Senior guard Tavion Banks carried the scoring load, collecting 20 clutch points in the Hawkeyes' upset victory.
Alvaro Folgueiras deserves the lion's share of the credit for Iowa basketball's upset win over Florida in the second round of the NCAA tournament, but his historic moment may not have happened if it weren't for the valiant efforts of one Hawkeye.
It wasn't Bennett Stirtz, but it was a Drake transfer.
Enter senior guard Tavion Banks.
Banks is one of three seniors on this Hawkeye team (Stirtz and Brendan Hausen are the others), and like Stirtz, the transition from the mid-major level to the high-major level has paid off.
Like Folgueiras, there's been some ups-and-downs. Banks' best scoring stretch of the season came in late-January, when he registered 26 and 20 points in wins over Indiana and Rutgers, respectively.
The key word in this sentence is scoring. Banks averages a healthy 10.3 points per game, but he's also known for some of the other stuff that doesn't always show up on the stat sheets such as diving for loose balls, deflecting passes, or just playing tough man-to-man defense.
Those traits shined in Sunday's victory, but when Iowa needed someone to fill the scoring void, Banks stepped up. The lack of a second scorer alongside Stirtz has been a problem for the Hawkeyes this year, but Banks wasn't just the second scorer - he was the leading scorer.
Florida's Boogie Fland locked up Stirtz for most of the evening, resulting in a 5-of-16 outing for the star point guard. Iowa may have lost a game earlier in the year because of this, but Banks wouldn't allow it to happen in Tampa.
Despite playing in front of a heavy-Gator crowd inside Benchmark International Arena, Banks showed little fear driving into the teeth of the mighty Florida frontcourt. Not only was Banks getting to the lane, he was finishing with contact. He finished with a team-high 20 points, and 14 of those came in the first half - helping Iowa set the tone and prove to Florida that it wasn't going to be a pushover.
Not only was Banks scoring, he was doing the dirty work yet again. The senior led the Hawkeyes with six rebounds (four offensive) and tied three other players with one steal.
The only thing Banks did wrong on Sunday (in his eyes) was utter "hell yeah" when asked if he would vote his head coach, Ben McCollum, for Governor of Iowa.
Iowa fans aren't apologizing for uttering that phrase. The Hawkeyes are on their way to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1999.
Their opponent is none other than Big Ten rival Nebraska, which is making its first ever berth in the second weekend. The game, held in Houston, Texas, is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 CDT on TBS.
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