TAMPA, Fla. – Down go the defending champions.

For the first time in 27 years, Iowa men’s basketball will play a second weekend in the NCAA Tournament. Not only that, but the moment was earned with an improbable 73-72 win over No. 1 Florida on home turf – two hours away from the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.

Iowa played as good of a game as it could’ve against the Gators. And in the end, it was just enough. The Hawkeyes are flying high to Houston.

Of course, this wouldn’t have happened without Alvaro Folgueiras. With eight seconds left, the Hawkeye forward flared to the right corner and found himself wide open as Bennett Stirtz caught the inbounds pass on the run. The star guard deferred the ball to him, and he hit the game-winning shot. Iowa’s two-point deficit turned into a one-point victory.

What a call by Hawkeye Radio Network announcers Gary Dolphin and Bobby Hansen on Alvaro Folgueiras’ game-winning three. More calls to be made by them in Houston.
pic.twitter.com/1q6UAfcS8D

— Chris Meglio (@chris_meglio) March 23, 2026

After Folgueiras hit the shot, he stood at mid-court, one finger pointed towards the sky. He lost his father at nine years old, and the Spaniard had made his finger point a routine celebration to honor him. It was only more special the past two NCAA Tournament games doing so in front of his mother, Beatriz, especially in the biggest moment of his career.

And right as the buzzer sounded, he ran towards her for an emotional embrace.

“My mom is there after fighting for me her whole life,” Folgueiras said postgame in a live interview with TNT. “This is really special. March is for dreamers.”

Cooper Koch did the same with his father, J.R. The last time Iowa men’s hoops made the Sweet Sixteen was in 1999, when J.R. was a player on the team. Cooper dreamed of becoming a Hawkeye hooper himself and constantly told his dad that he’d be the one to send Iowa back to where his father last sent them.

And on Sunday evening, Cooper’s stance finally came to fruition in front of his father.

“I think I started to tear up a little because that’s how much it means to me,” Cooper said. “To see him win a Sweet Sixteen and to get back here in year one of Coach McCollum, it means a lot.

“Credit to the coaching staff, [my] teammates, they were all huge parts of it. Couldn’t do it without them, obviously. But it’s a huge moment for the Iowa fanbase – fans, players, everyone. So we’re just happy.”

Folgueiras only had that clean look because of the attention Stirtz drew on that play. The star guard said through the reps over the years, he’s learned to slow the game down at all times, and it was slow enough for him to make the read in a do-or-die moment. In fact, he’s one of the biggest reasons as to why Iowa made the tournament in the first place.

He’ll have a lot more moments through next weekend and his anticipated professional career. But nothing tops the Florida win up to this point.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Stirtz said when asked if it was the biggest game of his career. “I mean, high stakes, made it to the Sweet Sixteen, so yeah, the biggest so far.”

And, of course, the man at the helm. In his first season with Iowa men’s basketball, Ben McCollum did something no coach has been able to do with the program since Dr. Tom Davis and bring Iowa back to the second weekend of March Madness.

The success McCollum has found this season in arguably the best conference in the nation in the Big Ten with a bunch of mid-major players isn’t going unnoticed. Not only do Iowa fans and media see it, but the whole nation got to see it first-hand on Sunday.

A win like this will only elevate high school and transfer portal players’ desire to consider playing under the successful head coach in Iowa City.

“If you’re a tough dude, this is a good plus spot for you. If you’re soft and you like yourself way too much, this is probably not the spot for you,” he said. “We just try to recruit tough dudes who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and hopefully people see that, win or lose.

“I think obviously wins help for the excitement, but I was proud of our guys competing one way or the other.”