Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Former Cyclone and current Iowa United player Tyrus McGee joins the show to talk quarantine, Euro bball, and the TBT

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

We are joined by former Iowa State Cyclone and current European professional basketball player Tyrus McGee on today's show as he talks about his Iowa State recruitment, rivalry week versus Iowa, life as a European basketball player, and playing for the Iowa United in the 2020 TBT. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes. Welcome to a Wednesday morning edition of the Locked On Iowa podcast. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and I'm excited to be bringing you a TBT Tuesday just a day late, though.

As you know, if you've been following the Locked On Iowa podcast, you know that every single Tuesday and today, this Wednesday, we're going to be dropping an interview with one of the members of the Iowa United as they continue to do their get to know you weeks for each of the players of the Iowa United team. The team comprised of the major schools in the state of Iowa and a few surrounding areas in their hopes of pursuing the $2 million prize in the TBT tournament this summer. We have today on the show former Iowa State men's basketball player, current European professional basketball player, and returning member of the Iowa United, last year's leading score for the Iowa United in their loss to the Wichita Aftershocks.

We've got Tyrus McGee on the show. Really excited about that opportunity, the opportunity to interview him, the opportunity to talk to him. And I think you're really going to enjoy the conversation with him on today's show. And just a reminder that this episode, this interview with Tyrus is brought to you by the great folks at Built Bar. They have the best tasting protein bar on the market. Low in calories, high in protein.

It's my choice. Whenever I get done with the workout, I go to Built Bar. So make sure to use our promo code LOCKEDON to get $10 off your first order at BuiltBar.com. Use the promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off. And just a few quick housekeeping items before we do jump into the interview with Tyrus. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And if you do like this interview, make sure to give us that five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. And make sure to follow Iowa United at IowaTBT.

And also make sure to follow Tyrus McGee at T underscore Real25. So with that being said, let's hop into the interview with Tyrus right now. I am joined here today by Tyrus McGee. Tyrus, pleasure having you on the show. I really enjoyed watching you in the TBT last year. Excited to see you play this year for the Iowa United. How are you doing today, though, man? I'm doing good, man. Just over here in France.

Soon I'll be coming home to see the family and friends. And I'm excited about that. Absolutely, man. And so you've been over in France since, you know, all this COVID pandemic has hit. What have you been doing to stay in shape and stay busy? Been working out at home, doing a lot of cardio outside in my backyard. I have a small backyard for the most part, you know, just trying to maintain my weight and things like that. At the time, we were on quarantine for two months and it actually ended last Monday, this past Monday. And yeah, so now I've been outside

jogging and going to the park, putting up some shots, just trying to get a little rhythm. Definitely. Wait, so they weren't even allowing you to go outside and jog? No, there was rules, man. You had to have a paper. Every time you go to the store, you were only allowed to go to the store or to the pharmacy at that time. You had to have a paper showing that, you know, you live in this location and you're going to this place. Sometimes they have random police officers, different stops, you know, stopping you asking questions. But fortunately that I didn't have to deal with any of that, you know, getting stopped and asked questions. But yeah, that was,

that was going on for about two months. That's wild. So is it pretty much cleared up over where you're at then, or are they still kind of slowly reopening and not sure yet? To be honest with you, the city I live in, they had no cases. So I was like, you know, I had some American teammates go back home because they had families, you know, they had kids and things like that. I don't have a kid. It's just me and my fiance and my little dog here. So it was just, I was here for two months and I just, I maintained,

And I just, I maintained, me and my fiance just maintained, you know, it was something strange for all of us. And there was no, not that many, there was no cases in our city. So I felt like it was more safe for me and my fiance to just stay here until things clear up. And then by the time things clear up here, it started getting bad in the States. And I'm like, oh man, like, I don't know what's going to happen. So now it's cleared up here. You know, I don't know what the rule is and what, you know, what the government has for, you know, U.S. citizens coming to the States or they're going to be in quarantine and things like that. But now, I mean, I see that they reopening things in the States. So I'm taking this opportunity to come home before, you know, things change.

Absolutely. I mean, I've heard of, I've heard of stories of people being stuck, you know, on honeymoon. Well, I guess honeymoon wouldn't be the worst place to be stuck, but people being stuck on honeymoon, your flights keep getting canceled to America and that kind of stuff. So definitely want to take that opportunity if you can. I would like to say that it's not exactly cleared up over here, but it sounds like they're trying to make as much headway as possible.

Yeah, yeah, I think that they did a good job here in France. A lot of cases have dropped since they made us stay inside for two months. I mean, it was – at first, you know, I'm like, okay, I can do this. This is for one month. And then they extended the days, and I'm like, oh, man. You know, and then talking to my family back home, they're like, well, you know, things are good here. And then the next month, they're like, okay, well, you know, there's cases, but not many in our little – because I'm from a small town. So there's like not – there's only two or three people who who's uh went and got tested and said

they had the virus and everything like that but um at first i thought you know but the two months being being here for two months you know stuck in the house really not much to do you you think of about anything to do inside the house i've done it it. And, you know, and now I just have that opportunity to go home, so I really have to take that advantage and go. Yeah, don't blame me at all. And if I remember correctly, your fiancee is from Italy, correct? She is from Romania. We met in Italy.

Oh, okay. I had a little bit of a run-up there. So is she coming back to the U.S. with with you then or is she going back to family in europe what what's going on right now is since she's romanian um the best way for her is to go back to romania for maybe a week or two and then fly into the states because romania is not listed on the list of what they have of all the countries who had so many cases. There was only 600 cases and Romania is not part of the Shanghai area. It's called Shanghai area. And so with my fiance having a 10-year visa, she's considered as a U.S. citizen for those 10 years. So fortunately, she gets to come to the States, but she has to fly from Romania to the States.

