Fifth-seeded Iowa State will look to pad its NCAA Tournament resume when it faces upset-minded and 12th-seeded Arizona State on Wednesday in a Big 12 Conference tournament second-round game in Kansas City, Mo.
The Cyclones (25-6), ranked seventh in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, earned a bye into the second round via a fifth-place finish in the Big 12’s grueling regular season. Arizona State (17-15) defeated No. 13 seed Baylor 83-79 in the first round on Tuesday.
Iowa State and Arizona State played on Saturday in the regular-season finale, with the Cyclones leaning on their balanced offensive attack and a stifling defense to post an 86-65 home victory.
The Sun Devils led by four points at halftime but were walloped in the second half as they allowed the Cyclones to score 24 consecutive points while enduring a span of 10:42 without a field goal and missing 12 straight shots
Arizona State got back on track in Tuesday’s win as Anthony “Pig” Johnson racked up 19 points off the bench and the Sun Devils’ role players stepped up to fill the void left by leading scorer Maurice Odum, who was shackled by foul trouble in the first half.
Andrija Grbovic added 14 points for Arizona State on Tuesday, with Santiago Trouet contributing 13 points and nine rebounds, Noah Meeusen scoring 12 points and Massamba Diop tallying 11.
“I would have been really surprised if I went into the locker room at halftime most of the year and knew I’d be up nine points against Baylor at halftime and Moe Odum had zero,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. “It’s a testament to the guys coming along, different guys helping us.
“I think we handled the last 48 hours very well leading into this game in terms of getting the guys ready physically after the Iowa State loss. And the guys responded like they have all year.”
Iowa State comes into the tournament with some momentum built on Saturday’s win over Arizona State. Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson scored 16 points apiece while Jamarion Bateman added 13 points and Dominykas Pleta had 11.
Momcilovic leads the Cyclones in scoring with 17.0 points per game, while Jefferson has scored at a 16.6 clip and Lipsey averages 13.3 per contest.
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger expects his team to answer the bell in a big way in this tournament, based on its level of consistency and its prowess against tough opponents this season.
The Cyclones started the season with 16 straight wins and beat St. John’s, the Big East regular-season champion, as well as Big Ten powerhouse Purdue before posting home victories over then-No. 9 Kansas and then-No. 2 Houston in back-to-back games last month.
“Those were all really well-played games, and we won those games in different ways,” Otzelberger said. “They give us the confidence that when you enter an environment like this, you know we can strive and we can play at our best. We’ve shown ourselves that we can play really well at points this season.”
–Field Level Media
