Iowa State’s defense has been much improved from last season, but the Cyclones say they still have plenty of room to grow.

The Cyclones are now 32nd in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency after going 143rd in 2017-18. At times, Iowa State has been ranked in the top 25.

But that didn’t help Iowa State Saturday against Texas Christian (TCU). TCU scored 92 points in a fast-paced game shooting 56.8 percent on two-point shot attempts.

A lot of this, coach Steve Prohm said, was due to Iowa State’s inability to stop dribble penetration and its trouble against ball-screens.

“We just have to pay more attention to detail,” said redshirt senior guard Nick Weiler-Babb. “We just have to lock in. When we wanna be, I think we’re a really good defensive team.

“I think that’s one thing we need to kind of accept. Defense is gonna take us to the next level.”

Iowa State starts four guards and rarely plays two bigs together. While that leaves the Cyclones susceptible to offensive rebounds, the defense against dribble penetration hasn’t been a common problem this season.

“Ball-screen defense is one thing,” Prohm said. “At the end of the day, on Saturday it was the secondary ball-screen defense that was [the problem].”

Players said rotations were slow. Close-outs weren’t quick enough. They didn’t cut off passing lanes consistently.

It led to 1.21 points per possession for the Horned Frogs, who are 5-6 in the Big 12 and have the 34th-ranked offense in the nation.

If TCU can score 92 points on the Iowa State defense, the better offensive teams in the Big 12 — Kansas and Baylor, for example — could have big nights, too. How can the Cyclones fix that?

“Just putting more focus into it,” said freshman guard Talen Horton-Tucker. “Just taking pride in it. We’ve been more of an offensive team but just being able to focus and buy in on defense will help.”

One possible solution could be playing freshman forward George Conditt IV. Prohm said Tuesday that while he feels comfortable playing Conditt IV, he’s also content with the current rotation.

Conditt IV has 20 blocks on the season in 146 minutes.

Another possible solution is to play zone.

Prohm has said multiple times throughout the season that the team is practicing a zone defense from time to time, but he prefers man-to-man.

“We do it a little bit in practice,” said sophomore guard Lindell Wigginton. “We don’t do it too much. If we do have to play a zone, we’ve got some things. We know how to play in a zone.”

Up next for Iowa State’s defense is a balanced attack from Kansas State. The Wildcats only scored 58 points against Iowa State in January, but it was enough for a Kansas State win.

The Cyclones will have to defend well in the half-court against the Wildcats. Kansas State’s offense is ranked just 143rd nationally, but due to their slow pace (334th in adjusted tempo) the Wildcats have been able to keep scores down, playing to the strength of their defense.

Whether it’s zone, more minutes for Conditt IV or just better focus, Iowa State will need a cleaner defensive performance moving forward if it wants to compete at the top of the Big 12.