So she's going to go see her parents and everything for a week or two and then fly into the States. She cannot fly from France, where I'm from, to the United States. Only U.S. citizens can do that. That's wild. To go back can do that. That's wild. To go back home. Yeah. Yeah, man. We had to play the waiting game for a month and a half

to get any information. And that's what really held me back from going home. I mean, I wasn't going to leave my fiancee here by herself for, you know, that long. So we waited to play the waiting game and waited for things to clear up and get better. I mean, I think, that long. So we waited to play the waiting game and waited for things to clear up and get better. I mean, I think that makes sense. I think that's definitely a category of good fiance, man.

Leaving probably wouldn't have been the best idea. Right, right. And now, you know, and I mean, it was just, and I'm still thinking like, well, it's better to stay here anyways while all this stuff is happening. And right now there's no cases in our small, this city is probably about 80,000 people. So, you know, and I'm like, well, it's better to just stay here because there's no cases

and, you know, they're not finding anything in the city. So it was better to just stay here until, you know, things clear up. So that's what we did. We're going to quickly hit pause on the interview with Tyrus McGee. We'll be back to that in just a few moments. Before we do that though, want to make sure that you realize just how great the protein bars are at built bar. And we have a fantastic promo code. Use the promo code locked on to get $10 off your box of built bars at built bar. And we have a fantastic promo code. Use the promo code LOCKEDON to get $10 off your box of Built Bars at BuiltBar.com.

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built bar. So make sure to check them out, go to built bar.com. Use the promo code locked on for $10 off your first box of built bar and get that protein on as you finish up any one of your workouts. Makes sense, man. Well, that's crazy. Well, I'm glad, I mean, I'm glad everything's pretty good where you're at. Um, hopefully, hopefully um both of you can make the the trip over here uh safe and sound and yeah don't get anything don't don't pick up anything i was actually talking to uh you know mike dom the other week and he said that he just you know had just gotten back from europe and his flight was eerily empty like 20 people on a 200 person plane overseas. Yeah, it's the craziest thing he's ever.

And it is. That'd be just real weird for me. Yeah, yeah. Me and my teammate, we're the last two Americans on this team that's going back. And we're saying the same thing. Like me, I was like, well, you know what? The team pays for our tickets and stuff to fly back home. Maybe I just update and go first class so I can be like kind of social distancing from everybody, you know what the team pays for our tickets and stuff to fly back home maybe i just update and go first class so i can be like kind of social distancing from everybody you know yeah and then

he was like well you know what i'm sure that plane is not going to be full and i'm like yeah you're right so i'm not going to waste my money trying to get first class what i can just go sit in first class yeah i mean if you have a whole road to yourself that's basically first class. Yeah, I mean, if you have a whole road to yourself, that's basically first class for half the price. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's awesome, man. Well, hopefully you obviously have a safe trip back, and sounds like you're going to be going back to your hometown. You mentioned that your hometown is a bit smaller. I looked it up, you know, Stringtown, correct, and that is under a thousand people population. Is that accurate? Oh, man, it's under 500. Well, thousand people population is that accurate oh man it's under 500 well it's probably more it's probably more 500 now but at the time when I was in college it was 400 people I haven't looked at the population since but um it's it's under a thousand for sure that's wild so yeah it's small

it's small yeah so then was that did that impact your recruiting experience coming out of school playing for, you know, a very small high school? You ended up going to Cali College before – I might have missed over that, but before going to Iowa State. So do you feel like that had an impact on your recruiting experience coming out of high school? You know what? Kind of. I had some opportunities to play for Tulsa University out of high school.

And let's see, Tulsa. And I had a couple of offers from Cal State Fullerton in California and actually OU. But I didn't want to go to OU because I felt like I was still home and I wanted to get away from home. And Norman, Norman, Oklahoma is only an hour and 30 minutes and I want to be away. So that's why I went JUCO. I went to a two-year college at the time and all my friends who played high school ball with me actually went to the same community college as me and they all went one went to OU uh one went to Kansas State um one went to uh Cal State Fullerton and Sam Houston State yeah I remember you and I went to Iowa State your small town produced some

pretty incredible basketball players all things things considered. Yeah. Yeah. Not just basketball players. We had a guy named UL Washington. He's retired from baseball. He played for Kansas City Royals for many years. And we have a country singer, Reba McIntyre. Oh, wow. Yeah. She's from Stringtown.

And also, you know, since the last dance of michael jordan even even dennis rodman went to southeast oklahoma that's 30 minutes from my house um what an interesting you know yeah so crazy yeah yeah i'm actually yeah so it's i mean it's a small place there There ain't much there. I can tell you that. That is great. Yeah, I'm looking up on Wikipedia. You're actually listed as one of the notable natives, so nice work on that.

Yeah, I worked hard to get that. Hell yeah, man. So we're going to get into that, but when you were at Cali, you ended up going to Iowa State after two years playing under Fred Hoiberg. That was kind of his MO. He did a really great job of bringing in experienced guys, guys who could step in and play right away. What was that recruiting experience for you coming from Cali to go to Iowa State?

What was Fred Hoiberg's pitch to you? Man, it was amazing, you know. It was – at that moment, you know, I had no idea where I was going to go because I was at that time I was a number two guard in the nation of Juco. And I was getting recruited by Kentucky and and a lot of big schools. And Fred Hoiberg, he just like stuck out with everyone. You know, he was, I've had a couple head coaches come at me, but I just felt way more comfortable with him. You know, he was laid back. He was a shooter himself, you know, and I'm a shooter and, and everything just clicked with us, even with his family, you know,

and what made things, our relationship even better, you know, before he was married, his wife, her maiden name was McGee. And they loved that, you know, and my last name is McGee as well. So, and it was just, and until this day, I still talk to their, to his mom and dad and everything. But it was an amazing experience because I was his first JUCO recruit ever. I mean, I think, I think if I'm not mistaken, I was the first JUCO player to ever be at Iowa State. But it was an amazing experience coming to AIM. Even on my visit, you know, the players, they show a lot of love.

