Iowa rallied back from a first half deficit to continue its improbable run in Ben McCollum's first season.
HOUSTON - Cinderella is still at the ball.
For the first time in 39 years, Iowa men's basketball is going to the Elite Eight, and it did it by beating none other than its border rival Nebraska Cornhuskers, 77-71, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on Thursday.
Bennett Stirtz led the way with 20 big second half points, including the go-ahead triple with two minutes left to give Iowa the lead for good.
The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes will play the winner of the Illinois-Houston game held approximately 30 minutes after this one.
First Half
There was a good Hawkeye contingent on-site in the Space City, but the sea of Husker fans that painted Oklahoma City in Nebraska red made their way to the Toyota Center. Iowa was booed as it took the floor, and it knew it would have to start fast in order to set the tone.
That didn't happen.
Nebraska fed off its fans and delivered the first punch. The Huskers collected three offensive rebounds, turning them into two Pryce Sandfort triples and a 12-2 lead just three minutes into the game. Iowa went on a run to trim the lead down to two, but the inability to stay in front of Nebraska shooters proved costly. Braden Frager made three-in-a-row at one point, sending the Huskers' lead back up to 25-17.
The Hawkeyes kept making shots, but a racehorse game was not the style of play Iowa signed up for. Even still, the Hawkeyes kept hanging around. Bennett Stirtz canned a tough trey to cut the Nebraska advantage down to just 40-35 with 3:32 to play.
Ironically, Iowa's best defense of the first came came at the end of the period. The Hawkeyes forced a shot clock violation, and it directly led to a Tate Sage trey at the buzzer - making it 46-43 Nebraska at halftime.
Both teams were simply sensational from the floor. Iowa shot 60% (1.483 points per possession), while Nebraska followed close behind at 57% (1.533 points per possession).
Second Half
Ben McCollum's halftime speech probably went like this - control the pace of play and play better defense.
With a passionate halftime speech ringing in their ears, the Hawkeyes delivered a physical punch to begin the second. Nebraska fell into a 2:20 scoring drought that was triggered by tough Iowa defense. The Hawks then turned it into points on the offensive end, and the game was tied at 50 at the first media timeout.
Iowa's poor rotations returned shortly thereafter and led to open looks for Sandfort, but it still stayed within one possession despite going just 2-for-10 from three point range to begin the half. Defensive stops were sparse in this one, but when they did occur, the Hawkeyes couldn't break the seal.
A 65-65 deadlock lasted for roughly 90 seconds, and it felt like the team to break the tie would have an immense advantage.
That team would be Iowa.
Stirtz nailed a clutch three to give the Hawkeyes the lead, and Sage followed with a corner trey of his own to extend the lead to six. Nebraska answered with a three, but it left Folgueiras wide open on the ensuing inbounds pass, and the junior delivered an and-one to push it back up to six, 74-68.
Sandfort had an open look, but the Huskers were out of miracles. He missed, and Iowa iced the game with free throws to advance to the Elite Eight.
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