MBB Notes: NCAA South Regional Semifinal vs. Nebraska

ON THE AIR
Radio: Games are broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network with Gary Dolphin (play-by-play) and Bobby Hansen (color) on the call.  The network includes more than 40 stations that blanket the state of Iowa and includes portions of Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.  The Hawkeye Radio Network includes a 60-minute pregame show.
National Radio: NCAA Tournament contests will be broadcast on Westwood One. Spero Dedes (play-by-play) and Fran Frascilla (color) will be on the call.
TV: Thursday’s game will be televised on TBS/TruTv with Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Robbie Hummel (color), Stan Van Gundy (color) and Lauren Shehadi (sideline) on the call.

OPENING TIP
• The Hawkeyes have advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 27 years and for the ninth time in program history, ending a drought dating back to 1999.  Iowa became the ninth No. 9 seed all-time to knock off a No. 1 seed and the first since 2018.
• Junior Alvaro Folguerias was the hero with his mother, Beatrice, in attendance from Spain, nailing a corner 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining to give Iowa a 73-72 lead and win.  
• Iowa now has two wins over No. 1 seeds in program history, joining the 1980 squad that downed Syracuse (88-77).  
• Ben McCollum joins Dr. Tom Davis as the only two Iowa head coaches to guide the program to a Sweet 16 in their first season.  A lifelong Hawkeye, McCollum was a senior in high school when Iowa made the Sweet 16 in 1999.
• McCollum and Texas’ Sean Miller are the only two first-year coaches in the country to guide their teams to the Sweet 16.
• Iowa is looking for its first Elite Eight appearance since 1987 when the Hawkeyes downed Oklahoma, 93-91, in overtime in Seattle to advance.
• The Hawkeyes’ 23 wins this season are the most for the program since 2021-22.
• Stirtz has scored 30+ points three times and 20+ points 11 times in the last 18 games (18 times this season; third-most in Big Ten). 
• Stirtz finished third in the Big Ten in scoring in league-only games, averaging 22.2 points to go along with 3.8 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals with a .500/.373/.839 shooting clip. He had three 30-point and 13 20-point contests in league play.
• Over his last 16 games, Stirtz has played 40 minutes 11 times and has been on the court for all but 7:58 of the possible 685 minutes of game action.
• Iowa ranks 25th nationally in field goal percentage, shooting 48.9 percent.  The team also is 22nd in effective field goal percentage (.563).
• The Hawkeyes are allowing 66 points per game -- the second-fewest in the Big Ten and 17th-fewest nationally. Iowa has held eight opponents at 60 points or less this season -- the most since 2014-15.
• Iowa has held all but three opponents below its team season scoring average on the year.

IOWA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• Iowa is making its 30th NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and the first since the 2022-23 season.  
• The Hawkeyes are making their first Sweet 16 appearance since the 1999 season and the ninth in program history.  
• Iowa now has two victories over No. 1 seeds in its history, downing Syracuse (88-77) in 1980 and Florida (73-72) in 2026.
• The Hawkeyes’ win over Clemson was the program’s first over a Power Conference opponent in the NCAA Tournament since 1999 (Arkansas).  
• Iowa is a No. 9 seed for the second time in program history.  Iowa was previously a nine seed in 1992 where it defeated Texas (98-92) in the Round of 64 before losing to top-seeded Duke, 75-62.  

IOWA'S NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
• Head coach Ben McCollum is 38-8 (.826) all-time in NCAA Tournament play at the Division I and Division II levels.  He won four NCAA Division II titles at Northwest Missouri State (2017, 2019, 2021, 2022).  
• McCollum is 3-1 in the Division I NCAA Tournament, leading Drake to the second round in 2025 and the Hawkeyes to the Sweet 16 this season. All three of McCollum’s NCAA Tournament wins have come as the lower seed.
• Iowa’s roster has a combined 28 games of NCAA Tournament experience heading into Thursday’s game -- Bennett Stirtz (4), Cam Manyawu (4), Isaia Howard (4), Kael Combs (4), Tavion Banks (4), Alvaro Folgueiras (3), Cooper Koch (2), Tate Sage (2), Trevin Jirak (1).

