Monday marked the opening of the Iowa State men’s basketball season, and Cyclone guard Dedric Willoughby jumped at the opportunity by scoring 33 points in his first ever ISU basketball game. He is the Daily’s Cyclone Profile athlete of the week.

“It was real good playing there (Hilton Coliseum). I was used to playing in front of about 1,800 people at New Orleans. I was really nervous at first. I had the butterflies. I got more confident in the second half,” Willoughby said.

Willoughby, who followed ISU head basketball coach Tim Floyd from the University of New Orleans, went on a scoring terror against the Republic of Georgia.

Willoughby scored from the inside and the outside while connecting on all 12 of his free throws.

As a freshman at UNO, Willoughby ranked third in the Sun Belt Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.424), while leading the team in free throw percentage (.788).

Willoughby also excelled in high school, being named as an honorable mention all-state and all-metro New Orleans selection his senior year. Willoughby was also a two-time all-district and all-West Bank selection. When his high school career was over, Willoughby held his high school’s record in assists and ranked second in career scoring.

“He (Floyd) was the biggest reason I came here. When he decided to leave, it didn’t take me long to make my decision. I knew I always wanted to play for him,” Willoughby said.

Willoughby, who has some big shoes to fill with the absence of Fred Hoiberg, had been given the green light to take a shot whenever he feels he has a chance.

“Coach gave me that freedom. It’s my job not to abuse that freedom. “I’m supposed to score and create shots for my teammates,” Willoughby said.

“I don’t feel any pressure. Hoiberg, Michalik and Meyer had marvelous careers, but we’re here now to show what we can do. This is our era.”

Even though the Cyclones have been picked to finish last in the Big Eight, Willoughby is confident of this year’s Cyclone basketball team.

“I think we have a good team. I know we’ve been picked last, but we have a lot of good players,” Willoughby said.

“A lot of people expected us to come out and do nothing, but we played together. We became close as a team, which is always a plus.”