Iowa State men’s basketball: Clayton Custer the next 3-point sharpshooter?
By Brian Spaen
There hasn’t been much talk on Clayton Custer yet, the early commitment for Iowa State men’s basketball that’s participating in this summer’s YMCA Capital City League in Des Moines. So, who exactly is this guy, and what’s he going to bring to the table in November?
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Cyclone Fanatic caught up with Custer after his second game, where he was blazing from the perimeter. After the fiery start, Custer talked about how he’ll continue to work on his 3-point shot in the coming summer months.
"“The main thing is that I need to be a more consistent 3-point shooter,” Custer told CycloneFanatic.com after a 33-point game on Wednesday. “That’s the main thing for me.”Custer went 7-for-12 from 3-point range in his second game of the Capital City League season. That followed up a disappointing 0-for-3 debut from long range on Sunday."
The Cyclones thrive on 3-point shooting, but they didn’t have a go-to consistent downtown shooter last season. Yes, Naz Long was able to hit big 3’s and made quite a bit of them, but he had long droughts littered throughout last season.
There was no Tyrus McGee lift from the bench from two years ago, who shot 46.4 percent from 3-point range and damn near hit them consistently from the I-logo.
Scott Christopherson was the last go-to 3-point shooter that started games. He fired above 40 percent in all of his four seasons in college, and finished at a red-hot 45.6 percent in his final year. He didn’t hit as many 3-pointers during that stretch, giving some of the load to McGee.
Many people expected Matt Thomas to be a 3-point sharpshooter on the team last season. That can still happen, but Custer’s 3-point barrage in the Cap City League game is quite impressive and could be a very intriguing start for the freshman.
Iowa State’s also had their fair share of freshmen stepping up big in the last couple of seasons among the mass amounts of transfers.
Of course, it’s summer league games, so I’m not saying that Custer is the next Christopherson by any means. But if that’s what he’s going to work on, then I’m excited to see the results and what kind of impact he has on the team early on.