COLUMBUS, Ohio – The NCAA promotes an anti-sports betting campaign called “Don’t Bet on It” that has been heavily advertised during this year’s March Madness.

Well, the Hawkeyes completely disregarded that slogan when they stepped on the Nationwide Arena floor in Columbus.

Iowa bet on itself and picked up a 79-72 victory over No. 7 seed Cincinnati to pick up its first NCAA Tournament win since the 2015-16 season.

“You can’t win if you’re already mentally defeated,” Iowa forward Ryan Kriener said. “If you’re not betting on yourself, you’re betting on the other team. There’s no point in even going out and playing. You’re already defeated.”

However, it wouldn’t have been the easiest thing for the Hawkeyes to bet on themselves at this point in the season. Iowa dropped five of its last six heading into the NCAA Tournament, coming off a rough 74-53 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament.

That lackadaisical play followed the Hawkeyes into their first half against the Bearcats. Iowa found itself with an 18-5 deficit early but crawled back to head into halftime only down 5.

The Hawkeyes followed that up with a second half in which they outscored Cincinnati, 48-36.

Take into account a season that included just four Big Ten wins in 2017-18, and a win in the NCAA Tournament just over a year later seems highly unlikely.

“We have a pretty mature team, especially where we came from last year,” guard Maishe Dailey said. “If we were put in these situations early down [18-5], we would have folded and let that get to 30. We have the toughness to fight back.”

That mentality helped Iowa in the comeback win.

Many believed Cincinnati to be an under-seeded team and with a home-game atmosphere surrounding the Hawkeyes in Columbus, it wouldn’t have been an easy feat for any team to pull out a win.

After all, the Bearcats boasted one of the best defenses in the country and had the AAC Player of the Year in their corner. Still, Iowa paid those disadvantages no attention and pulled out the upset to continue dancing.

“We understood that not a lot of people were going to pick us in their bracket,” forward Nicholas Baer said. “It felt a lot like a road game, but I was really proud of our perseverance, our resiliency.”

Unsurprisingly, the Hawkeyes didn’t fill out their own bracket. Freshman forward Joe Wieskamp said before the game it’s because he couldn’t himself picking against his squad.

In the first round, it was clear he didn’t pick Cincinnati. Neither did his team.

“Since we’re in this position now, it’s our job to take it one day at a time,” forward Tyler Cook said. “When we’re all locked in and focused on the task at hand, we don’t got time to think about brackets, or who we think is going to win it all, or whatever it is.”

Now, Iowa is looking to make a run in the tournament. The inexperience in the Big Dance has vanished. The theories of how Iowa broke itself are gone.

With the win over Cincinnati, the Hawkeyes earned the right to face Tennessee for a trip to the Sweet 16.

“I just want to say most of our team is lifetime 1-0, so we have a lot of tournament experience,” forward Ryan Kriener joked. “A lot of undefeated tournament guys here.”