By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today sport editor
ST. LOUIS (KT) — Kentucky ran into a Cyclone and couldn’t weather the storm in an 82-63 loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
“I thought Iowa State was terrific,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “They exert a ton of pressure. They’re very disruptive and they were disruptive with us.”
The Cyclones (29-7), the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, will take on Tennessee in the Sweet 16 next weekend in Chicago. The Wildcats concluded the season with a 22-14 record and won three of their last five games in the postseason. Seventh-seeded Kentucky eliminated 10 seed Santa Clara 89-84 in an overtime thriller on Friday. It took a halfcourt shot at the end of regulation by Oweh to force overtime.
This time, Kentucky was on the receiving end of a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half, one that gave Iowa State the momentum it needed to fuel an impressive second half and one that deflated the Wildcats. The 3-pointer by Nate Heise gave the Cyclones a 31-30 lead at the break, an advantage that only blossomed in the second half.
“We got a little disoriented at the last eight or 10 minutes of the second half,” Pope said. “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 demise.”
Combined with its smothering defense, Iowa State connected on six 3-pointers and shot a blistering 63 percent in the second half, including a 50 percent clip behind the arc after intermission.
“We had a really hard time getting a stop,” Pope said. “… you’re not going to win games when you give up 51 (points) in the second half.”
Feeding off the momentum of the opening-round victory, the Wildcats made five of their first seven field goals, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Collin Chandler and Denzel Aberdeen and raced out to an 18-6 lead eight minutes into the contest.
Despite the impressive start, Kentucky fell victim to Iowa State’s swarming defense and couldn’t keep pace. The Wildcats committed 20 turnovers, which resulted in 25 points for Iowa State.
“The game certainly didn’t start the way we would like,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Defensively, our pressure as the game wore on, continued to pay dividends for us and generate turnovers (and) be able to score off of our defense.”
The Cyclones were without All-American guard Joshua Jefferson (ankle) but adjusted and used their defense to help make up for the absence of their standout.
Tamin Lipsey led the Cyclones with 26 points, followed by Milan Momcilovic with 20. Heise had 12 and Killyan Toure added 10.
The 19-point margin tied for the second-most-lopsided in UK’s NCAA Tournament history. Kentucky lost by 24 to Western Kentucky in 1971. The Cats took 19-point losses in the 1942 and 1972 NCAA Tournaments. All three of those losses were under Adolph Rupp.
In his last game at Kentucky, Oweh scored 18 points and tallied double figures in 35 of 36 games this season. Denzel Aberdeen, also a senior, finished with 20 points in his final game at Kentucky. Oweh and Aberdeen were the lone players in double figures.
Oweh ended his career with 1,255 points in his two seasons in Lexington.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “… obviously I’m disappointed we didn’t get it done this year, but these past two years have been amazing – life changing.”
