Iowa State basketball has emerged as a perennial power in the Big 12 under TJ Otzelberger, but now the Cyclones are looking to take it a step further in the NCAA Tournament. Iowa State has been the victim of a number of March Madness heartbreakers, some caused by injury, without reaching a Final Four during this successful era of the program.
This season, Iowa State fans will feel like their team has as good a chance as any to make it to the final weekend. The Cyclones secured a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region after a very successful regular season that saw them get wins over Kansas and Houston.
In the NCAA Tournament, Iowa State knocked off Tennessee State in the first round despite losing star forward Joshua Jefferson to an ankle injury, and it beat Kentucky in the second round with Jefferson on the sideline. The All-Big 12 performer is still questionable for Friday's Sweet 16 clash against No. 6 seed Tennessee, but the Cyclones are hoping to have him back on the floor.
While Jefferson, Tamin Lipsey and Milan Momcilovic are the stars of the show for Iowa State, Otzelberger will need some great play from one of his other guards in order to get through Tennessee and either Michigan or Alabama to reach his first Final Four.
Iowa State needs Kyllian Toure at his best
Jefferson has been Iowa State's best player this season, evolving into a point forward that can do it all on the court. Lipsey is the heart and soul of the team on both ends of the floor, as the senior point guard has been through a lot of the ups and downs with Otzelberger in recent years. Milan Momcilovic also gets a lot of attention after transforming into the best 3-point shooter in college basketball this season.
However, Toure has become a vital part of this Iowa State team as a freshman coming overseas from France. His impact doesn't always show up in the stat sheet, as he averages just 8.6 points per game. However, it's what he does on the defensive end that makes Iowa State so hard to score on, especially for the opposing team's stars in the backcourt.
Toure is one of the best guard defenders in college basketball already, even at his young age, which is extremely difficult to do. He has a solid, sturdy build at 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, and it is very hard for even the bigger guards in the conference to overpower him. Toure also has long arms, so he creates a lot of deflections and has an imposing presence on that end of the floor. As a result, Toure averages 1.4 steals per game despite playing just over 25 minutes a night.
The problem with playing Toure a lot of minutes is that he is not quite as skilled on the offensive end of the floor at this point in his career. He is a minus as a shooter and is an average at best ball handler and passer for a guard. He averages just 2.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game, which just isn't good enough for a guard even if Toure doesn't handle the ball all that much.
However, Iowa State is going to need Toure to be on the court. Tennessee has one of the best point guards in the nation in Ja'Kobi Gillespie, Michigan has an experienced point guard in Elliott Cadeau, and Alabama has a number of big-time guards that can do some damage on the offensive end. Jamarion Batemon gets some of Toure's minutes as an elite shooter off the bench, but his defense leaves a lot to be desired.
In order to punish defenses that are leaving him open, Toure is going to have to knock down open shots when they come his way. Despite shooting just over 30% from 3-point range on the season, he has proven that he can put up some points when called upon. In the first-round game against Tennessee State, the Frenchman finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists on 8-for-12 shooting and 2-for-3 from distance.
If Iowa State is going to make a run to the Final Four and push for a national title, Toure is going to have to come up big on both ends of the floor for the Cyclones.
