Iowa State hosts North Dakota State at 7 p.m. Monday. The Cyclones will be closer to full strength than they have been all year.

Return of Cameron Lard and Zoran Talley Jr.

Coach Steve Prohm will have two more players at his disposal Monday.

Redshirt sophomore forward Cameron Lard and redshirt senior forward Zoran Talley Jr. will return to the rotation after serving suspensions through the month of November. Prohm has declined questions about the reason for the suspensions.

“They’ll be in uniform,” Prohm said. “They’ve checked all the boxes to what they were supposed to do.

“It could be two minutes, it could be 25 minutes. It’s just really how the game goes.”

Lard led Iowa state with 8.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game last season. He started 16 games.

In Lard’s absence, the Cyclones have played a lot of small-ball, using only one big man on the floor and playing four guards on the perimeter. Redshirt junior Michael Jacobson has started all seven games so far and is averaging 17.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Jacobson is also shooting 65 percent from the floor, including 36 percent from beyond the 3-point line (4-for-11). His ability to score and stretch the defense has opened driving lanes for the Cyclone guards.

Cyclones going big?

Iowa State hasn’t had the ability to play two bigs together this season, given the lack of depth behind Jacobson. Freshman center George Conditt IV has played 9.9 minutes per game off the bench this year.

Conditt IV has shown flashes, like his 5-point, 4-block game against Alabama State in his collegiate debut, and his 17 minutes against Omaha last Monday where he recorded four rebounds. But the return of Lard and Talley Jr. should open the doors for the Cyclones to mix-and-match personnel.

“I think [the team will have] more depth,” Jacobson said. “It gives us more options. I think it helps everybody.”

Jacobson’s aforementioned ability to stretch the floor could open the paint for Lard, who does not often play on the perimeter. Lard did not attempt a 3-pointer last season and was second on the team in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, according to KenPom. 

At 6-foot-7, Talley Jr. also has the ability to play the 4-spot, bridging the gap when Iowa State goes small and wants to keep more size on the floor.

Talley Jr. averaged 7.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last season in 23 games. Eleven of his 23 games were starts.

Building chemistry

With four players missing at least a month of basketball, building and maintaining chemistry will be a question mark for the Cyclones all season. That hasn’t been a problem thus far as six of Iowa State’s eight healthy, eligible scholarship players to this point did not play for the Cyclones last year. Sophomore guard Terrence Lewis and redshirt senior Nick Weiler-Babb are the only two returning players who have played in more than one game so far.

That means the four players to miss action — Lard, Talley Jr., sophomore guard Lindell Wigginton and junior forward Solomon Young — aren’t returning to the same team they last played with. For that reason, Prohm said, the returning players aren’t guaranteed starting spots when they get back.

“There [are not many] changes to make,” Prohm said. “We’ll just bring those guys in and continue to preach the things we’ve been preaching. The only little wrinkle you have to make really is a transition every now and then with Mike and Cameron in together.”