ST. LOUIS – T.J. Otzelberger’s directions were coming in loud, direct and repeatedly.
“Heise!” he screamed from the floor of the T-Mobile Center at the Big 12 Tournament last week. “Get involved!
“Heise! Get involved!”
It’s been a consistent refrain from Otzelberger to Nate Heise as Iowa State basketball continually coaxes more aggression from its sixth-year senior.
“More, more and more is always good,” Heise said of Otzelberger’s message. “He said there’s no wrong moves I can make as long as I’m aggressive.
“That’s something you want to hear from your coach and something I’ve enjoyed hearing this year.”
Heise already has his iconic moment this year – hitting the late go-ahead 3 to beat No. 2 Houston on Feb. 16 – but with Iowa State’s month of madness set to get underway in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 20, the chance for more looms.
Especially if he listens to his coach.
“For Nate, I want everything aggressive, everything physical,” Otzelberger said ahead of the team’s first-round matchup with No. 15 seed Tennessee State (1:50 p.m.; CBS). “ The more of those plays he makes, the better our team plays, the better he plays.”
With tournament teams likely hellbent on limiting the offense of Iowa State stars Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic, it will become increasingly important for the Cyclones’ role players to be assertive offensively. Especially for a team without a deep stable of 3-point shooters, Heise, who shot 35% from distance in Big 12 play, can be a critical weapon.
If, as Otzelberger implored, he gets involved.
In the eight games since going 3 of 3 against the Cougars, Heise is just 2 of 9 from beyond the arc. In three of those games, he didn’t attempt a triple, and in three more, he put up just one.
Otzelberger, though, seems to view those attempts as downstream from the mentality he wants Heise to play with each time out.
“It’s not even as much about shooting, scoring,” Otzelberger said, “as bringing a physicality to everything. Physical on-ball defense. Physical rebounding. Physical cuts. When he does those things, we get great energy.
“Those plays are worth far more than their value in that possession because (of) what he means to our team and how his teammates think of him.”
Getting more offense from Heise would be a plus for the Cyclones, but, in all fairness, it’s only one component to the game of a versatile player.
Heise often draws difficult defensive assignments as well, and, with nearly everything Iowa State does, it starts on that end and carries through.
“(Otzelberger) often talks about getting started on the defensive end by getting the rebound or pushing the ball in transition,” Heise said, “and things seem to flow easier when that’s the case.
“Getting downhill when I can and hitting the open shot, but really just making the right play. He said there’s no wrong answers in that area.
“It means a lot when he says that.”
And says that and says that and says that.
The NCAA Tournament beckons. No better time to get even more involved.
Iowa State columnist Travis Hines has covered the Cyclones for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune since 2012. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or (515) 284-8000. Follow him on X at @TravisHines21.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State wants ‘everything aggressive, everything physical’ for Nate Heise
Reporting by Travis Hines, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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