AMES- It was a slow-moving game from the very start to open the 2021-22 season. Over 50 fouls were called, and 46 turnovers were caused.

All in all, it was a strong showing from this Cyclone team compared to last year’s, a team that won just two games last season. 

There were flashes of offensive firepower coming from Izaiah Brockington and Gabe Kalscheur. Tyrese Hunter was solid in getting up quality shots as well as creating for his teammates.

Otzelberger was left to ponder what could’ve been had the game not been stopped so often, thanks to foul calls.

“We’ve been a team defensively that’s been very intentional and disciplined, that certainly wasn’t the case tonight,” Otzelberger said postgame Tuesday. “There were a lot of unnecessary fouls… that’s not what we work on, that’s not who we are.”

No team intentionally commits that many fouls, and it’s clear in the messaging from the team that they don’t intend to play that style of basketball.

Now they turn their attention to an Oregon State team that saw great success last year, particularly at the tail end.

The Beavers ran through the Pac-12 Tournament as champions and made it all the way to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. Their overall record last season was 20-13 and ended with six straight wins before a loss to Houston. They picked up their first victory of the season against Portland State, winning 73-64. Warith Alatishe led the way with 21 points.

The Beavers trailed by four at the half but outscored their opponent 45-32 in the final 20 minutes to come away with the win.

Oregon State comes to Ames for just the second time, the first being a 63-50 Cyclone victory in the Pac-10/Big 12 challenge in 2007.

The Beavers are led by the aforementioned Alatishe, who was named to the preseason All-Pac-12 first team before the season started. His teammate, guard Jarod Lucas, was named to the second team.

While their opponent is looking to build off a historic postseason run, the Cyclones are more focused on developing their roster, specifically young point guard Tyrese Hunter.

Hunter finished the game against Kennesaw State with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. Considering he only saw the court for 20 minutes, it was a solid debut for a player who T.J. Otzelberger is excited to see grow under his watch. 

“[Hunter] did some good things, I have a lot higher bar and expectation of how I think he can play,” Otzelberger said. “We’re going to go with him, we have belief in him and he’s earned that on a daily basis.”

The higher bar that Otzelberger is referring to was not reached in part because Hunter found himself in foul trouble for much of the game. He was forced to sit after picking up three fouls in the first half and most of the second half after picking up a fourth early in the final 20 minutes.

It’s clear that when Hunter was on the floor, he was making a positive impact. He scored the first points of the season for Iowa State, a three-pointer, and had a couple of set plays that led to easy scores for his teammates.

As a team, Iowa State’s primary focus will be limiting the number of fouls while continuing to put forth the level of intensity and ball pressure that their head coach expects of them.

Another issue for the Cyclones in their opener was the 22 turnovers they had on offense. While that was bound to happen with a new roster playing in their first live game action, having that many errors in a game will do them no favors as they embark on their season.

In their season opener, Oregon State forced 17 turnovers while turning it over just 14 times themselves.

Going into this game, Otzelberger may look to have a more solidified rotation after foul trouble caused him to call lots of audibles when it came to subbing players in and out.

“We got to a point early that we didn’t have a rotation,” Otzelberger said. “We were just trying to survive the moments.”

Surviving the moments may not bode well against a team with as much experience as the Beavers have under their belt, and it will be up to the Cyclones to keep themselves out of foul trouble to pick up a signature win against a Power Five opponent early in the season.