AMES — It wasn’t pretty, but T.J. Otzelberger couldn’t care less.

What turned out to be a foul-fest in Ames resulted in an 84-73 win for Otzelberger and his new-look Cyclone squad.

The win was Otzelberger’s 100th in his compiled career with South Dakota State and UNLV, but his first as head coach of Iowa State. 

It was a game that featured 57 total fouls, 31 on the Cyclones and 26 on the visiting Owls of Kennesaw State.

Multiple players for Otzelberger and his team found themselves in foul trouble in the first half. George Conditt and Robert Jones, the two primary centers, each had two at the half. Gabe Kalscheur also picked up a pair, and freshman Tyrese Hunter had four fouls early in the second half, which caused him to sit.

It came to a point where Otzelberger was forced to abandon whatever semblance of a rotation he had.

“I’m pretty sure we got to a point early that we didn’t have a rotation,” Otzelberger said. “We were just trying to survive the moments and figure out how to manage the foul trouble.”

It’s clear that the multitude of fouls caused Iowa State to switch up its rotations. Primarily, Tre Jackson found himself as the point guard for much of the second half, with Hunter having the four fouls.

The foul problems were not unique to the Cyclones, however. Spencer Rodgers, Kennesaw State’s leading scorer last year, fouled out early on in half number two, the fifth foul also being a technical.

Izaiah Brockington, Iowa State’s leading scorer on the evening, had two fouls himself over the course of the first half. He still played 18 of the first 20 minutes, the most on the team.

Not only did Brockington remain in the game for almost all of the first half, but he was also able to maintain consistent offensive flow. He finished with 10 points on four of six shooting through the first 20 minutes. He was constantly attacking on the offensive end despite having a couple of fouls next to his name.

Those fouls would eventually come back to haunt him, as he fouled out with about six minutes left in the game. He finished with 18 points on six of 10 shooting. He also added a five-for-five showing at the free-throw line.

It wasn’t just him, as Kalscheur and Hunter both still produced on offense while they were on the court.

Kalscheur had 19 points in the 32 minutes he played, and Hunter was able to set up the Cyclone offense well in the first half, as he had four points in the first half.

“We continued to attack the basket,” Kalscheur said. “We knew the fouls were iffy on both sides, the coaches told us just to stay aggressive and attack.”

“Just be us,” Hunter added when asked about the maintained aggressiveness. “The only way something can go wrong is if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing and getting sloppy.”

The first game of the season is never going to be a team’s best, and that was certainly the case for Iowa State in their opener against Kennesaw State.

The Cyclones, as a team, shot 53 percent from the floor and 32 percent from the three-point range. The real story was on the defensive end, however.

T.J. Otzelberger has preached an aggressive, on-ball style of play from the minute he stepped foot on campus. It was, in his mind, the first thing to fix for a developing team in a developing culture.

His philosophies seemed to be on full display for most of the night, as his team forced 24 turnovers and 14 of those being steals.

Particularly in the first half, as his players were picking up those fouls, Otzelberger’s team was still able to cause havoc on the defensive end.

The reason this game was as close and contested as it was may be due in part to the turnover numbers from both teams.

Iowa State had 13 turnovers of its own in the first half but were able to clean it up in the second, giving it away nine times.

Despite all the fouls and all the turnovers, Iowa State was still finding itself attacking the basket more often than not, particularly in the case of Brockington and Kalscheur.

Hunter came back into the game with about five minutes to play and continued to share the ball and make shots in the time he was granted, given the foul trouble. The freshman finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five assists in the 19 minutes he played.

By the game’s end, four total players committed five fouls and had to sit, two from each team.

As a whole, despite the 31 team fouls for the Cyclones, their primary scorers still found a way to lead them to a 1-0 record on the season.