After an up-and-down first 10 games,

the ISU men’s basketball team heads in to winter break off an 86-76

win against in-state rival Iowa but still with questions to be

answered.

The Cyclones (7-3) have battled

defensive communcation issues, “front running,” as coach Fred

Hoiberg calls it, and shooting slumps.

“The big thing for all our players

is to go out there and play consistently hard basketball,” Hoiberg

said.

Hoiberg has experimented with a few

lineup shifts as well, starting the season out with Scott

Christopherson at point guard and to Chris Allen at that position

against Prairie View A&M and Iowa.

Getting Christopherson comfortable

again was a goal for Hoiberg who, like most who watched Cyclone

basketball, saw that Christopherson struggled with his role at the

point.

“He wants to go out with a bang his

senior year,” Hoiberg said. “I think he’s probably putting a little

too much pressure on himself. … Scotty looks much more

comfortable out there now [that Allen is at the point].”

Christopherson has said repeatedly

that the difference between guard and point guard was not that

great, but admitted he feels more comfortable now that he is back

to his regular position.

Now that he is back there,

Christopherson said he has to make the transition completely —

something he made a big step towards with 16 points against

Iowa.

“That’s the biggest thing, getting

back in the flow of things,” Christopherson said. “It’s kind of the

way I’ve played my whole life.”

In the team’s last two games, the

Cyclones came out of halftime and surrendered runs to teams and

allowed them to bring the score closer in a hurry.

Hoiberg said it goes back to

communication, and players said it is in those situations that they

need to work together the most and combat the run the other team

may be on.

“Teams are going to go on runs,”

said forward Royce White. “It’s just about being able to put a stop

to that run and then being able to go on a run

yourself.”

With the communication, White said

he and his teammates have used the three losses — Drake, Northern

Iowa and Michigan — as learning points for the rest of the

season.

“I think every time we’ve gone out

and taken a loss this year, and we’ve gone back into practice and

looked at what we did wrong, we came out the next game [and] we

grew,” White said. “We definitely grew in that area [of

communication] too.”

Now, the Cyclone student-athletes

have final exams to deal with, then a nine-day layoff before they

get back to work.

“[Being on break] is an opportunity

to get some extra practice time,” Hoiberg said. “We need to get

them in here and work on a lot of things.”