And, you know, the big campus. I'm coming from a community college to Iowa State University from 1,500 people a game to 13,000 to 14,000. It was amazing. I didn't expect myself to go, you know, that high profile of basketball at that time. I just knew just to work hard and just keep looking forward and see, you know, what God has planned for me. And I chose Iowa State because I felt like it was family to me. Yeah, man, I feel like that decision worked out pretty well too. Hilton is electric. I mean, that place is just absolutely amazing.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. In that gym, I felt like I could never get tired. Because the fans was just so supportive and all the energy, the student section going crazy. It was just – it was amazing. It was amazing. Them is moments that I will never forget.

Them is moments that I tell my future kids, you know. That's something I can never forget. That's awesome. I mean, and your two years there were pretty memorable too. I mean, you played key minutes both years. And you played with some pretty awesome players alongside yourself. And in both years you guys made the NCAA tournament and made it to the second round.

What was that experience like making the NCAA tournament? I mean, I'm assuming that was a dream of yours growing up, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was a big dream of mine, you know, playing on ESPN, getting my family, friends back home, you know, writing me, telling me I can't wait for the game tonight. You're going to be on ESPN for the first time.

This is going to be so amazing. You have so have so many supporters you know and things like that and I'm a small town boy and I've always been humble and you know I'm the same person just a little wiser you know growing um but it was just uh words can't describe how much, you know, love I have for Iowa State because they showed me so much love. I got there, you know, Coach Fred had practice an hour and 15 minutes, and I'm used to practice for three hours coming from a community college. I'm putting in another hour in after everybody's leaving and things like that. They're like, man, you're crazy. I'm like, look, man, I'm putting in another hour in after everybody's leaving and things like that. They're like, man, you're crazy.

I'm like, look, man, I'm preparing myself. But the NCAA tournament, that was amazing, too. That first year, we played UConn. You know, they were defending champs. They were trying to repeat. You know, and we're coming in, you know, with a chip on our shoulder. That first year was my junior year, so I think we made a good statement, and we ended up beating UConn that first game,

and that was really great to be the first time, you know, playing an NCAA tournament and then moving on playing Kentucky. I mean, and we all know how that went. Yeah. But it was a great experience. NBA players who are now NBA players and things like that. Anthony Davis was one of them, actually. You know, now he's a superstar in the NBA.

It was a great time, man. It was a great time. Yeah, that Kentucky team was ridiculous. And they also had Michael Kidd, Gilchrist as well. Yeah. For me, I'm only 6'2". For me, everybody was like 6'5 and up, starting foul. And I'm like, wow.

You know what I mean? And the coach, I mean, Kyler Perry from Kentucky, he knew who I was because he recruited me. And I remember scoring and running down the coach, I mean, Kyler Perry from Kentucky, he knew who I was because he recruited me. And I remember scoring and running down the court, and he's telling me, hey, you know what I told Martinez before the game? I'm like, what? He said, the only person we need to stop is McGee. And, you know, and I'm like, ah, yeah, okay, whatever.

But my focus was to beat them. I think, you know, he knew that apparently. But, yeah, that Kentucky team was big. It was big. I remember those moments I remember Chris Allen dunking on Anthony Davis maybe the second play of the game and then Royce doing some crazy I don't know I think he got a crazy dunk and then they call Tom out he's running in the middle of court saying this is my court they got the cameras all in his face this is my court yeah it was it was a wild time, and I loved it.

I loved it. And that was a pretty darn good Iowa State team. And the next year you had a pretty good year as well with a lot of seniors on that team. Yeah. A team that you, you know, really helped lead. Same thing, made it to the second round of the tournament, fell to Ohio State, ultimately 75-78.

Which experience do you feel like was better, though? Did you enjoy the first year's experience or the second year experience more? I'm going to say my first year. And I got a story behind that Ohio State and Aaron Kraft. Please tell. I'm excited. I say my second year because we got beat by Ohio State my senior year that knocked us out. And so I was a senior. We had other seniors.

And I was disappointed. We lose to Aaron Craft. And, you know, he wasn't known for a three-point shooter at the time. So years go by. See, three years ago, me and Melvin Agin played on the same team in Italy. ago. Me and Melvin Agium played on the same team in Italy. We come, we are in the finals of the championship. We're playing against Aaron Kraft in the finals. Before the game,

before the first game, game one, we played game seven. We won game seven. So before the first game, I'm talking to Melvin on the bus, on the way to the gym. I said, Melvin, don't you remember in college when Aaron Craft hit that game winner on George's knee aim and ended my senior year and ended your junior year? He was like, yeah. I said, well, you know what?

Now it's time to end this because now we're professional players and we're getting paid to play basketball. And this time we're not going to let Aaron Kraft beat us. And I said – and I'm going to let Aaron Kraft know before the game. And I told him – I said, this is going to be payback, like seriously, because I remember things like that, especially when it comes to basketball. And I'm a very competitive guy and anyone can tell you that. And so I told Aaron Craft, I mean, he's a good guy.

He's actually retired from basketball this year. Oh, wow. Yeah, he announced that. I think he was done with the European stuff. I think he's going into coaching. But Aaron's a nice guy. And I walked up to him. I said, Aaron, you remember beating us?

