MILWAUKEE – No. 15 Iowa State is set to face Ole Miss Sunday night in search of its eighth Sweet 16 appearance in school history. ISU has never been to back-to-back Sweet 16’s, while T.J. Otzelberger is looking to become the 15th coach in NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball history to take a team to three Sweet 16’s in his first four years on the job.
The Cyclones advanced to the Second Round with an 82-55 victory against Lipscomb.
This will be T.J. Otzelberger’s second meeting with Ole Miss, as he owns a 1-0 record against the Rebels. In his second season at South Dakota State, the Jackrabbits went to Oxford and hit a school record 18 3-pointers en route to a 99-97 overtime victory against Ole Miss.
Ole Miss Head Coach Chris Beard is no stranger to the Cyclones. Beard’s first NCAA Division I head coaching job was at Little Rock. In his lone season at Little Rock, Iowa State defeated Little Rock in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Beard would then spend the next seven years in the Big 12, with the first five being at Texas Tech before moving on to Texas.
Ole Miss’ Sean Pedulla is a transfer from Virginia Tech and faced the Cyclones last season in the ESPN Events Invitational. Pedulla finished with 17 points, six assists and four rebounds in 33 minutes, as the Hokies beat the Cyclones 71-62 in the semifinals.
Ole Miss Assistant Coach Al Pinkins played his first two years of college basketball at Chipola Junior College in Florida in the early 1990s. Just over 10 years later, T.J. Otzelberger and Iowa State Director of Basketball Operations Micah Byars were on staff as assistant coaches at Chipola Junior College.
Ole Miss Assistant Coach Bob Donewald Jr. was the Head Coach of the IowaEnergy of the NBA D League in 2014-15 and 2015-16. This will be the second former Iowa Energy Head Coach the Cyclones have faced this year, as BYU Head Coach Kevin Young was the head coach of the Energy from 2011-13.