DAYTON, Ohio — If Iowa State is looking for motivation for its third-round NCAA tournament game Sunday, March 24, 2013, it will have to look somewhere other than Ohio State.

Iowa State (23-11) was less than pleased with comments from Notre Dame prior to its first NCAA tournament game and used them as motivation in a big 76-58 victory to advance in the tournament Friday, March 22, 2013.

“We played against DePaul twice, who is the fastest running-team I’ve ever seen,” said Notre Dame forward Jack Cooley prior to the game. “The way we controlled tempo against them was incredible. If we can control tempo against the quicker teams in the Big East, we can do it against anybody.”

DePaul finished last out of 15 teams in the Big East and went just 11-21 overall. That was enough for the Cyclones to feel slighted, and they made it known after they beat the Irish.

“I know some comments were said in their interviews, some stuff that we didn’t appreciate,” said ISU forward Georges Niang, who tied a career-high with 19 points.

Niang and ISU forward Melvin Ejim, the ISU bigs that felt slighted by the Fighting Irish, led the Cyclones to victory, combining for 36 of the team’s 76 points.

When Ohio State talked to the media, the team wasn’t about to motivate Iowa State for its second tournament game. The Buckeyes didn’t compare the Cyclones to a Big Ten bottom-dweller, but rather some of college basketball’s best.

OSU coach Thad Matta rattled off Michigan, Duke, Indiana and Kansas as comparisons in different areas of Iowa State’s style of play and OSU players added in Michigan State and Wisconsin. The only comparisons that came from the Ohio State locker room were to other NCAA tournament teams.

“They remind us a little bit of a combination of the top teams in our conference,” said OSU guard Lenzelle Smith, Jr.

The Cyclones, who average 79.6 points per game, will have a tall task against the defensive-minded Buckeyes. Ohio State is holding teams to 57.9 points per game this season.

Iowa State has two players with Big Ten experience in guard Korie Lucious, who transferred from Michigan State, and Chris Babb, who transferred from Penn State. There is some hope the Cyclones can draw on that experience Sunday.

“It prepares for games like this,” Lucious said of his Big Ten experience. “The Big Ten is a very physical conference, the guys play hard and they try to really keep the game in a low-scoring area.”

When the ISU bigs battle down low against Ohio State in the third round Sunday, March 24, 2013, the main motivation will come simply from the stage of the NCAA tournament. The Buckeyes, after all, didn’t provide any bulletin board material.

“It seemed like they should have been a higher seed the way they came out and played Notre Dame,” said OSU forward Deshaun Thomas. “You have to make it difficult for them, you can’t take anything easy. It’s going to be a toughness game, you have to come out and play hard and match their intensity.”