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
• The Huskers picked up the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory with a 76-47 win over Troy in the opening round before surviving a potential buzzer beater in a 74-72 win over fifth-seeded Vanderbilt to advance to its first Sweet 16.  
• Nebraska bring a 28-6 overall record into Houston with the 28 victories being a program record.  The Huskers won their first 20 games of the season before going 6-6 over their next 12 games leading into March Madness.
• The Huskers have three players in double figures with Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort leading the way with 17.9 points and 123 3-point field goals -- second-most in Big Ten history.  The All-Big Ten selection also averages 4.9 rebounds, two assists and one steal, while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and 41 percent from long range.  Sandfort averages 3.62 3-point makes per game, which is fifth-best nationally.
• Center Rienk Mast averages 13.5 points, a team-high 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists.  He has three double-doubles, shoots 45 percent from the field and has made 50 3s.  Big Ten Sixth Man of Year Braden Frager averages 11.7 points and 3.8 rebounds.  Frager made the go-ahead layup in the win over Vanderbilt.
• Nebraska’s glue man is Sam Hoiberg, a Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection that averages 9.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and two steals.  The guard shoots at a 54.5 percent clip  - a team-best.  He is fourth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.08) and 24th in steals.
• The Huskers average 77.1 points, while shooting 46.6 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from long range. Nebraska averages 10.6 3-pointers per game (20th in NCAA) and the team has a 1.85 assist-to-turnover ratio, ranking sixth in the country.
• Defensively, Nebraska has the top scoring defense in the Big Ten (15th nationally), allowing 65.8 points and limit opponents to .402/.301 shooting.  The .301 3-point percentage is leading the Big Ten, while ranking 15th in the NCAA.
• Nebraska is +0.4 on the glass (34.9-34.5), but the team makes up for it by forcing 7.3 steals per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• Sunday’s game is the 45th meeting all-time between Iowa and
Nebraska, dating back to 1907. The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series, 28-16.
• Thursday’s game in Houston will be the first meeting in the postseason or on a neutral court.  
• Iowa has won four of the last five and seven of the last 10 in the series, dating back to the 2019-20 season. The two teams split this season with the Hawkeyes downing the ninth-ranked Huskers, 57-52, on Feb. 17 to giving Iowa its first top 10 home win since 2019.
• The Hawkeyes rallied to force overtime on March 8 in Lincoln before the Huskers snapped a four-game losing streak in the series with an 84-75 victory.

LAST GAME: IOWA 73, FLORIDA 72
Junior Alvaro Folgueiras made a 3-pointer from the corner with 4.5 seconds to play to send the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes to a 73-72 victory over top-seeded Florida on March 22 at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.  The win snapped Iowa’s 27-year Sweet 16 drought, sending the program to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend for the first time since 1999.
• Iowa led by as many as 12 points (51-39) early in the second half before the Gators rallied and led by as many as four points late in the contest.
• The Hawkeyes had four players land in double figures: Tavion Banks (20), Folgueiras (16), Bennett Stirtz (13) and Cooper Koch (12).
• Iowa shot 70 percent on two-point field goals in the game -- a first against a Todd Golden Gator team in his 144-game tenure.

NCAA TIDBITS
• Iowa will be playing a Big Ten opponent in the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in school history.  The Hawkeyes lost to Purdue in the 1980 National Third Place game (the second-to-last year this game was contested).
• Senior Tavion Banks is the first Hawkeye with 20+ points and 5+ rebounds against a No. 1 seed since Vince Brookins had 21/5 against Syracuse in the Regional Semifinals.
• Senior Bennett Stirtz is the fourth Iowa player with 13+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists in an NCAA Tournament game, joining Joe Wieskamp (2021, 2X), Kenyon Murray (1996) and James Moses (1992).
• Junior Alvaro Folgueiras is the third Hawkeye to have multiple games with 14+ points while coming off the bench in a single NCAA Tournament in the last 50 years, joining Chris Kingsbury (1996) and Acie Earl (1991).
• Junior Cam Manyawu’s 10 rebounds against Clemson were the most by a Hawkeye in an NCAA Tournament game since Greg Brunner’s 10 against Northwestern State in 2006.  
• Manyawu’s 10 boards are the most by a Hawkeye in an NCAA Tournament victory since Ryan Bowen had 16 against Virginia in 1997.

SWEETNESS: COOPER & JR
Redshirt freshman Cooper Koch joins his father, J.R., in leading the Hawkeyes to the Sweet 16.  
• J.R. finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in Iowa’s 82-72 win over Arkansas in Denver in 1999, sending Iowa to the Sweet 16. Cooper made four 3-pointers -- all in the second half -- in Iowa’s 73-72 win over top-seeded Florida on March 22 in Tampa.

HAWKEYES IN MARCH MADNESS
• In four career games in March Madness, Stirtz is averaging 17.8 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds with .412/.286/.785 shooting splits.  He has played 40 minutes in each of the four games.
• Stirtz finished with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the victory over Clemson and had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win over Florida.
• Last season, Stirtz had 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting (3-of-3 3PT) and four assists in the win over Missouri in the opening round before scoring 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting with eight assists and three rebounds against Texas Tech.
• Junior Kael Combs is averaging 9.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists in four games with .583/.600/1.000 shooting splits. 
Combs finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting last season in the Round of 32 against Texas Tech and had 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting with two 3s in the win over Clemson.
• Junior Alvaro Folgueiras is averaging 14.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and two assists in three games.  He is shooting .480 from the field, .285 from long range and is 15-of-15 from the free throw stripe.
• Folguerias had a 14-point, 10 rebound double-double with four assists last season against No. 2 seed Alabama.  He has scored 14 points in both wins this season and is 13-of-13 from the free throw line.  
• Senior Tavion Banks finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds in the win over Florida.  He is averaging 10.8 points and five rebounds while shooting .538 from the field in four March Madness contests.

IN SELECT HAWKEYE COMPANY
Head coach Ben McCollum is now one of two Iowa coaches, along with Dr. Tom Davis, in his first year to lead the Hawkeyes to:
• 20+ wins (now 23)
• an NCAA Tournament appearance
• an NCAA Tournament victory
• a Sweet 16 appearance