Alvaro Folgueiras continues to live up to the March moment. His slam with 34 seconds left punctuated Iowa's first Elite Eight berth in 39 years.
HOUSTON - Tied at 65 with 3:11 to play, Iowa and Nebraska were on a collision course for a photo finish in their highly-anticipated Sweet 16 battle in Houston, Texas.
Cornhuskers head coach Fred Hoiberg called a timeout with the hopes of orchestrating a good offensive set to give his team the lead, but it was the exact opposite.
The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes caught a break when Braden Frager, who hit five triples in this one, missed his open attempt. Both clubs were deadlocked for nearly three minutes by this point, and Bennett Stirtz decided to put the ball in his hands.
Nebraska's defense locked up Stirtz throughout the game, but the senior found just a sliver of space and didn't miss it - burying a triple to give Iowa a 68-65 lead (its first lead of the game). The bucket triggered a game-ending 11-6 Hawkeye run and sent Iowa to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.
Here are three observations from the Hawkeyes' win:
Folgueiras lives for March
Alvaro Folgueiras hit the game-winning three to send Iowa to this matchup, but that was just the beginning of his clutch play in this tournament. Folgueiras finished with 16 points - eight points in each half - but saved his biggest moments for the end.
Tate Sage's triple (more on that in a moment) with 1:18 left gave the Hawkeyes a comfortable 71-65 lead, but Nebraska fired back with a triple of its own to make it a one-possession game again.
Enter Folgueiras.
The Huskers somehow came out of the huddle with only four players on the court, and the 6-foot-9 forward took advantage. Whatever head coach Ben McCollum drew up, Folgueiras did the opposite. He took off towards Iowa's basket and threw it down while being fouled, making the subsequent free throw to re-extend the Hawkeyes' lead to six.
Folgueiras wasn't done, either.
Nebraska had fouls to give before Iowa could attempt free throws, but Folgueiras didn't need to visit the charity stripe. He found daylight on the the baseline and made the Huskers pay and punctuated the Hawkeyes' berth in the Elite Eight with an enthusiastic poster slam over Berke Büyüktuncel.
"I'm happy. I'm happy to be alive. I'm happy to be a Hawkeye. I'm happy to to be with with a great group of guys that makes basketball way more fun," Folgueiras said.
"I think he's just not shy of the moment and not scared," Stirtz said. "I think some people shy away from it and go in their little show when moments get too big and he embraces it and he wants to play well in these big environments."
He's just a freshman?
Tate Sage had zero high-major offers out of high school, but the freshman has proved everyone wrong with his play this year - especially late in the season.
Playing in front of a large crowd of family and friends (his hometown is Weatherford, Oklahoma), one could say that Sage put on his best performance of the season. He finished with 19 points (second-most on the team behind Stirtz) on 6-of-10 shooting, including four triples.
Two of them played a major role in Iowa's win. The Hawkeyes faced an uphill battle throughout the entire first half, but finally showed signs of breaking out of it late in the first half. The complete breakthrough happened when Sage buried a three at the buzzer to close the first half, cutting Nebraska's lead to just 46-43 at the break.
Sage continued his scoring output in the second, but no bucket was greater than his triple late in the game. You rarely see a freshman play in the waning minutes of a game, much less in a regional semifinal, but McCollum's trust in Sage said it all.
With Iowa leading 68-65 late, Sage found himself wide open in the corner and swished the ball right through the twine to give the Hawkeyes a crucial two-possession lead with one minute to play.
"I feel like there's a there's a mindset that goes into that when I get doubted, it's almost like I want revenge and to get the best of whoever I'm playing against," Sage said.
"He's not afraid of the moment either. He's got a chip on his shoulder, no one recruited him," McCollum said. "And then he comes out in the Sweet 16 game, and he has, quite a few points, quite a few threes."
All-Big Ten Elite Eight
Prior to Thursday's game, Iowa's potential path to the national championship game read like this - Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan State, and Iowa State.
That's exactly what we've received so far. Iowa will indeed have a rematch with Big Ten rival Illinois in the Elite Eight on Saturday afternoon (5:09 p.m., TBS). The Fighting Illini got the best of the Hawkeyes in their lone meeting of the regular season at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 14.
The two teams have shared a longstanding rivalry on the hardwood, but no game will have a greater meaning than Saturday's game. Illinois hasn't made the Final Four since its runner-up finish in 2005, while Iowa is seeking its first appearance since 1980.
It wouldn't be surprising to see both fanbases make the trek south to Texas for this game.
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