With three starters and two seniors gone from last year’s squad, the ISU men’s basketball team is in search of leadership, and one senior is ready to step up.

Guard Bryan Petersen has been thrust into a leadership position after Rahshon Clark and Jiri Hubalek graduated, and Wesley Johnson left the team over the summer — a responsibility he welcomes.

“It’s definitely necessary for me to be a leader,” Petersen said. “We’ve had a couple of talks about what I can do and what I need to do for this team leadership-wise.”

The junior college, who transferred from Kirkwood Community College, started the 2007-’08 season as a walk-on before being placed on scholarship and starting all 32 games for the Cyclones at point guard. Coach Greg McDermott said it took Petersen a little time to adjust to a new level of play in Division I basketball, but that he got better as the season progressed.

“He was just steady, and there was a different level of speed and athleticism in the game, and size that he wasn’t accustomed to,” McDermott said. “He adjusted to that as the season wore on, and he had some big games for us from an assist standpoint — and a growing standpoint — as the season progressed.”

Now, in his second and final year in a Cyclones jersey, Petersen needs to “be that coach on the floor that he’s capable of being,” McDermott said.

Part of that involves leading by example, but is also becoming more vocal.

“I’m not much of a vocal leader; I see myself as more of a kind of lead-by-example, so I’m working on my vocal leadership skills right now, trying to get better at that,” Petersen said. “I’m just pretty much helping the new guys out wherever I can.”

Diante Garrett, who shared time at the point guard position as a freshman last season, got a taste of Petersen’s leadership ability.

“He’s already a senior, so he has a lot of experience in playing college basketball, so he knows a lot more than most of us on the court,” Garrett said. “Being a true point guard, and getting involved and things like that, I learned a lot from Petey.”

Fellow senior Sean Haluska, also a junior college transfer, said playing point guard puts Petersen in a natural leadership role. Haluska said Petersen’s vocal abilities have improved in practice this year.

“I think he does a great job of communicating in practice and letting everybody know what they need to do in practice, where they need to be,” Haluska said.

Beyond Petersen, McDermott and Haluska said the Cyclones need all five returners, who saw significant time last year, to step into leadership roles, including Haluska, senior Alex Thompson and sophomores Garrett and Craig Brackins.

“Everybody’s got to play a leadership role, helping out collectively — as a team. I don’t think there’s really one leader, or two leaders, or three leaders, I think everybody on the team is your leader and will help these freshmen out,” Haluska said.

Injuries:

Lucca Staiger’s debut will have to wait on Saturday; he is still recovering from an Oct. 24 knee surgery, repairing a cartilage tear. The team’s doctors expect Staiger to have a two to three week rehab period. It is questionable as to whether Staiger will play in next week’s season-opener in the World Vision Classic in Ames.

“It’ll be nice when we get him back, no question, for our team and most importantly for him,” McDermott said.

It is also uncertain whether Freshman Wes Eikmeier will play in the UNO game, after spraining his right ankle in practice on Monday.

About Nebraska-Omaha:

The Mavericks lost last year’s NCAA Division II Regional finals against Winona State to cap a 25-7 season. Nebraska-Omaha won the North Central Conference Tournament Championship with a school-record 25 wins.

Guard Michael Jenkins leads the Mavericks, averaging 16.3 points per game in 2007-’08.