Iowa State (5-2) will take on the DePaul Blue Demons (1-5) Friday night as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle (7:30 p.m., FS1).
The Cyclones are returning from their mid-season tournament in Orlando, where they finished with a 1-2 record in the ESPN Events Invitational.
DePaul has struggled so far this season, with their lone victory in six games coming in a 72-60 win over South Dakota. Tony Stubblefield is in his third season as head coach of the Blue Demons with a 24-35 overall record.
Stubblefield’s team is coming off a 10-23 season, that saw them finish Big East play with a 3-17 mark.
DePaul lost three of his top four scorers from a year ago, including
Umoja Gibson (15.8 points per game) and former Iowa State forward Javon Johnson (14.2) to graduation.
The team returns Da’Sean Nelson, Caleb Murphy, and K.T. Raimey, who have all played significant minutes so far this season. Nelson and Murphy have each moved into the starting lineup for the team.
South Carolina transfer Chico Carter is the Blue Demons’ leading scorer
with 13.3 points per game. Against his former team, Carter had his best game of the season, finishing with 24 points and six rebounds while playing 37 minutes.
Stubblefield also picked up a commitment from Texas Tech transfer, Elijah
Fisher, and Wyoming transfer, Jeremiah Oden. Oden leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 11.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Fisher is third in scoring averaging at 10.8 points per game.
On the offense
The Blue Demons have not reached the 80-point mark yet this season, but can still hurt Iowa State with the way they run their offense. Stubblefield runs a fast-paced style and wants his guys to get up and down the floor at a quicker pace.
DePaul is at its best when they are scoring the ball in transition. The team has struggled to score in the half-court offense, failing to get larger numbers of open looks.
The Cyclones will need to slow the game down and dictate the pace of play they want to play at.
The Blue Demons will also need to hit a couple of threes to stay within striking distance of the Cyclones. Through six games this season, they are averaging 20 3-point attempts per game and shooting 36.2 percent as a team.
The transition three-ball is their biggest weapon.
Defensive Tendencies
Iowa State had a tough time playing against length down in Orlando and they will see it again with DePaul. Eight Blue Demon players are taller than six-foot-six.
The team does not have anyone averaging more than a block a game, but they want to block everything. Iowa State will need to play off two feet and pump fake to get open shots at the rim.
Coach Stubblefield has also implemented a 1-2-2 zone press. They don’t run it very often, but when they do, they run it after timeouts and made baskets.
If Iowa State sees this, Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert will need to keep the ball away from the corner and sideline, so they avoid the incoming trap.
