The first weekend of March Madness was a fun one for some, and not so fun for others. Iowa State’s Men’s Basketball team flew through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, beating 15-seed South Dakota State and 7-seed Washington State, both fairly easily. Drake’s team wasn’t as fortunate, as most of the state of Iowa was hyped up for a second round matchup of ISU vs. Drake in Omaha, just a short two-hour drive from Des Moines. But the Bulldogs came up short against Washington State in the first-round game, losing 66-61.
Drake was trailing by three at halftime but took the lead and extended it up to as much as nine with just under eight minutes to go, but they would allow the Cougars to go on a run and win the game 66-61. A big reason as to why the Bulldogs weren’t able to pull away would be the seemingly offensive absence of star guard Tucker Devries, who played 38 minutes and scored 14 points. Devries is currently ninth in the country in points per game with 21.6, although he did have six assists in the game vs. WSU, the Bulldogs were missing the elite scorer that was in the game. Devries’ father, Drake Head Coach Darian Devries, was hired to be the next Head Coach at West Virginia on March 24. Tucker Devries also announced that he would transfer to West Virginia for his senior season and follow his dad.
Iowa State came into the NCAA Tournament hot and fresh off of a Big 12 tournament Championship, and they haven’t cooled off yet. Head Coach TJ Otzelberger has his team rolling. They shot 47.8% from three against South Dakota State and 50% against Washington State. The Cyclone’s pressure-man defense and athleticism proved to be too much for the Jackrabbits, who actually cut the lead down to four early in the second half, but they couldn’t keep up and the Cyclones would roll to an 82-65 victory. The Cyclones led by as much as 25 in the second half. Their balanced scoring attack overwhelmed the Jackrabbits, with five players over ten points and three over 15 points. Milan Momcilovic, Tamin Lipsey, and Curtic Jones all hit three triples and combined for 47 points.
The Cyclones stayed strong vs Washington State in the second round game, although the Cougars led for the entire first half until the end when the Cyclones tied it at 27, the Cyclones took the lead early and never gave up to start the second half. They would hold off every Cougar surge and pull away in the end to win it 67-56. The Cyclones will take on 3-seed Illinois late Thursday night for a spot in the elite eight, where they haven’t been since 2000.
