Basketball

Scouting Report: Clyburn goes off for 54

By Chris Williams, CycloneFanatic.com Publisher An Iowa State men’s basketball recruiting target went off in his junior college game on Saturday night. Marshalltown Community College’s Will Clyburn scored an incredible 54 points in his team’s 111-109 overtime win over Southeastern Community College.

Clyburn, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound wing went 16-for-18 from the free throw line and 18-of-26 from the floor to lead the Tigers to victory.

“If I ever was involved with a game where a team gave up 109 points and you still win in the college level…I have never seen anything like it. Both teams made shots. Both teams made plays,” Marshalltown head coach Brynjar Brynjarsson told CycloneFanatic.com on Sunday afternoon.

According to Brynjarsson, Clyburn currently holds scholarship offers from Utah, Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Saint Louis. However, there is a strong chance that Iowa State will jump into the mix fairly soon, as Clyburn has a handful of Cyclone ties.

For one, Clyburn’s head coach, Brynjar Brynjarsson, is a former Iowa State assistant coach under former head coach Larry Eustachy.

Then, you have the DeMarcus Phillips connection. Phillips has already signed and will play at Iowa State next season. The two are currently teammates at Marshalltown but according to Brynjarsson, the relationship goes much deeper than that.

“They are like brothers. They have become very close and they are roommates,” Brynjarsson said. “They pretty much do everything together.”

There is one more connection. Clyburn played high school ball in Romulus, Mich. That is the same hometown as current Cyclone, Dominique Buckley. The two were high school teammates.

Despite all of those obvious links, Brynjarsson said that should Iowa State offer, Clyburn would still have a lot to think about.

“The one thing about Will is that he is his own guy. He is going to do what is best for him,” Brynjarsson said. “He will look at every situation, go up and down and analyze it and figure out what is the best situation for himself. Not just about how much he is going to play, but what the team is going to be, what does it look like and all of those things. He has a pretty good head on his shoulders. He isn’t just thinking about what is going to happen in the last minute. He is thinking about the future and his goal is to make money off of the game. He is going to try to give himself every chance possible at that.”

Still, if Iowa State offers, it’s hard to imagine a world in which the Cyclones wouldn’t be the overwhelming frontrunner to land Clyburn’s services.

“He has a great relationship with the staff,” Brynjarsson said. “He was over there playing pickup all summer long. He’s been to the games. He knows the players. He knows the situation. Obviously, he would be tickled to death if they actually offer him.”

Scouting ReportHis length and just how skilled he is, just that combination makes it very difficult to deal with him. He shoots the three well. He has really gotten better at putting the ball on the floor. He battles. People look at him and they say that he isn’t strong enough and that he is too skinny. To average a double-double pretty much for your entire career here at MCC, that is a remarkable thing. — Coach Brynjarsson

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