Bisons headed to Milwaukee for first round NCAA tournament matchup against Iowa State
Kim Chaudoin |
The Lipscomb University men's basketball team is set to make its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament, following its ASUN Tournament Championship victory once week ago today.
The Bisons, a No. 14 seed, learned their NCAA Tournament destination and first-round opponent on Sunday night, as they were selected to face No. 3 seed Iowa State University (24-9) in on Friday, March 21, in the South Region at the Milwaukee site. Tip-off is set for 12:30 CT and the game will be broadcast on TNT.
Head Coach Lennie Acuff and the team gathered with fans, students and supporters in Allen Arena Sunday, March 16, to watch the Selection Show and celebrate their return to the NCAA tournament for the second time in university history.
“We're thankful to be heading to Milwaukee, but we would have been thankful to go wherever we were selected to go,” said Acuff, the 2025 ASUN Coach of the Year. “It's a great day to be a Bison. We're going to enjoy it. God has been so good to us, and we are so thankful, and let's have fun this week.”
“This is my 35th year as a head coach, and I've had some incredible teams and some other groups of kids. I've never had a better group than this group. They really wanted this. What we just did is really, really hard. What they just did (in winning the ASUN tournament and getting to the NCAA tournament) is really, really hard,” he continued. “But the staff that we have, our team and our fans have earned this. As I said when we won the ASUN tournament last Sunday our university, not our basketball team, but Lipscomb University won. This is a special place. We're so excited about this opportunity to represent Lipscomb.”
Lipscomb enters the tournament riding a wave of momentum after clinching the ASUN conference tournament championship on one week ago. Inside a packed Allen Arena on March 9, the Bisons defeated North Alabama 76-65 to earn the program’s second-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
The Bisons (25-9) will look to carry that success into the tournament as they prepare to take on Iowa State, which is in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight season. The Cyclones advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 twice over the last three seasons under Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger. They lost in quarterfinals of Big 12 Conference tournament.
“Iowa State is a really good team and a tough opponent, and we are looking forward to playing them,” said Acuff.
Lipscomb is also excited about heading to Milwaukee with two Bisons hailing from Wisconsin. Jacob Ognacevic, the Atlantic Sun player of the year, is from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Junior Grant Asman is from Kimberly, Wisconsin.
"This is going to be awesome," said Ognacevic. "I've never played in Wisconsin before in a college game. Being able to do that, specially in the NCAA tournament, is going to be a blast."
The Bisons made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2018. Lipscomb was the No. 15 seed and travelled to Charlotte to take on No. 2 seed North Carolina. The Tar Heels won the match up 84-66. In 2019, the Bisons advanced to the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament where they played Texas.
— Photos by Kristi Jones