He's like, yeah, man, you know, this, this, this. And I said, well, you know what? Me and Melvin Edge, I'm here. We got some payback to do. And you better be ready. So, man, we went to game seven. That game seven was probably the toughest game I've played in my entire career of basketball it was so hot in the gym that the ball was just so sweaty every time you touch the ball it just slipped out of your hands and it was it

was it was so much humidity that when you dribble the ball, it would just slip. Like it would shoot from up under you. You had no control. And these referees are not trying to – they're not trying to fix anything, do anything. I'm talking about this is like middle of – this is middle of June. It's blazing hot in Italy. We end up winning the championship at Aaron Krabs on their home court.

And – I think that's pretty good payback. Me, Melvin got MVP of the championship. And me being me, I get the trophy, stand in the middle of the court, and I look straight at Aaron Craft with the trophy in the air. And I looked at him, I said, this is payback. That's awesome. And I'll never forget that. I'll never forget that because, you know, I'm a competitive person,

so I don't like to lose. I don't think anybody likes to lose. But I took that personal when I had to play against him in the finals. And actually, the other teammate of Aaron Kraft was Dustin Hogue. Oh, man. So another Ohio State guy. Another cycle. Oh, man. So another Ohio State guy. Another cycle. Oh, shoot.

I didn't realize. I got that messed up. Yeah. Yeah. And the other guy, what was his name? What was his name? Oh, man. He played at Kansas State.

That's another rival. And we beat them. Oh, man, I can't think of his name. But, yeah, man, it was a great – that was a great moment. It was payback for Aaron Craft. And, you know, and ever since then, every time I play Aaron Craft, he can't beat me. That's awesome, man.

Regular season, beat him, you know. So I think he got the statement, you know what I mean? Yeah. You let him know pretty nice and easy that he's not beating you ever again. Right, right. So, yeah, that was the – I think my second year of Iowa State because that year I got six men of the year. I finished at the best shooter in college basketball, shooting 46%. I think that my senior year was my best year out of those two years.

Definitely. And then after that, you had some opportunities. You played in the NBA Summer League a little bit before heading overseas. What were the kind of conversations heading out of Iowa State as far as NBA goes? Did you have any conversations with teams? Did you do any workouts? Yeah. What happened was, you know, Minnesota Timberwolves was very interested in me.

And Coach Fred had told me, man, Minnesota was the first workout I had. I had 10 other workouts with NBA teams. And what really happened was I tore my meniscus stretching before the workout with Minnesota. I did – and I'm with Chris Babb at the time. Me and him was both working out with Minnesota. And I'm doing the high knee stretch. We're warming up.

We're about to start. And, man, I feel something pop in my knee. You know, when you tell your meniscus, it's not a pain feeling. It's just a pop, and it's cartilage. So I had a pop in my knee, and we're stretching, doing the warm-up routines and stuff. And I realized that I could not move lateral. I just couldn't. And once my knee had popped, every time I run, it would get,

it would catch and I couldn't like run. And you know how you basically do a butt kick or something like that. I could not do that. It would stop halfway and I couldn't extend my leg. So only way I could extend my leg all the way is if I stand straight up and do like twist my knee a certain way into this groove so I can like put it in this place or something it was weird so at that time that was like and that was my first injury ever in my career and I was very disappointed you know um and then that's when I mean, when you're coming out of college,

you don't expect to be going to Europe playing basketball. You got NBA on your mind, you know what I mean? Yeah. So – and then that's when I was like, yeah, I'm going to have to take the European route for this one. I mean, I wasn't going, you know you know top 20 top 30 in the draft or anything like that so I knew that I was gonna have to take a longer route yeah um but the process going through that stuff was amazing I mean I had an interview with all the coaches in the room

because I met them during the season they were coming to our games coming to our practices and things like that and they was telling me like we know who you are you don't have to prove anything just go out there be you miss or make shots we know what you can do and I'm like okay so I had I was so comfortable you know because I've seen these guys probably 10 times through my two years being there so I was comfortable with them and not and then you know all that stuff happened so during that process I was I had surgery at in Ames um and then I did my rehab with Vic Miller the trainer yeah who's still there yeah and then I came to Europe and that's wild so I didn't realize I didn't I just looked it up and saw obviously the recovery from the injury. You end up going to Europe though.

And it sounds like though you've had a pretty successful career, obviously winning the Italian championship. You've kind of been in a couple of different places. Out of all those experiences in Europe, what has been your favorite location you played in? Italy for sure. My first year at Iowa State, we had took a trip to italy um my first time i ever come to europe my junior year that summer in uh see august i believe

and we came to italy and i'm like wow you know this this is it's nice it's just like off the movies you see These houses are old and everything is ancient and everything and all this. And then I never expected to be coming back. So my first year, I went to Spain. I played second league there. It's under the first league, the top level. I played there and did really good. And my second year, I end up going to Germany, and things wasn't so great there.

You know, I had a good coach. I was lucky to have an American coach who speaks German, so I was more comfortable, you know, as a second year. And then team wasn't doing so great, so I left. I went to Italy, finished the season there. And when I played there, actually getting to play high-level competition, I'm like, yeah, I'm getting to play high level competition I'm like yeah I'm coming back here yeah I'm coming back here and then I was stuck there for four years

so within them four years you know I've I've made myself I'm you know just playing and everyone knew who I am I made a good resume there and so, you know, I decided to go different places. But Italy, by far, is home from home. My fiancee here, she speaks Italian. Perfect. You know, I know it somewhat. I can have a little conversation, but not good. But, you know, just enough to get around if I were alone.

