The addition of redshirt junior Jameel McKay to Iowa State’s active roster has made the bench more plentiful than it has been all season. Ironically, that has resulted in a shift of the prevailing team theme to one of sacrifice for the surging Cyclones.

McKay will make his ISU debut Dec. 20 in Des Moines against Drake in the Big Four Classic.

“The biggest thing we have talked about with this group is it is going to take some sacrifice from everybody on minutes, and going out there and accepting roles,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “It is going to be able to give a couple of our key guys some more rest.”

The concept of surrendering personal glory so that the team may prosper does not always translate smoothly on the court, but junior Naz Long said that the ISU players will not buck at the idea.

Part of the reason for their understanding is that they have been preparing themselves for McKay’s return to active duty all season long.

“It is fine,” Long said. “We came into the year knowing that we are a deep team. Everybody has to play a role.”

McKay’s role will be off the bench, at least initially. The contest versus Drake will be the transfer forward’s first Division 1 game of his career, and it comes for McKay on the heels of 22-month hiatus from competitive basketball.

Hoiberg has stated on numerous occasions that patience on the part of the coaching staff will be a requirement as McKay re-familiarizes himself with the speed and intensity of the action.

“A lot of it is going to be about timing,” Hoiberg said. “Nothing compares to that game action, especially when you get the butterflies going and the adrenaline is going. So again, there will have to be some patience as Jameel gets that timing back.”

McKay said he is tempering his expectations as well. He is fully aware that he will not step back onto the hardwood as exactly the same player who stepped off of it for the last official time in February of 2013.

He added that he will also be a different player at the end of the season from the one fans will see Dec. 20, as he expects his improvement to come swiftly through the re-adjustment period.

As for the present, McKay said that the transition to playing live-game offense will actually be easier than the transition to playing live-game defense.

“It will probably be easier on offense and some of that will be my natural ability,” McKay said.” This will be my first year playing with the new rules where you can not touch [on defense], so it is going to be a little harder on the defensive end but I will be alright.”

McKay’s post-oriented, offensive skill set will be a nice compliment to an ISU attack that ranks 12th in the country in offensive rating, which is a measure of points per possession.

“He provides a lot of breathing room for Georges [Niang] and Dustin [Hogue],” Long said. “It takes a little bit of weight off of everybody’s shoulders.”

Although McKay expects his defense to take longer to pick up, his impact may be felt more quickly on that side of the ball as Iowa State’s national defensive rating ranks a painfully pedestrian 162nd out of 351 teams.

Hoiberg said that McKay’s impact will be due primarily to his energy and his 7-foot-4-inch wingspan, which will provide rim protection that Iowa State has not only lacked this season, but throughout the entirety of Hoiberg’s five years in Ames.

McKay’s defensive prowess coupled with his rebounding ability should increase fast break opportunities for the Cyclones, which will actually benefit their offense in return by leading to more uncontested layups and dunks in the transition game.

“Having a guy like him down there [would] benefit any team,” Long said.