Christian Wiggins Should Have Chip on His Shoulder With Iowa State Cyclones Next Year

Class of 2026 guard Christian Wiggins has a lot to prove with the Iowa State Cyclones next season.

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The Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team looks to once again be one of the best in the country. They are off to a 3-0 start, defeating the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, Grambling State Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs in blowout fashion.

What makes this start all the more impressive is the glimpses of what is to come in the future. Freshman Killyan Toure is in the starting lineup alongside Tamin Lipsey, learning on the fly to eventually take over as the lead ball handler.

Off the bench, fellow freshmen guard Jamarion Batemon and center Dominykas Pleta are growing into roles. They should see their opportunities expand as the season moves along.

A big reason that the Cyclones have become a winning program under head coach T.J. Otzelberger is his ability to continually restock the roster with talent. Not only is he finding the perfect fits on the transfer portal, but he is hitting on high school recruits as well.

The Class of 2026 looks like another home run with legitimate upside. One of the recruits that people will be keeping a close eye on is Christian Wiggins.

Christian Wiggins has immense upside despite ranking slide

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There is a chance he has a prominent role right off the bat when he arrives in Ames. Lipsey and sixth-year senior Nate Heise will no longer be in the mix, opening up plenty of minutes in the backcourt.

Wiggins should have an opportunity to earn some of those minutes and will have something to prove once he arrives. At one point, he was a top 100 prospect, but summer struggles saw him drop considerably in the rankings.

Being ranked No. 118 in a recruiting class is nothing to scoff at. But he should have a chip on his shoulder, knowing that he was once even more highly regarded, and wanting to get back to that level.

That is why Alec Busse of Cyclone Alert, part of the 247Sports Network (subscription required), gave Wiggins the superlative of can outplay the ranking. The tools are there for him to be an impactful player at the next level.

Christian Wiggins has strong base to build upon

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He possesses things you can’t teach, such as size and wingspan. The ability to defend multiple positions on the perimeter will certainly endear him to a coaching staff that puts an emphasis on that side of the court.

What will enable him to outplay his ranking is if he can figure out his jump shot. A high-volume shooter at points with less than ideal efficiency, he needs to improve in that regard to keep moving up the rankings.

Wiggins’s maturity level and makeup are two more qualities that Otzelberger and his staff love. He is going to come in and work hard, knowing that nothing will be handed to him; he has to earn his minutes and a spot in the rotation.

Capable of making an impact with his playmaking and defense already, it is his shotmaking that will determine how big a star he becomes. With his work ethic, it would be smart to bet on him figuring it out.