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Alvaro Folgueiras nailed a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining and Iowa eliminated defending national champion Florida, sending the top-seeded Gators home with a 73-72 victory on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Under first-year coach Ben McCollum, Iowa reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, while Florida (27-8) became the first No. 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness.
The ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes.
Xaivian Lee’s driving layup put Florida ahead 71-68 with under two minutes left. Bennett Stirtz answered with a floater to cut it to 71-70 with 57 seconds remaining.
After Thomas Haugh missed a 3-pointer, Stirtz missed a running layup and Isaiah Brown grabbed the rebound with 8.9 seconds left. Brown made his second free throw.
But Iowa easily broke Florida’s full-court press and Folguerias was wide open in the corner for his 3. Florida didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer, with Lee’s desperate drive ending with a pass that Haugh couldn’t handle.
Other results
- (2) Purdue 79, (7) Miami 69
- (2) Iowa State 82, (7) Kentucky 63
- (5) St. John’s 67, (4) Kansas 65
- (6) Tennessee 79, (3) Virginia 72
Canada’s Swords leads Michigan into Sweet 16
On the women’s side, Syla Swords and Olivia Olson started slow against N.C State. Eventually, Michigan’s star sophomores bounced back with fantastic performances.
Olson had all 27 of her points in the second half and Swords bounced back to score 26 and help the second-seeded Wolverines rout the short-handed Wolfpack 92-63 on Sunday and earn a spot in the women’s Sweet 16.
“They’re hard to contain for 40 minutes,” N.C. State coach Wes Moore said.
The Wolverines (27-6) will play for at least another 40 minutes, facing the winner of third-seeded Louisville and sixth-seeded Alabama in the NCAA Tournament Fort Worth Regional semifinals.
“We’re accomplishing the goals we set out to — and we’re not done yet,” Olson said.
Michigan’s previous Sweet 16 appearances were in 2021 and 2022, when it reached the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
“We’re just really excited to be able to continue what coach [Kim Barnes Arico] has already created as a legacy here,” Swords said.
SOPHOMORES SYLA SWORDS AND OLIVIA OLSON GO OFF TO LEAD MICHIGAN TO ITS THIRD SWEET 16 IN PROGRAM HISTORY ⚔️
Swords: 26 PTS
Olson: 27 PTS pic.twitter.com/zFytuInDqK
—espn
Olson, a third-team Associated Press All-America player, started 0 of 6 and was held scoreless until making two free throws with 5:59 left in the third quarter. She scored on a three-point play about a minute later and followed up with a pair of mid-range jumpers to suddenly give Michigan a 49-35 lead.
What clicked?
“Just having confidence in myself as well as my teammates having confidence in me and still getting the ball to me,” Olson said. “But I think it was a collective effort of just people carrying the load in the first half, and that just shows how much depth we have on our team.”
Swords, meanwhile, was held to two points in the opening quarter and the Wolfpack led by one point. Then, she started making shots.
Swords scored seven in the opening two minutes of the second quarter as part of a 14-0 run that included forcing six turnovers to put the Wolverines ahead 26-13. In the second half, she scored 17 points and joined Olson in the 1,000-point club in just two seasons.
“They were face-guarding me really well at the beginning, but I wasn’t mad about it because my other teammates got great shots off of it,” said Swords, who became the youngest Canadian basketball player to compete in the Olympics at 18 during the 2024 Paris Games.
