Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Iowa State (NCAA Tournament)
After winning a tight, emotional game on Friday against Santa Clara, Kentucky must now turn its attention to second-seeded Iowa State, whom the Cats will face on Sunday in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament (2:45 p.m. ET, CBS).
Does Kentucky need to get past that game and keep moving forward? Or can the emotions and the good feelings carry over to Saturday? The UK coaches and players believe that both can be true.
Guard Collin Chandler likes the idea that the Cats won in an intense environment on Thursday and he believes it could carry over.
“I don’t know if it’s a complete flush. I think it’s good for us to take the momentum of last game into the next game,” Chandler said. “It’s restart 0-0. So we have to come out with hopefully that momentum to carry us into this game.”
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope believes that both concepts can be factual.
“I probably enjoyed that moment more deeply than maybe only a handful of people,” Pope said of Thursday’s win. “But it was also on to the next thing. They’re both true.”
Pope believes that overcoming situations and being able to move on is part of what makes the NCAA Tournament so special.
“That’s it. That is one of the great challenges of this tournament,” Pope said.
The UK head coach knows that his team has been through the ups and downs of the season and he believes it could help his team on Saturday.
“And our guys are good at it. Our team has learned through all of the twists and turns of the season to be pretty good at it, putting away whatever just happened, whether it was great, whether it was not so great and moving on to the next thing,” Pope said. “So, it hasn’t been a really hard process for our team because they’ve had a lot of experience with that.”
Pope and the Cats hope that the experiences they gained during the season will help them both carry momentum into Sunday’s game, while putting the Santa Clara game in the rearview mirror.
Know Your Opponent: Iowa State
Kentucky takes on sixth-ranked Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Kentucky is 3-0 all-time against Iowa State, including 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament
• The teams last met in the Big Dance on March 17, 2012 when UK prevailed by an 87-71 score. The Cats would go on to win their eighth national championship
• Iowa State owns a 28-7 overall record and has won four of its last five overall
• The teams own two similar wins over opponents — Mississippi State and St. John’s
• Milan Momcilovic leads the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game and he’s drained 130 3-pointers on the year at a .494 clip
• The team’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, Joshua Jefferson, left the opening round game with an injury. He posts 16.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per outing
• The Cylones eanred a dominating 108-74 win over Tennessee State in the opening round. Killyan Toure had 25 points and Nate Heise scored 22. Heise had four 3-pointers on five attempts
Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament
Kentucky is in the midst of its 63rd NCAA Tournament apperance, the most by any Division I program in men’s basketball.
• In addition to the most appearances, UK also holds the record for most NCAA Tournament games played (189), and ranks second all-time in NCAA Tournament wins (133), behind North Carolina
• The Cats have won eight National Championships and reached 17 Final Fours
• Kentucky is 133-56 in the NCAA Tournament all-time, including 51-12 in NCAA Tournament openers
• UK has won 28 of its last 31 opening round games
• Kentucky is in search of its 50th Sweet 16 appearance in program history
• This marks Kentucky’s first NCAA Tournament appearance as a No. 7 seed
• The Wildcats hold an overall record of 14-4 in St. Louis, including 8-1 in NCAA Tournament games played in the city
• UK’s most recent trip to St. Louis was for the 2018 SEC Tournament, won by the Wildcats as the No. 4 seed
• Kentucky won the 1978 National Championship in the city of St. Louis inside the Checkerdome. Jack “Goose” Givens scored 41 points in the championship game as Kentucky defeated Duke, 94-88