Yeah, enough to be dangerous. Yeah, yeah. And Italy, for sure, is home from home. People, nothing dangerous. Yeah, yeah, and Italy for sure is home from home. People is always nice. The food is always good. It's sightseeing. There's gelato in every corner. Yeah, gelato every corner and cappuccino every corner. So then you decided to go to France this year. What made you decide to sign with the French team? I wanted to try something different. I've been – played in Spain, played in Germany, played in Italy,

played in Turkey. I wanted to go somewhere different. I wanted to basically be a nobody, you know, and build a resume here. So, you know, whenever I need to come back, I can come back because the performance I've done, you know, playing against these teams and things like that. So I just want to do – I want to see something new. And my fiancée loves France.

You know, everybody loves France. And, you know, this year I actually proposed to her at the Eiffel Tower. Dude, hell yeah. Congratulations, man. Yep. And then the pandemic happened. So what's your plans for next year then? Yeah, well, right now I do not know.

With things going on, these teams, it's different. It's not like the States, you know, these teams with sponsors and owners and things like that. So budgets go down. And some teams, some countries have started back to finish their season. Germany started back. They started back June 1st. They're going to go one month of basketball.

They're basically having a tournament. That's what Josh was saying. Yeah, when I was talking to him, I was like, yeah, I think we're going to be playing a tournament style for the last month. Yeah, and Israel

is actually starting back. All the Americans who flew into Israel have to do quarantine 15 days and start back June 1st to finish the season over there. Luckily, the French are smart. So they canceled the season.

And I was completely fine with that, you know. I mean, I'm 29 years old now. So, you know, I'm not young anymore. So that gives enough time for my body to heal. All my aches and pains die down a little bit. So I'm just enjoying this free time right now, you know, trying to learn different things, you know, new hobbies and things like that. Hell yeah, man.

Any particular hobbies you've picked up? Well, I tried this experience with cooking. My fiancée, she loves to cook. She has her own food blog and everything and all that. So I try to learn from her, taking pictures for her, why she cook and doing all this stuff and, you know, asking how to make things, you know, with taste and how much and things like that. Because to be honest with you, before her before her you know I was eating at restaurants and doing all that type of stuff I was never a guy you can find in the kitchen that very often so within you know these two months of being home every day not going anywhere so I was like you

know what I'm gonna try this cooking thing and see what I can do with it yeah I gave it a try once and realized my wife is just way better at it. So I stick to the crock pot. It's patience, I can tell you that. It is patience. And, I mean, I can cook a little bit, not too much. Yeah, I basically can only cook Mexican food, and that's about it. You can make it as spicy as you want it. Hell yeah, exactly.

So that's why you're doing the cooking stuff. And obviously you talked about recovering your body, right? You got big, big piece of that. You're going to be playing in the TBT this summer. Again, you played a couple of years, obviously with the Hilton magic legends and then now with the Iowa United. So my guess is your body is going to be recovered and you're ready for that. What are you most looking forward to though with this Iowa United team in year

two? Well, new players. I mean, there's new faces for me. I've been playing with this TBT going on three years, four years, maybe. So each year's new faces. I mean, I know Josh. I played with him last year. So we're trying to get these players, a couple players that I know. So, you know, Justin Carter, he's a guy who played with me last year in Italy. He was a part – because I won two championships now.

I won the FIBA Euro Cup championship uh we went on a 22 game winning streak the longest in European history that's amazing um so he was part of that and he's he's a big time basketball player now he's 32 33 actually just turned 33 not too long ago and he he doesn't play like he's 33 you know so and I'm like hey man um you know ask him if you want to play so now um I think he may play but he's actually about to retire from basketball from Europe and he might be assistant coach at the University of Georgia oh wow yeah so um right now we're trying to figure out if he's going to get the play because he has to go do the meetings and all that type of stuff you know yeah so we're trying to but the other players

i have no idea who they are to be honest um it's hard to keep up with you know these younger guys nowadays college basketball being in europe because i'm on a, well, yeah, Ames or, yeah, that's still Central Time. So I'm six hours ahead of y'all. So it's hard to keep up with the NBA, the college basketball. You have to stay up because right now it's 925 at night. And you have to keep up. Only way you can keep up is if you watch the highlights of a game. And if you stay up at 3 o'clock in the morning just to watch a game,

you're going to be done around 5, and then you got morning practice and afternoon practice. Yeah. It's not very easy. Right. A person like me, I need my sleep. I need at least six, seven hours. So that's not enough time for me.

But, yeah, I'm excited to see these players, you know. And I think this year's team will be more experienced because the – I'm bad with names. The guys, the three guys that played with us last year is coming back. And they were – now they're – I still call them rookies because they just finished their first year in Europe. Still are Nick McGlynn and Bayer and – Yes.

I can't think of who the other third was. And Reed. Oh, Timmer. Yeah, Timmer. But he's hurt, so I don't think he's going to get to play. He got had, I think, foot surgery or something. Something ankle or something like that. So I don't think he's going to play with us this year in TBT.

But now, you know, they got that experience of professional, you know, that first-year experience playing professional basketball. And everybody in that TBT is basically professional basketball players, you know, and it's coming from Europe and things like that. But I'm excited, though. I'm excited. I'm excited to represent Iowa United. That's for sure.

Hell yeah, man. And I actually want to quickly touch on the fact, you know, obviously you went to Iowa State. And, you know, Iowa State and Iowa, they don't get along in terms of sports. What was your first introduction to that? I'd be a bad podcast host if I didn't ask you what your first introduction to that rivalry was and how much you hated Iowa when you went to Iowa State. Well, I didn't get introduced to that until like a week before the game.

Like I had no idea, man. You know, I had no idea about, you know, big, big rivals like that. And then Coach Fred was like, he comes in the practice, you know, we were all just shooting, playing around. He comes, we get in the huddle. He's like, well, you know, this week is a very important week. We're playing Iowa, the Hawkeyes. You know, and all the guys who's already been there, they understand, you know.

