{"id":681697,"date":"2026-03-27T08:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/681697\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T08:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T08:14:22","slug":"iowa-knocks-off-nebraska-to-reach-first-elite-eight-since-1987","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/681697\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa knocks off Nebraska to reach first Elite Eight since 1987"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Alvaro Folgueiras converted a critical three-point play<\/a> when Nebraska only had four defenders on the floor, and ninth-seeded Iowa continued its unpredictable NCAA Tournament<\/a> run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, beating Nebraska 77-71 in a South Region semifinal on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Bennett Stirtz scored 20 points and Folgueiras had 16 for the Hawkeyes (24-12), who knocked off top-seeded Florida<\/a> in the second round on Folgueiras\u2019 3-pointer in the closing seconds.<\/p>\n

Iowa will face another Big Ten rival, Illinois, on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four. McCollum, who won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State, has now led Iowa to its fifth Elite Eight and first since 1987.<\/p>\n

Iowa became the lowest-seeded team from the Big Ten to reach a regional final since seeding began in 1979.<\/p>\n

\u201cCinderella, whatever they want to call us, just we\u2019re in the Elite Eight,\u201d McCollum said. \u201cThat\u2019s what they need to call us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fourth-seeded Nebraska (28-7) took an early 10-point lead against its conference foe, and Iowa tied it four times but never led until Stirtz buried a 3-pointer to make it 68-65 with 2:10 to go. Sage Tate hit another 3 to cap a 9-0 run and put Iowa ahead 71-65.<\/p>\n

The Cornhuskers got within three on a second-chance 3 by Braden Frager, but they were disorganized on the inbound play, leaving Folgueiras unguarded near the rim. He slammed it home \u2014 popping up screaming after he finished through contact as Iowa fans roared \u2014 and converted the free throw for a six-point lead.<\/p>\n

Another dunk by Folgueiras with 34 seconds left made it 76-68.<\/p>\n

For Stirtz and McCollum, this March Madness run continues a journey that began at Northwest Missouri State and continued last season at Drake before the pair both moved on to Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a hell of a ride,\u201d McCollum said. \u201cBut it\u2019s far from over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stirtz credited McCollum for turning him into a \u201cgreat person off the court and a great player on the court,\u201d but he had trouble sharing too much more about his coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about it that much. I get emotional,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s just another topic for after the season that we can look at. Right now, just focus on the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort made six 3s and scored 25 points for Nebraska, which won the first two March Madness games in program history to get this far. Frager added 16 points for coach Fred Hoiberg\u2019s Cornhuskers, who delighted a traveling contingent of red-clad fans throughout their tournament run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese guys will be a part of history of Nebraska basketball forever, for winning the first NCAA tournament game, getting to the Sweet 16, most wins in the history of the program, highest ranking,\u201d Hoiberg said. \u201cThey just did so many things to elevate our program. I\u2019m really proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iowa\u2019s second-half rally was fueled by Nebraska\u2019s cold shooting: The Huskers were 9 of 32 (28.1%) after halftime, with most of those attempts coming beyond the arc, where they made just 6 of 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe missed some good looks,\u201d Hoiberg said. \u201cI\u2019ll go back and watch it at some point and see what we could have done better, but (it) seemed like they made all the open shots at the end, we didn\u2019t. Again, that happens in this game. Unfortunately, that was the result tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams split their previous meetings this season, but it will be the Hawkeyes who move on and try to represent the Big Ten in the Final Four. One way or another, the league is guaranteed to win the South this year.<\/p>\n

Coaches praise each other<\/p>\n

Hoiberg raved about the job McCollum has done in his first season at Iowa and throughout his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got so much respect for Ben with how he has run his programs,\u201d Hoiberg said. \u201cAnd obviously, it doesn\u2019t matter the level, he\u2019s going to continue to be successful wherever he is, and he\u2019s proven that. He\u2019s proven that at the D-II level, he proved it at a mid-major, and now he\u2019s proving it in the Big Ten at a high-major level.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCollum had a similar sentiment for Hoiberg and his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey completely turned everything around from the previous season, and they have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about or anything,\u201d McCollum said. \u201cI have the utmost respect for them, all their players, and especially coach Hoiberg.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-mens-bracket<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Alvaro Folgueiras converted a critical three-point play when Nebraska only had four defenders on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[8760,7,16392,3474,217,325,1094,8963,27954,7367,11288,3734,55358,354,231,772,20001,55359,1544,40789,3422,8905,65144,66,2098,582],"class_list":["post-681697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-alvaro-folgueiras","tag-basketball","tag-ben-mccollum","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-college-basketball","tag-college-sports","tag-drake","tag-fred-hoiberg","tag-ia-state-wire","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-illinois-fighting-illini-mens-basketball","tag-iowa","tag-march-madness-ncaa-tournament","tag-mens-college-basketball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-mens-division-i-basketball-championship","tag-ncaa-mens-bracket","tag-ncaab","tag-ne-state-wire","tag-nebraska","tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","tag-pryce-sandfort","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-tx-state-wire"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}