MILWAUKEE – No. 3 seed Iowa State was no match for No. 6 seed Ole Miss’ historic shooting performance on Sunday night, as its 2024-25 season comes to an end by a score of 91-78.
Cyclones go ice-cold in the first half
Iowa State jumped out to a 13-5 lead over Ole Miss in the first five minutes of the game. During that stretch, the Cyclones were 5-for-9 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.
That’s about where Iowa State’s success shooting the ball came to an end.
From that moment, Iowa State went on to miss 14 out of its next 16 shots and saw its eight-point lead turn into an 11-point deficit in under eight minutes.
“I feel like we had some good looks that we just missed, so that hurt,” senior guard Curtis Jones said.
That was just the beginning of what would be a very long game for the Cyclones.
No Cyclone shot over 50% from the field in the first half (minimum of three attempts), but sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic particularly struggled in the first half. He went 1-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half, after what was one of his better performances of the season in the Cyclones’ first-round win over No. 14 seed Lipscomb.
Iowa State finished the first half with just 28 points after shooting 37.5% from the field, 27.3% from 3-point range and 40% from the free-throw line.
“[Ole Miss] did a great job tonight defensively and really disrupted our offensive rhythm,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
Things improved dramatically for Iowa State offensively in the second half. The Cyclones scored 49 second-half points after shooting 62.5% from the field, 45.5% from 3-point range and 73.7% from the free throw line, but it came far too late.
“Basketball is a game of runs, and unfortunately, we weren’t able to make those runs earlier in the game,” junior guard Tamin Lipsey said.
Rebels catch fire
The reason why Iowa State’s second-half offensive turnaround ultimately proved to be insignificant was because Ole Miss played nearly perfectly offensively. Ole Miss scored 91 points after shooting 58.2% from the field, 57.9% from 3-point range and 76.2% from the free throw line.
The Rebels’ offensive performance was one for the record books. 91 points was the most Ole Miss had scored in a game since it scored 98 points in a victory over Kentucky on Feb. 4.
Ole Miss’ 58.2% shooting from the field was the best shooting percentage it had achieved in a game since Dec. 16, 2018, against Chattanooga. Also, the Rebels’ 57.9% from 3-point range was their second-best mark of the season.
“We weren’t aggressive enough so they started to feel good about their shots and obviously shot well the whole game,” Lipsey said.
Five Rebels scored in double figures, which was on par with how they have performed all season. Senior guard Sean Pedulla led Ole Miss with 20 points after shooting 6-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 from 3-point range.
Right behind Pedulla were Jaemyn Brakefield and Malik Dia, who scored 19 and 18 points respectively.
The Cyclones were simply unable to find answers on the defensive end.
“It be like that sometimes,” Jones said. “Credit to Ole Miss for sure, they really outplayed us today so I’ll tip my cap to them.”
2024-25 season comes to an end
The loss marked the end of Iowa State’s 2024-25 season.
It was one that started with great optimism. The Cyclones were the preseason No. 6 team in the nation and started the season with a 15-1 record.
From that point on Iowa State started to feel the wrath of the injury bug. It started with Momcilovic, who missed multiple weeks with a hand injury. Following that was an injury to senior guard Keshon Gilbert, who was the Cyclones’ second-leading scorer, which kept him out for multiple regular season games and the entire postseason.
That’s not even mentioning the injuries that Lipsey dealt with throughout the season, especially the late-season groin injury that he was clearly still battling through as the final seconds of the season ran off the clock.
“We had some disruptions that caused us to not be at that same full strength,” Otzelberger said. “We tried and worked and were diligent in our efforts throughout the course of the season to reestablish that.”
While the Cyclones fell short of their ultimate goals, they can hang their hat on the fact that they were able to battle through adversity together and put together a season that they can be proud of.
“Tonight wasn’t our best, but it also doesn’t define us,” Otzelberger said. “Our program accomplished a lot this year, and we’re proud of how they worked every single day. All of them can say they left the program in a better place.”
“I’m just proof of how this team stuck together through it all,” junior forward Joshua Jefferson said.
