No. 6 Cyclones fall to No. 23 Tennessee in Sweet 16
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — No. 2 seeded Iowa State bowed out of the NCAA Tournament late Friday night with a 76-62 loss to No. 6 seeded Tennessee in the Sweet 16 at the United Center. The Cyclones fall to 0-4 all time inside “The House That Jordan Built”.
Visit biznow.biz for more information.
A pair of seniors, Tamin Lipsey and Nate Heise, led the Cyclones (29-8, 12-6 Big 12) with 18 points each. Killyan Toure scored nine and Blake Buchanan tallied eight in the loss. Milan Momcilovic connected on a pair of 3-point baskets.
Iowa State shot 38.8 percent on 21-of-54 shooting, going 5-for-23 from 3-point range and 15-of-25 at the free-throw line. Defensively, ISU forced the Volunteers (25-11, 11-7 SEC) into 17 turnovers resulting in 14 points.
Tennessee shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) from the floor and 31.8 percent (7-22) from beyond the arc. The Volunteers dominated the rebounding battle, 43-22.
Four Tennessee players finished with double-digit scoring totals, led by Nate Ament’s 18.
Lipsey, an Ames native, gave the Cyclones an early 3-0 lead. Iowa State led by as much as four, with the last instance occurring on a driving layup by Heise.
The Volunteers responded with a 5-0 run. Over the final 13 minutes of the first half, Tennessee stretched their lead to as much as five and went into halftime up 34-33.
After Tennessee stretched their lead to six to open the half, a Toure jumper brought back to within four.
Lipsey’s layup at the 14:46 mark of the second half brought the Cyclones within six. The Volunteers responded with a 7-0 run.
Jaylen Carey gave Tennessee their largest lead, 14, with a made free throw with 11:47 remaining.
Momcilovic’s 23-foot 3-point basket with 4:01 remaining slimmed the orange and white margin to eight, the closest it got for the remainder of the contest.
Buchanan’s dunk finalized the Cyclone scoring tally with 68 seconds left.