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Florida basketball stunned by Iowa in March Madness Round 2 upset
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- Florida basketball stunned by Iowa in March Madness Round 2 upset
There will be no repeat champion in men's college basketball.
No. 1 seed Florida has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament , losing to No. 9 seed Iowa 73-72 in the second round matchup and sending the Gators home early.
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The Hawkeyes did it in stunning fashion: down two points with eight seconds left, Bennett Stirtz drove down the court and found a wide open Alvaro Folgueiras for a go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds left. Florida was unable to respond with its last chance.
"This is really special for the dreamers, and there is no better dreamer than us," Folgueiras said on the broadcast after the win.
The defending champions entered the Sunday, March 22, game fresh off their massive blowout victory of No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M in the first round, scoring a tournament high 114 points in the win. Two days later, the Gators looked nothing like the team that earned a top seed in the NCAA bracket.
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Iowa started strong, turning the game into a physical battle that had a few heated moments in its favor. The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 10-point lead midway through the first half, and Florida was forced to play catch-up the majority of the final 20 minutes, trailing by as much as 12 points in the second half.
Florida took the lead with five minutes left and held it as the momentum shifted toward the top seed playing in its home state. But Iowa didn't fold, leading to the shocking last-second bucket.
Iowa is the first No. 9 seed to make the Sweet 16 since Florida Atlantic in in 2023, and became the ninth No. 9 seed to take down the top seed since seeding began in 1979 − the first since Florida State in 2018. Florida joins Kansas in 1998 as the only teams in NCAA Tournament history to win a game by at least 50 points and lose the following contest.
With the loss, it ensures Connecticut will remain the last back-to-back champion, accomplished in 2023 and 2024. While the Huskies' wins were recent, it follows a trend of defending title winners struggling to defend their titles the following season.
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Eight of the past nine national champions have failed to make the Sweet 16 one year after winning it all. The loss also ensures there will not be an all-No. 1 seed Final Four after all the top teams in the bracket made it last season.
Iowa coach Ben McCollum continues to impress in his first season in Iowa City. In the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three seasons, this will be Iowa's first Sweet 16 appearance this century, last making the round in 1999. Awaiting the Hawkeyes in the round is a familiar foe in Nebraska, as the Big Ten rivals will meet Thursday, March 26, in Houston.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida's repeat hopes dashed by Iowa in Round 2 upset of March Madness
