Iowa State star Gabe Kalscheur takes shot at Wisconsin

Gabe Kalscheur is more than familiar with Wisconsin. He started his college career at Minnesota before transferring to Iowa State over the offseason — so Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game against the Badgers meant a little more to him.

How much more? Well, he alluded to that after the game.

Kalscheur, a Minneapolis native, dropped a game-high 22 points to lead Iowa State to a 54-49 upset victory over No. 3-seed Wisconsin to send Iowa State to the Sweet 16. He met the media afterward and proceeded to take a shot at the Badgers during the press conference.

“I mean, [I] got to play someone that I know, Brad Davison, we’ve had history back and forth,” Kalscheur said. “I never liked Wisconsin, to be honest, I have family from there. But I’m a Minnesota-raised man, so I mean, it gives me a little more edge to play, exactly, you said Big Ten team, but also Wisconsin. It fueled my fire, for sure.”

Kalscheur played three years at Minnesota from 2018-21 before joining TJ Otzelberger’s group at Iowa State this season. He ranks third on the Cyclones roster with 9.5 points per game.

Iowa State upsets Wisconsin, advances to Sweet Sixteen

The 11-seeded Iowa State Cyclones are going to the Sweet Sixteen after pulling off a 54-49 upset win against Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. ISU guard Gabe Kalscheur, a transfer from Minnesota, led the team with 22 points on 10-19 shooting in the big win.

After a back-and-forth first half in which neither team led by more than five points, Iowa State created some separation in the second half. A 3-point basket from Aljaz Kunc with 4:17 remaining gave the Cyclones their largest lead of the game at 10 points, but the Badgers continued to fight. They got themselves back within five, but went scoreless over the next three minutes.

“It feels great, our guys are so aggressive defensively,” Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger told CBS Sports’ AJ Ross postgame. “Our mentality was there. I’m just really proud of their effort and how they finished the job. I’m so proud of Gabe and the way we stepped up. He’s played against these guys a lot during his years in the Big Ten. He has so much confidence. It was an awesome team win, but wow was Gabe great today.”

Neither team shot particularly well from the floor in the game, with Iowa State players outside of Kalscheur hitting just 25.6% of their shots. Thankfully, the Cyclones defense limited Wisconsin to just 29.8% from the field while also forcing 17 turnovers.