The Iowa Hawkeyes (23-12) took down the defending champion Florida Gators (27-8), 73-72, on an Alvaro Folgueiras 3 with 4.5 seconds remaining. The Hawks were the tougher team from the jump as they built a 10 point lead in the first half and led for 26:20.
All of this came with another inefficient night from the field from Bennett Stirtz, who had 13 points on 5/16 shooting but added 5 assists, including one on the final basket as he broke Florida’s press. Tavion Banks led the Hawks with 20 points on 7/10
shooting and Folgueiras added 14.
Folgueiras’ night almost ended early, as he was tied up by Alex Condon on a rebound. After being leveraged to the floor, Big Al punched at the ball. Both Condon and Folgueiras were assessed technical fouls. The Hawks played with an edge all game but it felt like the game was about to reach a boil if the refs had administered that any differently.
It wasn’t just Folgueiras who was fighting as Iowa took it straight to Florida’s front line with 18 points in the paint, which allowed Iowa to build a 10 point lead off a 15-2 run which spanned nearly 7 minutes. Iowa was 7/8 on layups and held up defensively down low despite accruing fouls to their own forwards. The Gators had just 12 points in the paint during the frame and Iowa out-rebounded them 18-14.
Tavion Banks had 14 points in the first and Iowa was able to take a 33-31 lead after Kael Combs closed the half with a paint jumper with 8 seconds remaining. Despite being right there with Florida, the Hawks were just 1/11 from deep.
Coming out of the half, Iowa was able to use 3 point shooting to get the lead back to double digits. After taking just one shot in the first half due to foul trouble, Cooper Koch caught absolute fire. He hit a pair within the first 6 minutes, with Banks adding one, as 13-2 run allowed Iowa to get a 51-39 lead early in the half.
Koch was a rock for this team in the second half. He fought down low, something he’s done well all season, and went 4/5 from deep in 20 second half minutes. The two other threes he hit in the half regained leads for Iowa with 6:48 & 4:17 remaining.
Thomas Haugh consistently attacked Iowa in the paint and hit a pair of free throws resulted in a 67-66 lead for Florida. Condon, added another layup 40 seconds later to extend it to 69-66. On the next possession, Folgueiras found Banks cutting to a basket for a dunk.
Iowa came up empty after a Xaivian Lee layup but forced a turnover (Iowa’s second successful review of the game, free drinks for the guy in charge of the table when he returns to Iowa City). Stirtz was able to cut it to 71-70 on a midrange jumper. After getting a stop, Stirtz was unable to get the lead for Iowa. Isaiah Brown snagged the board, was fouled, but went just 1/2 at the line.
Then … Magic:
Iowa’s defense was excellent after the standard review/timeout. Lee got too deep and his pass resulted in no shot attempt for Florida.
HOW SWEET IT IS
More to come in the days ahead but what a moment for this program and this team. They got it from everyone who played. They’ll face a familiar foe, Nebraska, in Houston on Thursday.
IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER
