BOSTON, MA – No. 2 seed Iowa State is set to face No. 3 seed Illinois in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal tonight in Boston’s TD Garden. Tip-off is at 9:09 PM, televised on TNT.
The Cyclones ran their winning streak to five over the J weekend, picking up wins over No. 15 seed South Dakota State (82-65) and No. 7 seed Washington State (67-56) to advance to the seventh Sweet 16 in program history.
This is the seventh time in program history the Cyclones have advanced to the Sweet 16, as the Cyclones are set to tie a program record with their 37th game of the year.
ISU-ILLINOIS NOTES
– Thursday’s game will be the fifth-straight game played on a neutral floor between the Cyclones and Fighting Illini, with the two teams splitting the previous four over the last four decades.
– Iowa State is 3-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament against teams currently in the Big Ten.
– Overall, the Cyclones are 163-237 all- time against the Big Ten. Iowa State is 3-1 against the Big Ten under T.J. Otzelberger.
– Illinois Head Coach Brad Underwood has an 0-4 record against the Cyclones. He was head coach at Oklahoma State during the 2016-17 season, dropping three games to Iowa State that season. Iowa State also played Underwood’s Illinois team in the 2018 Maui Invitational. Underwood has a long history against the Cyclones, playing his final two seasons at Kansas State before starting his coaching career. He coached three games against the Cyclones as an assistant at Western Illinois from 1994- 03 and also served as an assistant at Kansas State from 2007-11.
– Otzelberger was an assistant coach for Iowa State’s 2015-16 team that beat Illinois in the championship game of the Emerald Coast Classic. Assistant Coach Nate Schmidt was a Graduate Assistant, while Micah Byars was the Director of Basketball Operations for the Cyclones.
– Illinois Assistant Coach Chester Frazier was an assistant at Kansas State for seven years.
– Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois’ leading scorer, played three years at Texas Tech. Shannon went 6-1 against the Cyclones during that span from 2019-22. He led the Red Raiders to the 2021 Second Round and 2022 Sweet 16.
– Illinois forward Keaton Kutcher is from Mount Vernon, Iowa. A transfer from South Dakota, Kutcher is redshirting this season.
With a victory on Thursday, No. 2 seed Iowa State would advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history. The game would be played on Saturday at a time to be determined in Boston.
