Kentucky Wildcats vs. Iowa State Cyclones Live Score and Stats – March 22, 2026 Gametracker

ST. LOUIS (AP) Tamin Lipsey knew he needed to step up for Iowa State Cyclones with All-America ahead Joshua Jefferson sitting on the bench, his sprained left ankle nonetheless cased in a boot, because the Cyclones performed Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday for a spot within the Sweet 16.

Lipsey, who grew up within the shadows of the Iowa State campus in Ames, answered with the best sport of his 4-12 months profession.

The senior guard poured in a profession-excessive 26 factors, tied a profession-excessive with 10 assists, and led a suffocating protection that shut down the Wildcats within the second half, permitting the second-seeded Cyclones to drag away for an 82-63 victory within the NCAA Tournament.

“All the guys knew we had to step up in different ways,” Lipsey stated, “however that presented to us.”

Lipsey did not do it alone, in fact – he wanted somebody scoring to pile up all these assists. Milan Momcilovic scored 20 factors and Nate Heise, getting the beginning in Jefferson’s place, added 12 to assist the Cyclones (29-7) advance to a Midwest Region semifinal towards both third-seeded Virginia or No. 6 seed Tennessee on Friday night time in Chicago.

It would be the eighth Sweet 16 journey for the Cyclones and the third underneath TJ Otzelberger, though the query now could be whether or not they are going to be complete for it. Jefferson, their second-main scorer and high rebounder, is scheduled to have an MRI examination on Monday.

“We’ll see how that goes and take it from there,” Otzelberger stated.

Kentucky (22-14) jumped to a 20-9 lead within the opening minutes Sunday earlier than Iowa State fought again to take a 31-30 halftime lead.

The Wildcats had been nonetheless inside 46-40 with 13 1/2 minutes to play when the Cyclones compelled three of the Wildcats’ 20 turnovers in fast succession. They transformed all three into baskets on the different finish, a part of a decisive 13-1 run, which not solely allowed Iowa State to grab management but in addition appeared to lastly deflate Kentucky.

The Wildcats had been buzzing after a buzzer-beater from Otega Oweh compelled time beyond regulation in a primary-spherical victory over Santa Clara.

“We had a tough time finding baskets and more importantly we had a real tough time getting a stop,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope stated. “They shot 50 percent in the second half from 3, and they played really well. You’re not going to win games when you give up 51 in the second half, and there’s a lot of reasons that happened.”

Oweh adopted up his 35-level efficiency towards the Broncos with 18 towards the Cyclones, enjoying a lot of the second half in foul bother. Denzel Aberdeen led the Wildcats with 20 factors, though the pair of guards did not get a complete lot extra assist.

“We didn’t play fully hard for the full 40 minutes,” Aberdeen stated, “and we had to do a better job.”

For two groups that may rating in bunches, there was little class for a lot of their first matchup for the reason that 2012 NCAA tourney, when the Wildcats beat Iowa State within the second spherical on their technique to profitable the nationwide championship.

The Cyclones missed their first 11 tries from past the three-level arc. Kentucky had 12 turnovers within the first half.

“We got a little disoriented,” Pope stated, “and that’s what Iowa State does. They increased their pressure and we turned it over 12 times in the first half, and kind of contributed to our own demise.”

Iowa State ultimately started driving to the basket and choosing up fouls, and generated offense from the free-throw line till its pictures began to fall. That started simply earlier than the break, and Heise’s buzzer-beating 3 gave the Cyclones a 31-30 benefit.

They went on to outscore Kentucky 51-33 after halftime to coast into the semifinals of the Midwest Region.

“We knew we had to be at our best. I’m proud of our guys,” Otzelberger stated. “Felt like the game didn’t start the way we’d like but on defense, our pressure as the game wore on paid dividends for us. We generated turnovers and scored off our defense.”

Iowa State and Virginia have break up 4 earlier conferences, though the Cavaliers received the newest matchup and the one one within the NCAA Tournament. The Cavaliers cruised 84-71 within the Sweet 16 on March 25, 2016, earlier than dropping to Syracuse within the Elite Eight.

The Cyclones beat Tennessee throughout the 1969 season however they’ve misplaced the final two to the Volunteers, the primary throughout a match in December 1977 and the newest on January 27, 2018, throughout the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness