(Houston, TX) — The Iowa Hawkeyes only led for 2 minutes and 8 seconds — but it was the last 2 minutes and 8 seconds to defeat Nebraska 77-71 in a Sweet 16 match up of the Men’s NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Bennett Stirtz gave Iowa their first lead of the game with 2:08 to go on an off balance triple on the right wing and it sparked an 8-0 run. After Rienk Mast missed a three, Alvaro Folgueiras got a huge rebound in traffic and Tate Sage hit a monster three in the corner to give the Hawks a 71-65 lead. Pryce Sandfort missed a three for the Huskers but Braden Frager got the long rebound and drilled the comeback triple to cut the lead to 71-68 and the Huskers took a time out.
After the break, only four Nebraska players came onto the court and Folgueiras was wide open on the offensive end — Kael Combs found him with a length of the court pass and Folgueiras laid it in and was fouled and converted the three point play. After another Husker miss, Folgueiras got the ball in transition and put the game away with a dunk to give Iowa a 76-68 lead with 34 seconds left.
Iowa’s bench came through in a big way, outscoring the 4th seeded Huskers bench 38-20. Sage had 19 points including 4 of 7 on his threes plus added 8 rebounds while Folgueiras had another huge game with 16 points on 2 of 3 on his threes.
The Hawkeyes became the Big Ten’s lowest seeded team (9 seed) ever in the tournament to advance to the Elite Eight. The last time Iowa was in the Elite Eight was 1987 when Dr. Tom Davis was Head Coach — Iowa went 30-5 that season and were ranked 6th in the nation. The team was led by B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble, Ed Horton, Brad Lohaus, and Kevin Gamble. That year the Hawkeyes lost in the regional finals 84-81 to UNLV blowing a 16 point halftime lead.
Iowa trailed 12-2 and 16-6 to start the game but used an 8-0 run to rally and only trail by three at the half 46-43 when Tate Sage hit a three pointer at the buzzer.
Both teams were red hot from the field in the first half — the Huskers shot 58 percent while the Hawkeyes shot 60 percent. They cooled in the 2nd half. Both teams missed a combined five threes to start the last half until Stirtz nailed a triple from the right wing to cut the lead to two. The second half was a tug of war with four different ties — every time Iowa tied the game, the Huskers retook the lead. Pryce Sandfort hit a turn around jumper to give Nebraska a 58-55 lead with 12:38 left to make it 58-53 Huskers. Combs answered for Iowa with a driving lay-up and after a few misses, Stirtz was able to drive the lane for a lay-up to cut the lead to one 58-57 at the halfway point.
With five minutes left, Folgueiras nailed a three at the top of the key to tie the game at 65-65. The teams traded misses and opportunities to take the lead but after Frager missed a three, Stirtz hit an incredible off balance three on the right wing at the 2:08 mark to give Iowa their first lead 68-65. That sparked a 16-3 run to take control of the game.
Stirtz led Iowa (24-12) with 20 points including 3 of 9 on his threes. Cooper Koch added 11. Head Coach Ben McCollum used a smaller line up most of the game — Tavion Banks had just 2 points in 15 minutes and Cam Manyawu had 0 points in 14 minutes.
Nebraska (28-7) was led by Sandfort with 25 points including 6 of 10 from three point land, Frager had 16 points including 5 of 8 on his threes. Mast was 0-7 on his threes, Berke Buryfuncel was 0-4 and Sam Hoiberg was 0-3 from three point land. Overall, Nebraska was 13 of 38 on their threes.
