Positional Change for Joshua Jefferson Will Elevate the Iowa State Cyclones Lineup

Joshua Jefferson is primed to dominate for the Iowa State Cyclones.

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The Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team hit a home run when they landed forward Joshua Jefferson in the transfer portal from Saint Mary’s ahead of the 2024-25 season.

He was a highly-regarded player, but there were some concerns. He had missed a large chunk of the 2023-24 campaign because of a knee injury before hitting the portal. What kind of form would he return to with such a lengthy layoff? Evidently, a great one.

Jefferson stuffed the stat sheet in his first year under T.J. Otzelberger. He averaged an efficient 13 points per game with a .520/.310/.756 shooting split. Those were all single-season bests for the Las Vegas native, becoming an impact player for the Cyclones.

He was a difference maker on both ends. 7.4 rebounds were grabbed per game along with 3.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.7 blocks in 29.6 minutes per game. Those numbers could very well be the baseline for him heading into Year 2 in Ames because of a positional change.

Joshua Jefferson moving to power forward exclusively

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Jefferson is set to play almost exclusively at power forward this season. Last year, he spent a lot of time playing the center spot along with Dishon Jackson and Brandt Chatfield. With transferred Blake Buchanon and Eric Mulder now in town to handle minutes in the middle, Jefferson can be fully unleashed at the 4-spot.

It is a move that Otzelberger is very excited about. Knowing Jefferson can play either frontcourt spot provides the head coach with some flexibility and maneuverability when it comes to lineup decisions. But his upside can truly be unlocked playing power forward.

"He has a significant advantage every way offensively," Otzelberger said, via Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert on the 247 Network. "Because he's either too physical, too skilled, too big, or play-making ability. All of it."

Recently, Jefferson was named one of the best stretch-4/bigs in the nation. He hasn’t shot too many 3-pointers to this point, going 43-for-147 thus far in his collegiate career from behind the arc. That is going to change this upcoming season, with plans in place for him to be more aggressive, letting it fly from 3-point range.

Joshua Jefferson has dynamic offensive skill set

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This will be a huge step in his development, not only for Iowa State to find more success, but for his professional basketball outlook. If he can showcase an improvement in the shooting department, he will become a very popular target for NBA teams with how well-rounded the rest of his game is.

With Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert no longer in the mix, there are a lot of shot attempts available. Some of those should be funneled to Jefferson, who could certainly push his scoring average into the high-teens with some added 3-point attempts.

As Otzelberger noted, his starting forward can be a matchup nightmare. Expecting the coaching staff to put him in positions to take advantage of that, whether it is posting up smaller players or using his athleticism to blow past bigger, slower-footed opponents.