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MEN’S BASKETBALL: Brockington Has Emerged as One of Nation's Best at Iowa State

By Rich Flanagan Photo: Iowa State Athletics, 03/04/22, 12:00PM EST

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Former Archbishop Ryan standout, Izaiah Brockington, finds perfect fit at Iowa State

Photos/Videos: Rachel Macauley, Zamani Feelings & Iowa State Athletics

By: Rich Flanagan

PHILADELPHIA – Izaiah Brockington’s journey to Ames, Iowa mirrors that of the expansion of his game.

His career began at Resurrection of Our Lord parish in the Rhawnhurst section of Philadelphia, where he played alongside former Father Judge standout Marc Rodriguez (East Stroudsburg) and won a CYO Region 1 championship together in eighth grade. A prolific and historic career at Archbishop Ryan followed, where Brockington was known for his defensive prowess and slashing ability. His collegiate career began at St. Bonaventure, a five-hour drive from Philadelphia, where he appeared in 34 games but didn’t feel his skillset was being maximized enough. The visceral feeling was not to necessarily return home, but to find a place that best suited him.

Distance was never the issue but finding the spot where he could grow into the player that he always knew he could be outweighed everything else.


Long-time friends Izaiah Brockington guards Father Judge's Marc Rodriquez. PSD Photo: Kevin Murphy


Izaiah Brockington has won six Big 12 weekly honors and has been averaging 17 points & seven rebounds this season at Iowa State - Photo Courtesy: Iowa State Athletics

“I feel like the distance is preparing me for the future,” Brockington said. “I knew when I was in the portal that I couldn’t let the distance from home be a big factor in this decision because whether I stay here for a year or two, I would try to be pro and that could literally take you anywhere in the world. It was just a part of growing up, being able to go places and figure things out on my own.”

Pat Chambers and Penn State, with former Philadelphia Catholic League foe, Lamar Stevens (Roman Catholic), was gaining steam in the Big Ten and he found a role as an explosive sixth man with a knack for finding the ball on offense and taking it away from defenders at the other end. When Chambers resigned, Brockington hung around for another season then chose to find another change of scenery and a multitude of schools from all over were vying for his services. Tony Bennett (Virginia) wanted him. Bruce Pearl (Auburn) saw him fitting in nicely. Ed Cooley (Providence) wanted him in the Big East to guard Collin Gillespie at Villanova. Mike Rhoades (VCU) envisioned him at the epicenter of the “Havoc” press.

The Cyclones were coming off a season where they won two games and they needed a change in more ways than one. They hired T. J. Otzelberger in March 2021 and he immediately got to work. First order of business: make Brockington a priority before someone else does.

“As a coach when you’re coming into your first year, even more important than talent and ability is guys who do winning things so as you lay the foundation for your program moving forward, they need to be that example and show the others how that needs to look every day,” Otzelberger said. “We saw all of those examples from Izaiah and believed that if he did all of those things, we could empower his confidence up to a level where more production would be something that he would be able to do.”

Otzelberger put together his staff then set up a Zoom call with Izaiah and they laid out their plan for the 6-foot-4 guard. Brockington noted, “they were the first Zoom call that I had when I was in the portal, and it truly stood out to me. I knew that there was something special about it when I had other calls or Zoom meetings and I was comparing all of them to Iowa State. I would ask myself, ‘Was that better than Iowa State?’”

Brockington left Archbishop Ryan as the program’s all-time leading scorer (1,292 career points) and led the Raiders to a pair of Philadelphia Catholic League semifinal appearances, including the berth his junior year that was the Raiders first trip to the Palestra since 2008. He helped usher in a new era of Archbishop Ryan basketball with the run to the PIAA Class 6A semifinals where the Raiders fell to eventual champion Reading, who at the time boasted Lonnie Walker (San Antonio Spurs).

Those same traits that made him a transcendent player under Joe Zeglinski have been on full display for the entire Big 12 Conference to witness and Brockington has done nothing but showcase the ability that a lot of coaches missed out on coming out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia high school on Academy Road. He is averaging 17.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game for the Cyclones (20-9, 7-9) but he has been the biggest difference for a team that only mustered two victories a season ago.

Brockington is the only player to transfer to a major conference that is avg. at least 17 points and seven rebounds this season. He has won six Big 12 weekly honors, varying between Player and Newcomer of the Week, becoming the first Iowa State player with six honors in a season since DeAndre Kane in 2013-14.

