AMES — The T.J. Otzelberger era starts with a win.

The Cyclones welcomed the Kennesaw State Owls on Tuesday to Hilton Coliseum and finished the night with a 84-73 win.

Iowa State was led by its transfers to open the season, with three of the six transfers playing 25-plus minutes and scoring at 10 least points.

Izaiah Brockington finished with 18 points on 6-10 shooting. The Penn State transfer added six rebounds and two steals to his stat-line.

Gabe Kalscheur helped carry the scoring load with a team-high 19 points. Kalscheur attacked the basket quite a bit on the night and went to the line a team-high nine times.

The Cyclones preached an increase in defensive effort and intensity leading up to Tuesday’s opener. And they certainly got it. Kennesaw opened the night 0-3 from the field with two turnovers in first three minutes.

Iowa State forced the Owls into 16 turnovers in the first half and the Cyclones had 10 steals. The Owls would end with 24. 

Tyrese Hunter scored his first points of his Iowa State career and the first points for the Cyclones this year with a three-pointer at the top of the key in the first half. But Hunter got into foul trouble early and played 11 minutes in the first half.

The true-freshman guard had four points, four rebounds and two steals in the first half.

Kalscheur and Brockington took the load of the offense with Hunter relegated to the bench for the majority of the night.

Kalscheur led the Cyclones at the break with 12 points, shooting 4-6 from the field and 3-7 from the free throw line. Brockington was right there in the double-digit scoring at halftime, with the Penn State transfer collecting 10 points on 4-6 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds.

Brockington played the most of any Cyclone in the first half at 18 minutes.

The Owls cut the Cyclone lead to within four points multiple times in the first half, but Iowa State never relinquished the lead. Iowa State led 37-29 halftime.

The fouls continued into the second half for the Cyclones, with seven called against Iowa State less than six minutes into the half. But that didn’t stop the scoring.

Iowa State shot 50 percent from the field for the first five minutes, in large from Caleb Grill. The UNLV transfer scored nine of his 11 points in the second period.

Brockington continued to attack and force the Owls into fouling situations with his quick cuts and soft touch near the basket. But the transfer fouled out with 6:22 remaining as the lead was teetering at seven for the Cyclones. There were 54 combined personal fouls called in the game.

Kennesaw State cut it to a seven-point game with seven minutes left 66 percent from three in the half with just over six minutes left. The Owls then cut it to six with three minutes. But big shots from Grill and Hunter gave the Cyclones the win.

Iowa State returns to the court at 7 p.m. on Friday against Oregon State.