Iowa State does not have the luxury of reaching deeper than the eighth man on its bench, as ISU coach Fred Hoiberg has shown time and again that he is not willing to extend the rotation in any meaningful way.

Senior Daniel Edozie has accumulated nine DNP’s [did not play] during the course of the team’s 21 games and has failed to produce a stat of any sort during three of the 12 contests in which he has seen action. The bulk of Edozie’s playing time has come during the midst of the team’s non-conference schedule.

Freshman Clayton Custer has 12 DNP’s on the season. Nearly all of the young sharpshooter’s minutes have come at the tail end of games after the outcomes have already been decided one way or the other.

If Hoiberg is going to improve Iowa State’s recent bench struggles, he will have to do it with the eight players who have donned the regular rotation for essentially the entire season, as he has shown he is unwilling or unable to approach the problem in any other manner.

Read about Iowa State’s bench issues in full here.