Iowa beats No. 1 seed and defending champ Florida in March Madness on Folgueiras’ 3 in final seconds
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alvaro Folgueiras nailed a 3-pointer with 4. 5 seconds remaining and Iowa eliminated defending national champion Florida, sending the top-seeded Gators home with a 73-72 victory on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Under first-year coach Ben McCollum, Iowa reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, while Florida (27-8) became the first No. 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness. The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes.
They will face No. 4 seed Nebraska in the South Region semifinals Thursday night in Houston. Xaivian Lee’s driving layup put Florida ahead 71-68 with under two minutes left.
Bennett Stirtz answered with a floater to cut it to 71-70 with 57 seconds remaining. After Thomas Haugh missed a 3-pointer, Stirtz missed a running layup and Isaiah Brown grabbed the rebound with 8. 9 seconds left.
Brown made his second free throw. But Iowa easily broke Florida’s full-court press and Folguerias was wide open in the corner for his 3. Florida didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer, with Lee’s desperate drive ending with a pass that Haugh couldn’t handle.