And this is my first year. And I'm like, okay so this this is a big rival and I'm not gonna lie we had to play at Iowa and we lost that game and I actually did okay for myself personally we just fell apart at the moment. And I realized how important it was to Coach Fred because Coach Fred is from Ames. He grew up there, went to college there. And I understand how important it was for the fans as well, you know. And I was like, dang, you know, we just missed this opportunity to embrace and to, you know, to enjoy.

So then that next year we beat Iowa in Ames, my senior year. It was a great experience. I didn't realize, you know, Iowa State had that big rivalry like that. But I learned real fast. I did learn. I learned real fast. I did learn. I learned real fast. That's funny you say that because when I talked to Deontay Garrett, he said the same thing.

He's like, I had no idea. And then, like, a week before, everyone's, like, talking about this Iowa-Iowa State game. Then he got in the environment. He's like, holy hell, what is this? Yeah. Yeah, it's a different environment. That's crazy. The regular games that you have, that's for sure.

People trash-talking you, everything, man. that's crazy regular games that you have that's for sure people trash talking you everything man i love that type of stuff to be honest with you it sounds like it sounds like you kind of find ways to uh motivate yourself a little bit more than you already need to you you have to man and especially now being in europe man like these european kids don't have that mentality like American kids, you know? That let's go, let's go, you know, push each other and do this. These kids are more relaxed, you know. You might, because American way, if my teammate that's the other American, I might scream at him like, come on, man, let's go, let's go. Like, you know, do this, do that.

They understand. I'm not yelling at them because I'm mad. I'm yelling at them like, come on, man, let's go, let's go. Like, you know, do this, do that. They understand. I'm not yelling at them because I'm mad. I'm yelling at them to fire them up. But you do this here in Europe, they liable to tuck their little tails and go the different direction. So, you know, you just got to approach. And I learned, you know, eight years playing professional, you can't approach every player the same way.

Some players, you have to put your arm around them and be like, hey, man, we need to do this, we need to do that. eight years playing professional you you can't approach every player the same way some players you have to put your arm around them like hey man we need to do this we need to do that some players most of the time i'm screaming at the americans anyway so so the europeans you know and i usually try to focus on um helping the young guys of the European because some coaches, they don't really put effort into it. You know, just have them on a team and practicing with this, not trying to guide them and show them what they should and should not do. So I try to do that. I try to embrace that.

Yeah. And I honestly, I think you did that a lot when you were with the Iowa United. I mean, I would talk to Madden. He said that you were doing a really great job of working with some of the younger guys, the guys you call rookies, you know, like Nicholas and Nick and those guys and talking to them about things they could be doing. And I remember actually at the bar we were at, you were giving advice to Reed about how to handle the following year and going overseas again and that kind of stuff. So I thought that was really interesting and something that I definitely

noticed too. Yeah. We, we drove from Des Moines to Wichita, and I had – who was it? Was it Matt? Tybee? Yeah, Matt Tybee. The guy that played at Iowa. So there was Nicholas Bayer. Nicholas Bayer is the kid that played at Iowa, right?

Correct, yeah. Nicholas Bayer played at Iowa. Yes. Nicholas Baer is a kid that played at Iowa, right? Correct, yeah. Nicholas Baer played at Iowa. I had him, and I didn't have the Glenn kid in the ride with me. I had Matt Tibby.

Yeah. He's a dude. Yeah, yeah. He's been in Europe. I played against Matt in Turkey. Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, and I just – I explained to him. I was like, look, man, this is nothing like college basketball.

It's professional. Once you're done with practice, you can do whatever you want. If you want to fly to another country, just make sure you come back on this before practice. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, they have no problem with that. And it's laid back unless you got some crazy coach that want to do some old school style of basketball.

But, yeah, and I just, you know, I try to give them advice of my experience. You know, I was going in seven years at that time. I try to feed them some good information about the living situation, about make sure you tell your agent to get this for you and this and stuff like that just to help them out by phones and everything like that because you know me I don't have, I don't use my American

phone over here you know I have AT&T and AT&T will charge you like crazy if you use your phone over here so I tell them I was like look man it's better for you to just get I have AT&T. AT&T would charge you like crazy if you use your phone over here. So I'll tell them, I was like, look, man, it's better for you to just get, if you bought your iPhone from the iPhone store, it's already unlocked, just get an Italian SIM card and just use that, and you can call your parents, you can do all that, but you just use a European number.

And it's a lot cheaper to do that. You pay like $30 to $40 a month. Yeah, a lot better than playing the ridiculous fees that AT&T would normally charge you. Oh, yeah. They rip you off big time. Oh, yeah. Do you think that would be something that you're interested in? Is that kind of the next step for you?

More or less, my question is, what are you looking to do post-basketball? Well, when I'm done, I probably will go into coaching. But me, I'm so competitive that I don't think I can do high school basketball because I don't want to deal with kids' parents and these kids don't want to listen and do what they're supposed to do, you know, as young guys. Because when I was young, you know, I'm not listening to my coach.

I'm going to do what I want. And, you know, and then kids don't want to practice, but they want to play. You know, stuff like that. I don't have the patience for that. I'd rather go Juco or Division I. I mean, to be honest with you, when I graduated from Iowa State, I stayed there for a couple months or a month, and I was working out kids and everything.

And I had the opportunity. I had a high school principal. I was working out one of his kids. It was a private school, private high school. And he asked me he gave me a job opportunity he was like hey how do you what do you think about coming and being head coach for my private high school and I was like a private school and I was like and I'm 22 years old you know I'm like uh right now I'm I I don't think I'm ready for that. I was like, I'm just now really starting my basketball career.

