Iowa State fans had a new chant Sunday night.

After Lucca Staiger went 4 of 5 on three-pointers, for 12 points in a win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cyclone fans responded appreciatively, replacing their “Free Lucca,” chant from last season by simply chanting “Lucca! Lucca!” over and over.

Staiger saw his first playing time in a Cyclone uniform during Friday night’s game against UC-Davis. It was Sunday’s game, however, that left him with a good taste in his mouth.

“It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had,” Staiger said.

The sophomore from Germany, who was ineligible for his freshman season because of an NCAA rules infraction, hit his first three-pointer as a Cyclone at the 12-minute, 17-second mark in the first half on Sunday. His last trey capped a 17-3 run and put Iowa State up by 18 with 4:21 left in the game.

Staiger was 1 for 3 on field goals Friday night for only two points, and was 0 for 2 on Saturday, with all his misses in the first two games coming from three-point range. Staiger said he “put a little pressure” on himself during the first two games to hit a three, but was able to relax Sunday.

“I knew it had to fall soon,” Staiger said after Sunday’s game. “It was definitely a good feeling to hit that first one today.”

Going into the weekend, coach Greg McDermott wasn’t sure how much Staiger would be able to contribute while still recovering from knee surgery three weeks ago. Over the three games McDermott said he was able to see a semblance of the Staiger that he saw in practice.

“I’ve seen it,” McDermott said. “We’ve got to get rid of the turnovers, and in general he’s just getting in a little bit of a hurry, but he’s got a great feel for the game.”

Beyond the three’s, Staiger also had five rebounds and four assists, which impressed McDermott. But what was just as impressive was his defensive effort.

“He’s trying, he’s guarding a guy that’s much quicker than him and he’s finding a way to stay in front of him with effort where he lacks quickness right now, until we get him back, healthy,” McDermott said.

While his timing is not completely back from the injury, Staiger said on Sunday his knee felt the best it had since the surgery.

Teammate Craig Brackins said it was nice to have Staiger add a dimension to the offense by putting a taller lineup on the court.

“It just felt so good because we’ve been waiting for this since last year,” Brackins said.

Three’s company:

Staiger was far from the only Cyclone nailing treys. Iowa State set a team record, with 15 three-pointers in the game on Sunday.

“I’ve been telling everybody that we’ve got the potential to be a pretty good shooting team, so I’m glad they finally proved my words to be accurate,” McDermott said.

Five different players hit three-pointers, despite not having Wes Eikmeier, who sat out with the flu. Eikmeier hit eight three’s in the first two games.

“We’ve had some guys who could shoot it in the past, but we didn’t have enough,” McDermott said. “… Now we’ve got five [or] six guys that can shoot the three-point shot. So if one guy isn’t on, somebody can step in.”

The solid perimeter-shooting opened up the inside game, helping Brackins make 18 points on the post.

“We have a lot of great shooters,” Brackins said. “It’s going to help with the bigs inside too. The way we’ve been playing inside and out, it’s good to have both because then teams have to adjust and it going to be difficult for them.”

McDermott hopes the three-point shooting is a staple of the team, given the makeup of the lineup, where so many players can shoot from outside.

“It’s got to be a big part of what we do. It’s kind of how we’re made right now, and it puts opposing teams in a kind of pickle situation,” he said.

Defense:

Perhaps lost in the solid shooting by Iowa State was the team’s defensive play. Iowa State held all three weekend opponents under 34 percent shooting.

“Our guys are doing a good job executing our base defense and making the subtle changes from game to game, which, with a young team, is very encouraging from our coaching staff standpoint,” McDermott said.