Iowa State dismisses Grill for failing to meet expectations

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State guard Caleb Grill, who started all but three games and was the Cyclones’ third-leading scorer, has been dismissed from the team, coach T.J. Otzelberger announced Wednesday.

“We hold our players to high standards and there are expectations that our student-athletes are held accountable for,” Otzelberger said in a statement.

The fourth-year player from Maize, Kansas, averaged 9.5 points, four rebounds and 1.4 assists. He started 22 straight games before coming off the bench in a Feb. 15 game against TCU. Otzelberger said at the time Grill needed to rest his sore back.

Grill didn’t appear in road games at Kansas State and Texas and came off the bench in the last two games against Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Grill played at Iowa State as a freshman and transferred to UNLV the following season when Otzelberger was head coach there. Grill moved back to Ames last year when Otzelberger got the head coaching job with the Cyclones.

He averaged 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists over 116 career games at UNLV and Iowa State.

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