Utah Valley transfer senior guard Dominick Nelson received a warm welcome from Hilton Coliseum, putting together a 17-point and four-assist game in the 80-72 win over Northwestern on Sunday.
After being named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year for the 2024-25 season, Nelson decided to make the jump to a power conference and join the No. 16 Cyclones.
In 31 minutes of play off the bench, Nelson went 5-for-9 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Nelson also added four steals, which led the Cyclones.
“He was electric today, I mean, immediately came into the game, gets a steal, gets a deflection, shakes up the course of the game,” Iowa State Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “I’m not one that usually looks at plus-minus and puts a lot of stock into it, but when one guy’s a plus 25 and it’s such a glaring statistic for that day, you have to recognize that.”
The plus 25 plus-minus for Nelson was the highest on the team by a wide margin. The next highest was senior forward Eric Mulder, who was plus 11.
“I mean, I’m not really too sure what the plus-minus and all that kind of stuff means for real,” Nelson said. “Just coming in and trying to make an impact as soon as I get on the floor and get downhill and make plays for others.”
Nelson’s 17 points were tied for second most on the team, behind senior guard Nate Heise and tied with senior forward Joshua Jefferson. With Utah Valley, Nelson averaged 14.4 points, so he outperformed that metric Sunday.
“I felt like we all just mesh as a team,” Nelson said. “We complement each other. It was pretty easy for us to get in the flow, I feel like, I mean, we have the shooters, we have the people that could drive and put the pressure on them.”
The 31 minutes Nelson played gave him the third most playing time Sunday, despite starting the game on the bench. The reason for this could be seen in the way he played from the moment he entered the game.
“Clearly Eric Mulder made his deal work today, clearly Dominick Nelson made his deal work,” Otzelberger said. “When you do that off the bench, you’re going to get rewarded with the minutes accordingly.”
As a team that has had a defensive identity ever since Otzelberger took over as head coach in 2021, it played below expectations against Creighton. The Cyclones had 14 steals, double the amount that they had against Creighton. Nelson had four of the steals.
“What we learned is just our identity is pressuring the ball, it’s creating turnovers, playing transition,” Heise said. “Today was helpful to get the crowd involved a little bit.”
If Nelson can continue having a knack for the ball defensively heading into the regular season, the Cyclones can excel at what they have been known to do: force turnovers.
“I think he did a great job being disruptive, he did a great job getting into the paint, he converted at the foul line, six for six,” Otzelberger said. “All those things are going well. You knock down your three. I just thought it was a really complete game for him.”
