For the fifth time in his time at the helm of Iowa State, T.J. Otzelberger and his Cyclones are going dancing in the NCAA Tournament. This is Iowa State’s 25th appearance in March Madness.
It was revealed Sunday on CBS’s selection show that the NCAA tournament committee awarded the Cyclones a No. 2 seed. Iowa State (27-7, 12-6 Big 12) will take on No. 15 seeded Tennessee State (23-9, 15-5 OVC). The matchup is slated for Friday in St. Louis at the Enterprise Center.
The Cyclones made it to the Big 12 Conference tournament semifinal, and the Tigers won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship for the first time since 1994.
Iowa State leads the all time series against Tennessee State 4-0, with the most recent game – 84-53 on Nov. 24, 2009 – also being the largest margin of victory in series history.
Tracking the Tigers’ averages and comparing to the Cyclones’ averages
- Tennessee State makes 46% of their field goals, Iowa State makes 48.6%
- Beyond the arc the Tigers connect on 33.1% of their shots (6.4-of-19.3), and the Cyclones connect on 38.1% (8.8-of-23.1)
- At the charity stripe Tennessee State is 76.5% (16.3-of-21.3) and Iowa State is 67.3% (13.9-of-20.6)
- The Tigers pull down 38 rebounds a game, and the Cyclones pull down 35.5
- In terms of assists, Tennessee State dishes out 13.2 a game and Iowa State dishes out 16.9
- The Tigers and Cyclones are almost identical in steals per game, with TSU tallying 9.4 and ISU recording 9.1
- Tennessee State blocks 3.6 shots a game and Iowa State blocks 2.7 shots a game
- The Tigers turn the ball over 12.2 times a game and the Cyclones turn it over about 10.3 times per game
- TSU fouls about 18.1 times per game compared to ISU fouling about 16.2 times per game