But later in life, I do want to go into coaching. I love it, man. That's what I tell you. Yeah. Yeah. But for sure. I mean, I've had so much experience traveling the world and going different countries. Because each country's basketball style is different.

French is by far the most athletic league you can play in in europe really oh yeah they have some leapers man that's why like all these french guys go to the nba and stuff like that so easy here because i had a kid i got a kid on my team right now who's 21 years old man his body is like Kevin Durant I'm talking about freakish athlete he just he's supposed to go into the draft this year but he played on my team man he didn't even average five points a game he's just pure athletic and it and I'm like dang like but the thing about the French kids here, they're pre-athletic, but they don't have a skill set.

Like, they don't really, you know, have the skills to play that one-on-one, like in the NBA. Yeah. They're athletic, but they don't – they're dribbling and things like that, you know. But, hey, kids over here, it's completely different from kids in the states now it's different though the things about european basketball in the united states i'll be telling my teammates all the time they don't have individual workouts in the states you know

you have trainers everybody have a trainer nowadays. That's how players become good as an individual. Here it's more a team thing. Somebody might be a trainer but he wants four or five guys together and he's basically teaching them how to move the ball fast. Team basketball which is good but

the NBA is individual. We all know that. When they had the opportunity to get to the NBA they kind of lost because they're not used to that one-on-one type of The NBA is individual. We all know that. And when he had the opportunity to get to the NBA, they kind of lost because they're not used to that one-on-one type of style of play. It's completely different. Interesting. Are you talking about D-Gay Duaria, by the way?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, look up his draft profile. That's exactly who I'm talking about. And this kid, man, he he jumped so high he don't even know what to do in the air he just does a regular one-hand dunk it is crazy like dude you

can do so much more with that and i'm screaming at him like dk you have to just be mad at the rim just dunk it hard he's just so laid back and nice guy okay Okay, it's cool to be a nice guy, but you have to be an angry guy sometimes when you play basketball. And he's 21, you know. I can't tell him too much because he's probably looking at me like, man, you didn't go to an NBA draft or nothing like that. You know what I mean? So you can only say so much.

And I just try to give him advice. I'm like, you know. And there's two kids from Asville it's Tony Parker's team they're the biggest team in the French League these kids are 17 years old man they enter the draft these kids are good but they're small though they're small guards but they're good I cannot lie about that that's crazy to me It's always interesting to see European basketball players try to make the transition over there or to, like, hear about what American players find is, you know, to be the most different translating into the Europe game.

Right, exactly. The Americans, it's much easier because they panned us to do one-on-one, get to the basket, score, you know, stuff like that. But I can tell you this, though. Luka Donic, he's a good example. This kid, I don't know who his trainer was, but he was killing in Europe. This kid was 17, 18 years old in the EuroLeague, the highest level. EuroLeague MVP, one-on-one.

Like, he already knew what he needed to do. And I told some of my teammates at this time watching him play for Madrid, I said, yo, this kid's going to get to the NBA and he's going to kill it. And that's exactly what he's doing. Yeah. Because he has it figured out. He had it figured out. And there's not many players like that.

And there's not many players like that. And the thing about professional, you have to know what you can and cannot do. That's it. Because when you play high-level basketball in Europe, you have to understand that you got other teammates that is just as good as you or even better. So if you a great shooter shooter be that great shooter if that person's a defender be that great defender don't try to do anything extra you know what i mean yeah because that's how they that's that's that's the thing about professional you know basketball and you want to get to that place and get to wherever you know you got your mind to but

it's different man and european basketball also puts a toll on your body oh man it was some years off your body you practice so much man i'm talking about nba is so laid back colleges you're young so you can just destroy the kids. So professional in Europe, it is, man, you talking about practicing two times a day. You're going in the morning, lifting weights, and then they want you to come in after you lift the weights. They want you to do all these individual drills, all these drills that you did when you were a kid sometimes. You know what I mean? And it's just making you tired.

And then at the end of the week, you have – it depends. If you're playing at a high-level team, so sometimes you play two games a week. But if you're playing just a solid team that doesn't play European, that just play in that country, well, you're going to practice five days a week and then have a game on the weekend. When that weekend comes, you're going to be tired because you practiced all through the week just prepared for this game. That's wild.

Oh, yeah, it is wild. It puts a toll on your body. It puts a toll on your body, and people don't understand that. You practice so much. Dang. Yeah, I guess I didn't even realize that, and I haven't heard that. You practice so much. Dang. Yeah, I guess I didn't even realize that, and I haven't heard that from other guys either, but that's – I mean, that would be very tough if you're doing that much physical rigor,

you know, rigorous activity to your body. That'd be tough. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and when you get to the NBA, it's more relaxed. You know what I mean? Yeah. You don't have a coach who's going to make you practice for two hours, two and a half hours.

I feel like too, a lot of it is the work you put in the off season. And in the regular season, you're more about maintaining your body and keeping it ready as opposed to necessarily getting better. Right, right. Exactly. For right now, like I'm not going to lie to you. When basketball, when they canceled the season, I had like a foot, I had plantar fasciitis.

I hurt it really bad last year when I – maybe you've seen my dunk that was like – Yeah. It went viral for a while. Well, I hurt my foot doing that. At that time, you know, that adrenaline was going. You know, that shit wasn't hurting like that. That's wild.

