Remember Iowa’s mantra after its first-round NCAA Tournament win over Clemson? We may not play pretty, but we’ll fight for 40 minutes. Those same Iowa Hawkeyes weathered an early Nebraska onslaught, stayed close throughout the game and took their first lead with two and a half minutes left. And then just like that the Hawkeyes, and not the Cornhuskers are headed to the Elite Eight.
It wasn’t the same slugfest as the 57-52 win by Iowa at Carver Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 2nd as Nebraska played almost perfect ball to start the game. The Huskers grabbed the game’s first seven rebounds on the way to a 16-6 lead. Braden Frager hit back-to-back-to-back 3s to push the lead to 25-17. The de facto home team scored 32 points on 15 possessions in the first 10½ minutes in a staggering offensive show.
Yet the Hawkeyes didn’t go away. After trailing 40-30, Alvaro Folgueiras drove the lane for a two-handed dunk over Rienk Mast. Bennett Stirtz buried a three. Cooper Koch buried another. And Tate Sage closed the half with his triple, as Iowa finished 7-of-11 from downtown in the first half against Nebraska’s highly rated defense.
After twenty minutes it was still anyone’s game and Iowa seemed to have taken the best punches Nebraska could throw and was still close. The trip to the Elite 8 didn’t seem impossible as the second half started.
Koch pumped home a three with six and a half minutes to go to make it 62-62, and Pryce Sandfort answered with his own 3. The former Hawkeye was tremendous tonight for Nebraska. Folgueiras fired home a 3 to make it 65-65 with under 5:00 to go. Bennett Stirtz nailed a three with just over two minutes left to give Iowa it’s first lead at 68-65. Sage splashed home another from the right corner with 1:18 left to make it 71-65.
The few Hawkeye fans in Houston could taste the victory at that point. Alvaro Folgueiras recorded a 3-point play on a home-run pass, then added an emphatic dunk to finish off Nebraska’s season.
Iowa advances to the Elite 8 on Saturday against the winner of the Illinois/Houston game which follows tonight’s game. Hear the game on AM 860/FM 95.1 KWPC, the Voice of Muscatine. Hawkeye coverage is powered by Muscatine Power and Water.
