(Tampa, FL) — Iowa men’s basketball won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2021 as the 8th seeded Hawkeyes beat #9 seed Clemson 67-61 in the first round on Friday night.
The Hawkeyes almost led wire to wire — building a 12-4 and 18-6 lead early. The Tigers hit a three pointer with 50 seconds left in the first half and that cut Iowa’s lead to 32-25 at the break.
Bennett Stirtz kept the pressure on Clemson by drilling a three from the top of the key to open the 2nd half. Clemson did cut the lead to two — 35-33 in the first 6 minutes but Stirtz hit another triple to spark a 9-0 Iowa run to push the lead back up to 11. Clemson was able to chisel into the lead and cut it to 5 — 56-51 with 5:12 remaining. They got it to four — 61-57 with 1:28 left but Kael Combs made a dribble drive lay-up and Alvaro Folguerias converted two free throws to push the lead back up to seven with 19 seconds left to put the game away.
Stirtz led Iowa (22-12) with 16 points, Combs had 15 and Folguerias added 14. Iowa won despite only shooting 7 of 25 on their three pointers for 28 percent. Cam Manyawu only had 1 point but pulled down 10 rebounds. The Hawkeyes outrebounded Clemson 40-27.
The Tigers (24-11) were led by RJ Godfrey with 15 points and Butta Johnson added 11.
Iowa will no doubt face the #1 seed in the South Region, Florida in the next round on Sunday. Time TBA.
