After a disappointing first half from the Hawkeyes that saw many defensive lapses from its consistently dominant defense, the Iowa men’s basketball team turned it around in the second half to secure the 84-74 win over Washington in Seattle on Wednesday.
Iowa was led by Bennett Stirtz, per usual, with a 22-point performance on 8-of-13 shooting. Alvaro Folguieras continues to find his confidence with 16 points in 18 minutes, followed by Tavion Banks and Cooper Koch with 11 points apiece.
The Wednesday night win marks the Hawkeyes’ fourth-straight and move to 17-5 overall, 7-4 in Big Ten play.
First half
Iowa went to its usual slashing play style of getting buckets at the rim – Stirtz, Kael Combs, Tavion Banks, and Isaia Howard with an inside finish in the first four minutes of the game. Washington matched the physicality as its size played a factor inside, sinking the defense and allowing shooters to get open for a pair of threes en route to a 12-10 Huskies start six minutes in.
Washington’s second three was the start of an 11-0 run over a 4:30 stretch through physical dominance. Despite that, Iowa was still in arms reach, and it quickly cut the eight-point lead down to three with a Stirtz dime to Howard inside and a pair of Tate Sage buckets. Stirtz kept his foot on the gas, being responsible for the following seven points as Iowa gets within two, 26-24, with seven minutes left in the first half.
Alvaro Folguieras began to heat up with five unanswered points of his own, including a converted and-one for the 31-28 lead, the Hawkeyes’ first lead since the opening minute. And the last five minutes were a shootout from then on – five lead changes before Washington took off on a 9-1 run. The Huskies held a firm 48-41 lead at the break.
Despite the Hawkeyes shooting 61 percent in the first half, it allowed the Huskies to hit 77 percent of its shots, including six threes. On top of that, Iowa was outmatched on the glass by a wide margin, with Washington holding the 12-4 advantage in the category.
Second half
The resiliency of Iowa was on display after what seemed to be a flip of the switch in terms of physicality. It went on a 13-6 run in the first 4:15 aided by a pair of converted and-ones from Banks – a four-point play with a made three plus the foul – and Howard to tie the contest at 54 apiece.
Life had formed with the black and gold during the halftime break, as a 9-0 run in just over two minutes led to a 63-56 Hawkeye lead at the 12:30 mark, its biggest lead of the night. The growth of the lead coincided with its top-ranked defense playing up to par, keeping the Huskies without a field goal for over seven minutes. The game of runs kept on going with Washington’s 13-4 stretch quickly cut Iowa’s lead down to one four minutes later.
And that theme kept rolling – an 8-0 Iowa run fueled by Stirtz’ six points and capped off with a Koch desperation three gifted Iowa a double-digit lead with four minute remaining. And while Washington still played with high energy through the closing minutes, it was Cam Manyawu, who had been quiet all night offensively, with a pair of contested finishes at the cup to seal a fourth-straight Hawkeye victory.
Up next
The Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City for a midday matchup versus Northwestern on Super Bowl Sunday. The Wildcats have lost eight of its 10 games in the 2026 calendar year, including a 84-44 blowout loss to No. 5 Illinois on Wednesday. Forward Nick Martinelli leads the pack with averages of 23.7 points and 6.8 rebounds, proving to be one of the better forwards in the Big Ten.