One of the biggest developments in last year’s squads was the large involvement of the freshman class. The trio of Killyan Toure, Jamarion Batemon and Dominykas Pleta were instrumental in maintaining depth across position groups and developing rapidly throughout the season. What kind of impact will the new class of freshman have? Let’s start with Yusef Gray Jr., the latest edition in the Wisconsin to Iowa State pipeline.
Gray is listed as a 6-4 point guard, which is on the bigger side for the position
(Toure and Tamin Lipsey are 6-3 and 6-1 respectively). Gray is coming off a shoulder injury that cut his senior season short, so his rehab was priority number one throughout the off-season. His defensive prowess has been a calling card for the coaching staff, which should not be a surprise to anyone who has followed the program in recent years.
Even with a shortened senior season, Gray still finished as a Wisconsin Mr. Basketball finalist, and chose Iowa State over other P5 offers such as Creighton, Mississippi State, DePaul, and hometown Marquette. In 20 games his senior year, Gray averaged 24.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 57.6% from the field. At the high school level, it is difficult to see 57.6% unless it is a center that is just taller than everyone else, so we know that Gray can score.
During the non-conference season, we are naturally going to see some unique combinations and more minutes distributed among the roster. This will especially be important for Gray as Toure is out until at least January, and Lipsey’s eligibility will be a question every day. He will still have to battle for minutes with Jaquan “Bully” Johnson and Ryan Prather Jr. Johnson is bringing in hardnosed defense as he earned Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Prather averaged a career best 15.7 points and 3.6 assists per game at Robert Morris before suffering a hip injury.
This is a tough lineup to crack as a newcomer, but who knows what the future holds. I don’t think anyone could have properly predicted the impact that Toure, Batemon, and Pleta would have during the season, so why not Gray? Regardless of what his role is this season with the Cyclones, he has an incredible opportunity to learn from a very experienced point guard room and TJ’s squad. He also has the opportunity to wow us during the non-conference season and earn quality minutes even with a (hopefully) deep point guard depth chart.
