Milwauke-Ole Miss probably can’t afford another late hit when the sixth-seated rebels meet the third seeded Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA tournament’s southern region on Sunday evening.
Ole Miss (23-11) removed a furious rally of the 11th Seeded North Carolina-which lowered a 22-point deficit to two points by just over a minute to walk and held on for a 71-64 first victory Friday.
Iowa State (25-9) got control halfway through the first half of the year against 14-seeded Lipscomb and rolled to a victory 82-55 in the first round Friday.
“I know this – one of the best teams in college basketball, period,” said Ole Miss coach Chris Beard for Iowa State. “Defensive identity, really good coaches and many talented players that we have been following for several years.”
Iowa State shot 58.3 percent from the field against LIPSCOMB, hit 35 out of 60 shots and dominated inside with 50-20 advantage in points in color. The cyclones also had a 35-23 rebounding edge.
Sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic, who led nearby Pewaukee (WIS.) High School to three consecutive state championships, had 20 points and hit 4 out of 8 attempts from 3 points.
The cyclones are without starter Keshon Gilbert, their second leading goal scorer (13.4 points per match), which was explained for the entire tournament with a groin injury.
Curtis Jones, who had 17 points against Lipscomb, on average a team high 17.1 ppg. Joshua Jefferson adds 12.9 ppg and a team high 7.4 returns. Momcilovic an average of 11.7 PPG and Tamin Lipsey 10.8.
Iowa State hit 16-15 against Lipscomb and then went on a 14-0 driving to take the control.
“It was extremely important because when you play on this scene against a really good team, when they gain confidence, they continue to build trust,” said Iowa State coach Tj Otzelberger. “And Milan did a fantastic job, and his teammates did a fantastic job during that stretch and made sure we came back in front.”
Iowa State has advanced to Sweet 16 seven times since 1986, including last season. The cyclones are 7-6 all the time in the second round.
Ole Miss played almost a perfect first half against North Carolina on her way to a lead of 44-26 at the break. The rebels stretched the lead to 50-28 but saw the tar heels pull to 66-64. Sean Pedulla then beat a 3-pointer and added a couple of free throw with 34 seconds left to preserve the victory.
Pedulla finished with a game high 20 points and Dre Davis added 15.
Pedulla leads a balanced attack with an average of 15.0 points per match along with a team high 123 assists. Jaemyn Brakefield adds 10.9 ppg, while Malik Dia, Davis, Jaylen Murray and Matthew Murrell each average 10.5.
Ole Miss, who made his first NCAA tournament since 2019, last advanced to Sweet 16 2001.
“This will be a real round of 32 games,” Beard said. “These are two teams that, you know, are worth coming during the second weekend. We have to play our best 40 minutes. We have to play better than we did today for 40 minutes to succeed on Sunday.”
-Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
