CHICAGO — In their eighth Sweet 16 appearance, the No. 2 seed Cyclones will take on No. 6 seed Tennessee at 9:10 p.m. Thursday in Chicago, Illinois.
Iowa State will head to the United Center to play its second SEC program team in a row, after taking down No. 7 seed Kentucky 82-63 in St. Louis. The win was brought on with multiple contributors, due to senior guard Joshua Jefferson sitting out with a sprained-left ankle.
The multiple contributors in cardinal and gold consisted of senior guard Tamin Lipsey, who put up a career-high 26 points and a career-high 10 assists. Junior forward Milan Momcilovic put up his own 20 points, with senior guard Nate Heise adding 12.
“The Kentucky game speaks for itself,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Our guys have a very connected mentality and mindset, they’re very unified offensively and defensively and they believe in one another.”
Tennessee will head to Chicago after a 79-72 victory against No. 3 seed Virginia. With a constant back-and-forth battle between the two teams on the court, the Volunteers were able to make a run and seal the victory due to success from behind the charity stripe.
The Volunteers found strength within senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who put up a team-high 21 points, complemented by four other players in double-digits.
Iowa State is prepared for the different struggle and success points Tennessee will bring, with a high emphasis on rebounding. As Tennessee is No. 1 in the nation in offensive rebounding, averaging 42.5 rebounds per game, the Cyclones, on the other hand, average 35.7 rebounds per game.
To resolve this, Lipsey emphasized how important junior forward Blake Buchanan is when aiming to win the rebounding battle. The 6-foot-10 forward, known for his physicality, has the second-highest rebounding average on the team with 5.8 per game and a total of 208 boards.
“Tennessee is a big team, they’re going to have to be physical on both sides of the ball,” Lipsey said. “Obviously, the rebounding, being number one in offensive rebounds, that obviously doesn’t only fall on Blake [Buchanan], but a big part on him and our other bigs.”
A challenge that may present itself is the Gillespie and Lipsey matchup, as both players lead their team in similar ways and each secured a team-high of double-digit points to lead their team to the Sweet 16.
“Exciting matchup, two tremendous players that impact winning for their team in so many ways,” Otzelberger said. “Excited to see how it unfolds.”
On the Tennessee side of the court, the Volunteers are emphasizing toughness heading into the match. As the Cyclones are known for creating and thriving off their opponents’ turnovers, averaging 19.6 points per game off turnovers.
“Honestly, they are amazing on defense, probably the top 10 defense in the nation,” Tennessee freshman guard Amari Evans said. “So we just got to take care of the ball, do what we do regardless of who we are playing.”
Iowa State will take on Tennessee at 9:10 p.m. Friday in Chicago, Illinois. The game can be watched on TBS.
