Iowa State edges Wisconsin in another upset, earns spot in Sweet 16

MILWAUKEE — Iowa State’s faster-than-expected rebuild just got sweeter.

The No. 11-seeded Cyclones earned their first Sweet 16 berth since 2016 with a 54-49 upset over No. 3-seeded Wisconsin Sunday.

“It's unbelievable,” guard Izaiah Brockington said. “Just to think of where we started in June, ... to end up here, it's a blessing.”

For the second time in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the Cyclones spent much of the game neck-and-neck with their opponent. Sunday’s contest had nine lead changes, and neither team led by more than five points in the first half.

But Iowa State used a 9-0 run almost midway through the second half to build some distance from the Badgers.

While Wisconsin later cut the lead to as few as four points and brought it to five points in the final minutes, the Badgers never retook the lead.

The ISU run was part of an eight-plus-minute stretch when the Badgers did not make a field goal.

The Cyclones held the Badgers to 30-percent shooting from the field and 9-percent shooting from deep.

“Our ball pressure took away the shots they normally get in the flow of their offense,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “They weren't in rhythm, so that helped us. It caused them to take some really tough ones.”

That pressure also led to an abundance of turnovers. Wisconsin, which came into Sunday’s game with the lowest turnover rate in the country, gave the ball up 17 times.

A somewhat-unusual contributor led the Cyclones’ scoring. Guard Gabe Kalscheur had one of his highest scoring outputs of the season, finishing with 22 points on 10-for-19 shooting.

It was just Kalscheur’s fourth time finishing in double figures in the last 14 games and his best scoring output since dropping 30 against No. 9 Memphis in November.

“I never really liked Wisconsin, to be honest,” Kalscheur said. “It fueled my fire, for sure.”

Brockington, Iowa State’s leading scorer this season, had 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting.

No other Iowa State player had more than seven points.

Iowa State shot 34 percent from the field and 21 percent from deep. It did not hit a field goal in the last four minutes.

“Certainly as we continue to move forward, it would be nice to not have such lulls offensively,” Otzelberger said.

The Cyclones battled foul trouble early in Friday’s game. At halftime, three players had two fouls, and two players had three fouls.

Wisconsin had 13 trips to the free-throw line in the first half while Iowa State had just two. For every one foul called on Wisconsin in the first half, the officials called more than more than two on the Cyclones.

Iowa State’s upset win came despite Wisconsin playing only about 80 miles away from its campus and having a significant home-court advantage.

Iowa State won’t have to go far for the next round. It will play No. 10-seeded Miami (Fla.) in Chicago.

It will be the Cyclones’ third Sweet 16 appearance since 2014. The three appearances have come under three different coaches — Otzelberger and former head coaches Steve Prohm and Fred Hoiberg.

The team is eyeing more than just a Sweet 16 appearance, though.

“I can’t say, ‘Mission accomplished,’” Brockington said. “We’re still on a mission.”

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