Well, I'm glad. It sounds like at least you're getting healthy and you have at least a couple months off to get healthier. So, and then I played last year and I was good. Or this past summer I played and my foot was good. But – and when they canceled the season, I was like, thank goodness it's going to give my foot time to heal even more. Because I was practicing and playing, traveling, like, thank goodness it's going to give my foot time to heal a little more because

I was practicing and playing, traveling, traveling, and traveling, you know, going to Germany, playing in Turkey, playing in Israel because I played two leagues this year. I played the French League and it's called the Basketball Champions League. So yeah, and that stuff puts a toll on your body. You're going, you're home for one week and going for the next week. This might be a pretty ignorant question, and it 100% is, I guess, but how do you do the Basketball Champions League and the French League? Are you playing on the same team or are you playing on a different team? Same team.

Same team, and then you're just basically playing for the European League. So you got your high level, highest level, like the NBA level of Europe is EuroLeague. So basically your best teams of Europe, of each country plays the EuroLeague. Oh, just like soccer then, right? Like, yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then you have your domestic teams and stuff like that. You have to play your domestic league, and then you play your international. That's it. And they have to pay you. Basically, they pay you more money because the team is a higher level

and things like that. So it's better to play a European, a kind of good level of basketball team because then you won't practice so much. Because today we have a game and then we have tomorrow half a day off and then a little bit of practice and the next day we have to travel go somewhere and then that next day after that play and do the same thing throughout the whole year interesting so it's almost like a little bit less demand because you don't have as much practice yes it's much better yeah Yeah. That's awesome.

I'm sorry, what were you going to say, Tyrus? No, you're fine. You're fine. I was going to say, man, I've taken up a ton of your time. So I want to be very conscious of the fact that it's late there. I'm in Denver, so it's only 2 o'clock my time. Oh, okay. Yeah, so I don't want to take up too much more of your time.

Again, I really appreciate you hopping on, and I feel like we can talk basketball for a while. But last thing I really want to touch on though is for the guys who are the people who haven't seen you play or for some reason didn't watch Iowa United last year in Wichita, which was a crazy environment and a lot of fun. What would you say if someone says what is your game like what do you bring to the table well um I've had well the year I won a championship with this with this coach I had in Italy um that was three years ago he told me that I am almost a complete player now um I can shoot the ball, dribble the ball much better since college. I can pass the ball. I can defend.

I can do a lot of different things. I can say that, you know, I've worked on my craft since college, of course, because I was just known as a shooter. When I'm here in Europe, I play point guard and shooting guard. Most of the time, shooting guard, but it depends if injuries or something like that. But I have really worked on my craft, and I'm capable to do a lot of things. My main strengths are shooting and defending, for sure. I can play both ends of the court.

Yeah, man, you went off last year in Wichita shooting-wise. I mean, you were the person who kind of held the team together in the early minutes when, you know, Wichita was coming out hot, and you kind of kept Iowa United in the game before the rest of the guys kind of, you know, got it back, you know, was getting their shooting touches back in. So that was impressive as hell. I was on fire, huh? Dude, you were.

It was fun. That crowd was a blast at BMN. I was getting all sorts of things yelled at me. And you know what's funny about that? I didn't touch a basketball for a month and a half. Really? Yeah, because I had a foot injury. I had a foot injury really bad.

And then I came to Des Moines. We had to practice. That was my first time practicing. and we only practiced for two days, and then we came to Wichita. That's crazy. So do you feel like – I mean, you only had two days – I know that was supposed to be my last question, but you only had two days of practice.

It really felt like you and Josh played pretty well together. Do you feel like you bonded with anyone else from a basketball perspective and really connected pretty well with the other guys too? Man, I bonded with everybody. Everybody is good people. Hell yeah, man. I bonded with everybody, which I like that. And everyone understood too.

Everyone understood. They just didn't have – I mean, the way I see the TBT is more, you know, you got ex-professional players and professional players and some college players, but, yeah, they were all new to it, you know, I wasn't, so I was just, like I said, I was just giving them advice on things and stuff like that, and they were listening, and I think they, you know, they soaked it in, so they'll be ready this summer. Definitely, man, so what is your last question, I promise? What is your prediction for the Iowa United this year? I think we're going to go farther than we have in the past two years.

I'm good with that, man. That'd be fun. From looking at the roster and these players we're getting. But yeah, so I think that's going to give us a good opportunity and we got some good solid players, so. Awesome, man. Well, Tyrus, dude, thank you so much for your time. Again, I know it's late. Obviously, you have a safe trip back to the States.

Hopefully you're – Beyonce has a safe trip to Romania and then back to the States. And looking forward to either seeing you play in person, although I don't know if that's going to happen. But if nothing else, at least seeing you play on TV for the Iowa United this summer. Right, right. Yeah, man. I'm sure I TV for the Iowa United this summer. Right, right. Yeah, man.

I'm sure I'll probably see you around. Hell yeah, dude. I'll talk to you later, buddy. All right, man. Thanks. Yep, see you, pal. All right, bye-bye. And that will do it for our Wednesday episode of the Locked on Iowa podcast.

Again, a big shout out to Tyrus for hopping on the show. I know he's a very busy guy. Big shout out to the Iowa United squad, as they've been doing this every single Tuesday and today, obviously, a Wednesday. Hopping on the show, telling a little bit about themselves, talking about their college careers, talking about the NBA draft,

and talking about their professional careers and what it means to be playing for the Iowa United. Absolutely appreciate that. Again, make sure to follow Tyrus on Twitter at T underscore Real25 and follow the Iowa United on Twitter as well at Iowa TBT. And you can follow us at LockedOnIowa. If you liked this episode, also make sure to go give us that five-star review

wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Make sure to subscribe as well so you can get every episode downloaded directly to your smart device. And again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode. I hope you all stay safe out there. We'll be back tomorrow with another fantastic episode of the Locked on Iowa podcast. Have a great day. Let's go, Iowa.