Iowa staves off Clemson rally to advance in NCAA tournament
TAMPA, Fla. — Bennett Stirtz scored 16 factors as No. 9 seed Iowa weathered his erratic taking pictures to maintain off eighth-seeded Clemson 67-61 in the primary spherical of the NCAA tournament Friday night time.
The Hawkeyes (22-12), making their March Madness debut below coach Ben McCollum, moved on to a second-round South Region assembly in opposition to top-seeded and defending nationwide champion Floridawhich beat Sixteenth-seeded Prairie View A&M by 59 factors.
Stirtz made two free throws with 10.9 seconds remaining to assist put the sport away after Clemson (24-11) rallied inside 61-57 in the closing minutes. But Iowa’s main scorer had an off night time, going 3-for-10 on 3-point makes an attempt and 1-for-7 contained in the arc. Kael Combs saved the Hawkeyes keep afloat with 15 factors, and Alvaro Folgueiras got here off the bench to rating 14.
“That’s kind of been us all year. We know we’re not the most athletic team or talented team out there,” Stirtz mentioned. “But I think we’re the most together team, so there’s that, and yeah, we love fighting together.”
RJ Godfrey led Clemson with 15 factors.
Iowa led 32-25 at halftime regardless of Stirtz not getting off to a powerful begin. The 6-foot-4 senior who accompanied McCollum from drake to Iowa misfired on 4 of 5 3-point makes an attempt and was 2-for-8 from the sector for eight factors. The Hawkeyes, nonetheless, have been ready to use the one 3-pointer he made — together with a pair of them from Combs — to construct a 12-point lead that Clemson started chopping into earlier than the break.
Stirtz made a protracted 3 to start the second half, however Iowa proceeded to go almost six minutes with out scoring whereas Clemson pulled inside 35-33. Stirtz stopped the surge together with his third 3, Iowa methodically expanded its lead to 51-37, and Clemson by no means absolutely recovered.
The Tigers, who reached the Elite Eight in 2024, misplaced to McNeese in the primary spherical a yr in the past.
“I’m anxious to watch the film and just see what happened,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell mentioned. “Certainly some long shots by them, long rebounds. … I’m sure there’s a couple that bounced their way. Those 50-50 balls you need to get to win, we just weren’t as hungry as we needed to be.”
While that is Iowa’s first March Madness look since 2023, Stirtz, Combs, Tavion Banks and Cam Manyawu have been all a part of the Drake crew that McCollum led to an upset of Missouri in the primary spherical final yr.
Iowa completed 7-for-25 (28%) from 3-point vary. Clemson wasn’t a lot better, going 9-for-26 (35%).
