Kalscheur scored seven points in a row early in the second half as the Iowa State defeated the Wisconsin in the Round of 32. (0:33)
T.J. Oztelberger didn't put any numbers on the goals ahead when he first started at Iowa State.
The program&s worst season since 1925 ended with 18 straight losses for the Cyclones.
We did not set out for a certain win total, or to do anything based on what happened in the past.
Sweet 16 is a new number for Iowa State. In front of a Wisconsin crowd, the 11th-seeded Cyclones stunned the 3rd-seeded Badgers 54-47 on Sunday. ISU advanced to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016 when Otzelberger served as an assistant.
Iowa State became the team with the lowest winning percentage in the previous season to win an NCAA tournament game, as it defeated LSU 59-54. The team with the lowest winning percentage to reach the Sweet 16 the following year was Ohio State BUckeyes, which went 8-22 in 1997-98 before a Final Four run in 1998-99.
Kalscheur, who scored a game-high 22 points, said how they turned around the program was crazy.
Iowa State beat Wisconsin using its signature defense, holding the Badgers to season lows in points, field goal percentage, 3-pointers and shooting percentage. In its first two games, Iowa State allowed 103 points.
Johnny Davis, the Big Ten Player of the Year and a Wooden Award candidate, was held to 17 points on 4-of-16 shooting by a group led by Kalscheur. Iowa State flustered Davis and others after losing point guard Chucky Hepburn to an ankle injury in the first half.
Kalscheuer, who began his college career at Minnesota and grew up in the state, drew energy from going against familiar faces in a road-like setting about 80 miles from the Wisconsin campus.
It fuels me to know that there is a lot of talk about Johnny Davis and Brad, but not a lot of talk about us. We all took pride in knowing that we had a heart and that we came out victorious.
Otzelberger, a Milwaukee native, sought low-ego, high-production guys in order to remake the roster through the transfer portal. Kalscheur, Izaiah Brockington, and Aljaz Kunc are new to Iowa State.
Kunc said that not a lot of guys stayed on the team from last year, so we all had a clean slate. It worked out well for us.
We are getting rewarded for all the work we do.
The mental and physical strength that was instilled by Otzelberger last summer carried into the season. Kalscheur had three games in which he didn't score a point and 11 in which he scored five points or less.
They knew what they were signing up for, according to Otzelberger, who built his defense-first style after watching former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett as a kid. You can control the game if you play hard defensively.
We are not going to apologize for how we have to win and how it may look. They are winners.
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