Hoiberg envisions more traditional style during 2012-13 season
Photo: Victoria Harjadi/Iowa State Daily
Guard Korie Lucious tries to elude his opponent in the Capital City League game on June 19 at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines. He had played in 18 games, scored 6.5 points and made 23 3-pointers in 2011.
June 14, 2012
Following a season in which the ISU men’s basketball team went 23-11 with its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2005, head coach Fred Hoiberg envisions a different style of play next season.
With three starters from last season — Royce White, Scott Christopherson and Chris Allen — moving on, Hoiberg said during the Big 12 Conference’s summer teleconference Thursday he is excited about the group he will have on the court this fall.
“We’ll obviously miss the three guys that are leaving our program with Scott Christopherson, Chris Allen and Royce White,” Hoiberg said. “I feel collectively as a group we have a pretty good core coming back plus the addition of [Korie Lucious and Will Clyburn] plus a good group of freshmen coming in.”
Lucious and Clyburn each transferred to Iowa State in the spring of 2011 after leaving Michigan State and Utah, respectively. After White, Allen, Chris Babb and Anthony Booker sat out together for a season due to NCAA transfer rules, they excelled on the court during the 2011-12 season.
Hoiberg said he has seen the same chemistry from Lucious and Clyburn.
“The advantage for those guys is they were able to build chemistry with each other, similar to how those four guys who sat out the previous year did for us this season,” Hoiberg said. “And I thought all four of those guys had very good seasons.”
Prior to arriving in Ames, Lucious played in 11 NCAA Tournament games as a Spartan, including one game in which he hit a buzzer-beater to send Michgan State to the Sweet 16.
Clyburn, in his lone season at Utah, averaged 17.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Before playing at Utah, Clyburn spent two seasons in Marshalltown, Iowa, playing for Marshalltown Community College.
The Cyclones will have a new look when they take the court this fall for the 2012-13 season, and Hoiberg said the changes will give the team a new style when they do get on the court.
“We’ll play a little more traditional next year — obviously with Royce handling the ball for us the majority of the time last year, we’re going to have to replace that,” Hoiberg said. “Korie gives us a true point guard that will be able to handle those responsibilities.”
