've got a lot of confidence in Caleb because I've watched him at a young age. I've seen his development," the coach said. "I know how much he cares. He cares about his team winning. He wants to make the right play. He plays extremely hard and passionate. He doesn't have any ego. It's not about him scoring. It's not about anything related to him. He wants to do well for the team. ...
"I'll always be a believer in the guys that work hard that have character and that they care that things will come around for them at some point. For me, with Caleb, I have an extra pride point with him because knowing him as long as I have, also knowing that Caleb had a lot of options coming out of high school."
