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Alvaro Folgueiras hits game-winner to lift Iowa past No. 1 Florida, into first Sweet 16 since 1999

· Yahoo Sports

Alvaro Folgueiras lifted the Hawkeyes to their first Sweet 16 since 1999 on Sunday night with a massive upset over Florida. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)Mike Carlson via Getty Images

Florida’s hopes at back-to-back national titles are gone.

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Alvaro Folgueiras drilled a late 3-pointer in the final seconds to lift No. 9 Iowa past No. 1 Florida 73-72 on Sunday night in Tampa, Florida. That sent the Hawkeyes into their first Sweet 16 since 1999, and eliminated the defending national champions in the process.

Iowa star Bennett Stirtz brought the ball up the floor in the final seconds after the Gators jumped up by two, and he found a wide open Folgueiras standing in the corner of the floor.

Folgueiras was perfect.

Folgueiras, like he does after knocking down every 3-pointer he makes, pointed up to the sky in a way to honor his father, who died when he was just 9 years old. He finished the game with 14 points and five rebounds, and the game-winner was just his second made 3-pointer of the night.

Florida still had one last look, after a timeout and a review, but they couldn’t get a shot up in time. So the Hawkeyes will head to the Sweet 16 for the first time in more than two decades.

Things erupted midway through the first half after Alex Condon and Folgueiras got into it. The two were fighting for a loose ball when Condon ripped Folgueiras down to the court. As Folgueiras was flipped over, he tried to punch the ball out of Condon’s hands. 

That sparked a bit of an altercation, which resulted in both Todd Golden and Ben McCollum shouting at each other on the sidelines. Even though Folgueiras only punched the ball, and not Condon’s chest like it initially seemed, Golden was livid.

Both players were simply hit with a technical foul, and the game continued on normally.

But that incident came after what was an awful offensive stretch for the Gators. They went almost 10 full minutes without a made field goal, something that was finally snapped after Xavian Lee drained a wide-open 3-pointer. That cut Iowa’s lead down to six points with just under seven minutes left in the half. 

The Hawkeyes ended up taking a two-point lead into halftime. They went just 1-of-11 from behind the arc, though Florida wasn’t much better with its three made 3-pointers.

Iowa took off early in the second half, too, and mounted a quick 13-2 run capped by a Cooper Koch 3-pointer. That put the Hawkeyes up by 12 points, their largest lead of the game at the time, and Florida looked completely out of it.

That didn’t last. The Gators came storming back, and cut the deficit back to just a single point after a Lee 3-pointer just ahead of the eight-minute mark to cap an 11-2 burst. Condon threw down a dunk two possessions later to put the Gators in the lead for the first time since early in the opening half, too, though Koch responded with a wide-open 3-pointer to put Iowa back in front. He did that again a few minutes later, too, with a deep contested bucket from the top of the arc, too.

That sparked a heated back-and-forth, and Florida pushed its lead back to two points with just 8.9 seconds left after a stop and an Isaiah Brown free throw on the other end. That set up one final look for the Hawkeyes, which Stirtz and Folgueiras played perfectly.

Tavian Banks led the Hawkeyes with 20 points after shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Stirtz had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists, though he went 0-of-9 from behind the arc.

With their win, the Hawkeyes will now get a rematch with Nebraska in Houston on Thursday night. While that may not be the Sweet 16 battle many in the country envisioned, it’s sure to be entertaining based on recent history.

Iowa knocked off then-No. 9 Nebraska at home in February in a five-point win, but Nebraska got revenge at home a few weeks later in overtime in the final game of the regular season.

The winner of Thursday’s contest will advance to the Elite Eight, where either Houston or Illinois will be waiting for them. While it may have seemed like a true long shot just a few weeks ago, the Hawkeyes now have a very realistic path to what would be their first Elite Eight since 1987.

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