Cyclone head coach TJ Otzelberger made a bold move on Wednesday afternoon, with his team nearly one week away from the Big 12 Tournament, dismissing veteran shooting guard Caleb Grill from the team.
Grill appeared in 25 games with 22 starts, this season, averaging 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per outing.
“We hold our players to high standards and there are expectations that our student-athletes are held accountable for,” Iowa State men’s basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger said in a release.
This was his third season spent playing for the Cyclones and third overall competing under Otzelberger, as the Wichita (Kan.) native played in Ames as a freshman under Steve Prohm before transferring to UNLV and joining up with Otzelberger. When Otzelberger made the move to Ames after the 2020-21 season, Grill followed him back to Ames.
The news brought an abrupt end to a 2022-23 campaign that started with much promise for Grill, who scored a career-high 31 points against then top-ranked North Carolina in late-November at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon.
Grill remained a steady contributor during the Cyclones' hot start to conference play, scoring in double figures in four of the first six games, including 20 points in a win at Oklahoma. He later contributed 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point territory at Texas Tech.
However, a lower back injury sustained halfway through conference play reversed his fortunes and ended up costing him two games after he played hurt through a number of contests.
Grill finally returned against West Virginia on Monday night, but didn't play much of a factor and was held scoreless in 19 minutes. The most attention he garnered that night was during a scrum that ensued after Tre Mitchell picked up a flagrant-two foul on an elbow to Jaz Kunc's head. Grill earned a retaliatory technical foul as the Cyclones would go on to lose by three.
With Grill done for good, Iowa State will be hard-pressed to play with four guards on the floor the rest of the season. True freshman Demarion Watson is the one most likely to see a bump in playing time, as the Cyclones close out the regular season on Saturday and prepare for the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments.
