After a disappointing trip to Las Vegas, dropping two games to ranked opponents during fall break, Fred Hoiberg acknowledged the fact that his team needs to tweak a few things moving forward.

Empty stretches

One thing the head men’s basketball coach mentioned that needed adjustments was the stretches where Iowa State struggled, or what he referred to as “five- [to] eight-minute stretches where we aren’t getting much.”

An example of these lapses was a five-minute stretch in the second half from 16:50 to 11:43 against Cincinnati. The Bearcats went on a 19-6 run in that time, making 7-of-8 shots and also hitting all 3 attempts from the free-throw line.

While Cincinnati was hitting nearly every shot, Iowa State made only 3-of-7 attempts and missed both free throws. The Cyclones were also outrebounded 5-1 through that stretch.

Against UNLV, it was a similar situation. During an almost-six-minute period from 7:24 to 1:35 in the second half, UNLV stretched the lead out with a 17-8 run.

Throughout that run, the Rebels made 5-of-9 shots and more significantly were able to get to the free-throw line and make 6-of-7. Iowa State only made 2-of-8 shots during that run.

The difference of the game was at the charity stripe as Iowa State made two more field goals overall, but was outscored at the free-throw line 28-8. UNLV shot nearly four times as many free throws as the Cyclones 35-9.

Moving the ball

Hoiberg also discussed the play of senior transfer point guard Korie Lucious.

During the two games in Las Vegas, Lucious’ assist-to-turnover ratio was 2-to-8. On the season, Lucious’ ratio is dead even at 24-to-24. The team, as a whole during the two games, had a 22-to-33 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Lucious met with Hoiberg, and they plan on talking again, focusing on putting in simpler sets to get the team into an offense.

“It’s a process, there’s no doubt about it,” Hoiberg said.

Will Clyburn, who had his best game of the season against UNLV with 21 points and 16 rebounds, expanded upon Hoiberg’s sentiment.

“Everybody on the team is still trying to find their role,” Clyburn said. “Me and Korie are new to the team, basically, so we’re just getting in. The team is trying to get used to playing with us, we’re trying to get used to playing with them. I think everybody is just trying to find their role and sooner or later we’re going to find it.”

Controlling the glass

After one exhibition game, the concern moving forward was rebounding. With it being the focus in practice and stressed in games, Iowa State won the rebounding battle in both games in Las Vegas.

Winning marginally on the glass 46-45 against UNLV, Hoiberg said he was more impressed with the 24 offensive rebounds. Against Cincinnati, the Cyclones out-rebounded the Bearcats 46-37, again cleaning up the offensive glass with 19 offensive rebounds.

“The UNLV game, our effort was outstanding,” Hoiberg said. “That showed by our 24 offensive rebounds. We were all over the glass — we won the rebound battle in both those games — which is something we wanted to do. We missed, we counted 10 wide-open layups right at the basket. You can’t do that against good teams and expect to win.”