The Cyclones started the season 12-0 with one of those wins over then No. 25 Xavier in the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center where Brockington scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half. He became the first Cyclones player with 30 in a game since Lindell Wigginton against Baylor in 2018. He sank a stepback jumper with 20 seconds left in regulation to force overtime then scored the final two baskets in the extra period to secure a win against Oklahoma State on Jan. 26.  Finally, he poured in a career-high 35 points, going 14-for-22 from the field including the game-winning basket with 22 seconds remaining to down West Virginia on Feb. 23.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON OPENS THE SECOND HALF WITH THE STEAL THEN THE BUCKET AND THE FOUL IN 2017 PCL SEMIFINALS

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON MAKES A MONSTER DUNK EARLY IN THE 2ND QUARTER in the 2017 PIAA 6A semifinals - PSD Video

How is Brockington doing this on a more consistent basis compared to his time with the Nittany Lions?

“The Big 12 suits my style of play more,” Brockington said. “The Big Ten is a little more slow it down with physicality and toughness. Though I can play that way, I do like to use my athleticism and explosiveness, and play at a faster pace. That’s the biggest difference and I feel like in the Big Ten teams are setting up plays and pounding it inside through big men.”

He has been the catalyst behind the biggest turnaround in program history. The 18-win difference from last season is a school record and Iowa State is one win behind Towson for the largest improvement in wins nationally. Brockington is leading the effort in two major areas, starting on the glass where he has hauled in 215 rebounds with seven double-doubles to his name. After avg. 4.9 rebounds at Penn State, he is using a principal belief of Archbishop Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski’s ideology for guards.

Zeglinski always taught his guards how to attack the glass and, while Brockington played on a team with 6-8 forward Fred Taylor and 6-7 forward Matiss Kulackovskis (Bowling Green), pushed his former pupil to take advantage of that one area.

“That’s where I really pushed him and some of our other athletic guards to get six to eight points off offensive rebounds and that’s what he’s really doing,” Zeglinski said. “Manufacture your own points so you don’t have to work as hard getting open and when you have it going like he has in a lot of games this year, figure out a way to manufacture points off the ball on your own. Offensive rebounding is a place where you can really separate yourself and help your team get wins.”

Archbishop Ryan Head Coach Joe Zeglinski reflects on his time coaching Brockington & notes future projections for the Iowa State standout - PSD Video by Rachel Macauley:

When Brockington made the decision to play in Happy Valley, he believed that was the best decision for his career and playing with Stevens, John Harrar (Strath Haven) and Mike Watkins (The Phelps School), really showed him how to improve his body control and position himself to use his momentum to corral the ball.

“Then going to Penn State, we played a tough, hard-nosed style there and they really caused me to push my rebounding effort to another level,” Brockington said. “I really feel like I realized just how effective on the boards that I could be at Penn State and now at Iowa State I’m continuing that and trying to take it to another level.”

With Penn State being so close to home, Brockington was able to go home quite regularly to see family and friends, and take in a game or two at his alma mater. As he was deciding on where to play next once he entered the portal, he was able to workout inside the Archbishop Ryan south gym, where he beat Rodriguez and the Crusaders in the Philadelphia Catholic League quarterfinals as a senior. Rebounding was now a strength to add to his explosiveness, but shooting was the final piece of the puzzle. Taking shots and scrimmaging during open gyms with the current Raiders roster will help as does shooting before and after the program’s basketball camp during the summer. If the shooting form could be improved, he felt “that would be a really good balance to my explosiveness and going downhill so it was about getting shots up. T.J. and the entire staff gave me confidence and that told me to trust myself,” according to Brockington.

Just as he did when he oversaw the maturation of Brockington at a young age, Zeglinski went back to the formula that allowed him to make 393 career three-pointers at the University of Hartford.

“It’s now more of one motion from his toes to his fingertips,” Zeglinski said. “That’s something I tried to preach that it should be one flow of energy and one natural motion. He was great in the mid-range but needed one or two little tweaks. He has a great work ethic and when he was at Ryan, he shied away from shooting the three because he was known as a slasher but once he gets the confidence in anything, he figures it out.”

That improved shooting form and increased confidence has allowed him to raise his three-point shooting to 41.7 percent this season. He has knocked down 30 three-pointers, more than he had over the last two seasons combined. He hit five in that 35-point outburst against the Mountaineers and has nine games with multiple three-pointers made. 

The Cyclones are well positioned to earn their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019 and Brockington has been the focal reason Iowa State sits on the cusp of a return to March Madness. His father, Antoine Brockington was an All-Public League selection at Northeast High School in 1993 before going on to play at Coppin State, where he won the 1998 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year. His biggest accomplishment there may have been scoring 20 points in a 78-65 first round victory over No. 2 South Carolina in the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

This journey from Northeast Philadelphia to Happy Valley to Ames may lead him and Iowa State to the Big Dance and the added benefit of having traveled so much already could be an integral aspect to the Cyclones success down the stretch.

“I feel like the distance is preparing me for the future,” Brockington said. “I knew when I was in the portal that I couldn’t let the distance from home be a big factor in this decision because whether I stay here for a year or two, I would try to be pro and that could literally take you anywhere in the world. It was just a part of growing up, being able to go places and figure things out on my own.”