AMES- They say a good magician never reveals their secrets.

But T.J. Otzelberger’s keys to success hide in plain sight: “ball pressure, rebounding effort and ball toughness.”

It’s been the calling card for a gritty, hard-nosed Cyclone team that finds itself at 9-0 with three games left in the non-conference.

The latest triumph featured a daunting advantage in rebounding, another stellar defensive effort by Iowa State and an incredibly efficient night from Izaiah Brockington on both ends. 

Oh, and just a hint of magic.

Brockington continues to shine

Coming into this season, a transfer-filled roster with a lot of new pieces (including the head-man himself) figured to see some growing pains as they gelled together and found an identity.

If there have been growing pains, they’ve been behind closed doors.

From the very first game, the Cyclones have looked like a team, played like a team and won nine straight games as a team.

But if there’s one guy to point to that has stood above the rest, it’s the transfer from Penn State, Izaiah Brockington.

Brockington came into this iteration of the Cy-Hawk game averaging nearly 17 points a game, along with eight rebounds. He’s had four double-doubles including the game against Iowa.

All stats aside, his efforts against the Hawkeyes Thursday may have been his strongest to date as a Cyclone. 

He was 11-14 from the field, three of five from deep, picked up two steals and another double-double, this time to the tune of 29 points and 10 rebounds.

The stat-line and efficiencies clearly jump off the page. He played the best game a Cyclone has all season, and for him it was actually quite simple.

“I just had it going,” Brockington said with a smirk. “We really wanted to beat them [Iowa].”

An illustrious effort put in the simplest possible terms. But he was right.

It seemed like everything was going his way, whether it was the mid-range continuing to defy the laws of analytics or even what some might consider a “prayer” from three-point land that found bottom.

Not to mention, he was the primary defender on Iowa star Keegan Murray. That effort, along with everything else the Cyclones continued to lock into on defense, proved fatal for a usually offensive-dependent Hawkeye ball club.

Defensive consistencies continue

Iowa came into the contest averaging an impressive 90-plus points per game. The Hawkeyes shot the ball at over a 35 percent clip from deep and 45 percent overall.

Enter the Cyclones.

The Hawkeyes scored 53 total points, shot 27 percent from the field and made just 18.5 percent of their threes (5-27).

The 27 percent shooting is the lowest for any game the Hawkeyes have played this season, and their three-point percentage is the lowest in the five seasons in the rivalry.

More than that, their star in Murray had a very inefficient night scoring nine points on 4-17 shooting. Murray played all but three minutes of the contest but never truly got into a rhythm.

For the Cyclones, that was the plan executed to perfection.

“My job, as far as I was concerned, was to stop him,” Brockington said regarding Murray. “Watched a ton of film on him, just went out there and tried to be physical… just had to keep him from dominating.”

While Brockington was matched up with Murray more often than not, it was a team effort to shut down his scoring prowess. They did that and more, as they pressured Iowa into contested looks and less-than-desirable trips down the floor at an incredible rate.

On both ends of the floor, one of Otzelberger’s main focuses, rebounding effort, was out in full force throughout the contest.

Cyclones dominate on the glass

There were a multitude of statistics that favored Iowa State against the Hawkeyes, but perhaps none more prevalent and meaningful, at least for Otzelberger, than the rebounding margin.

It was a 50-32 Cyclone advantage on the boards, including a 21-15 edge in offensive rebounding. Otzelberger has preached rebounding to anyone that will listen, and was pleased with what he say from his squad on that particular stat-line.

“Rebounding effort isn’t just something we talk about, it’s something we emphasize.” Otzelberger said. “it’s just a bunch of guards, flying around, giving everything they have and competing on the glass for each other.”

He also spoke on how the Cyclones rarely have a size advantage, often playing with four guards and Robert Jones or George Conditt at the lone post position.

Brockington had 10 rebounds, Tyrese Hunter had eight and Tristan Enaruna contributed six. It was a team effort on the glass, and that group mentality carried over all throughout the stat sheet, sending Iowa State to their ninth straight win.