By Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register
Houston, TX – How does a basketball team end up with only four players on the court in a crucial sequence with an Elite Eight berth on the line?
“I’ll address that one. Put that one on me,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said, taking the heat for a major meltdown late in ninth-seeded Iowa’s 77-71 win over the Cornhuskers at Toyota Center. “It was a miscommunication, and I’m the head coach.”
Classy move by Hoiberg, as Rienk Mast inexplicably wasn’t in the game with 58 seconds to go. The jarring error was certainly one of the main talking points from what became an impressive come-from-behind win for the Hawkeyes in a South Regional semifinal at the NCAA Tournament.
But the Hawkeye who capitalized on that Sweet 16 mistake deserves to be one of the central figures in this now-Cinderella story, too.
Alvaro Folgueiras, the hero from Iowa’s previous stunner over top seed Florida, scored eight points in Iowa’s game-finishing 15-6 run, his three-point play after the four-player error all but cementing the Hawkeye party in Houston.
“He’s been big-time,” said Iowa’s Cam Manyawu, who started but played only 14½ minutes while Folgueiras played 29 off the bench. “He’s had so much energy, hits that big shot against Florida, was great against Clemson, great again (tonight).”
The narrative all year, and this is coming from head coach Ben McCollum, is how wildly unpredictable Folgueiras has been since joining Iowa after being named last year’s Horizon League Player of the Year for Robert Morris. The wild man is a wild card. That’s one reason Folgueiras doesn’t start; McCollum never knows if he’s getting Good Al or Bad Al.
“He’s got a level of irrational confidence, where every shot he thinks is good,” McCollum said.
Good Al is 3-for-3 in showing up at the NCAA Tournament. He had 14 points against Clemson, 14 against Florida and now 16 against Nebraska.
“He was fantastic. He was competitive,” McCollum said. “He’s doing a better job of boxing out. He’s doing a better job of running the offense. He’s just doing a better job of all those little things that we desperately need.”
Iowa is now 15-1 when Folgueiras scores at least 10 points, 9-11 when he doesn’t.
“He changes the way the game is for us,” Manyawu said. “He can stretch the floor, so they have to respect that. He can drive, he can pass. He does so many different things for us that really helps us open up the game.”
And, in the case of fourth-seeded Nebraska, he helped close the game.
After earlier knocking down a smooth top-of-the-key 3 to tie the score at 65-65, Folgueiras stood alone at the back of Nebraska’s full-court press with 58 seconds left and Iowa leading, 71-68. Point guard Bennett Stirtz feverishly began to point down the floor to the wide-open Folgueiras, as Mast was too late to get into the game. Kael Combs rocketed a deep two-handed pass, and Folgueiras charged to the hoop.
“Everything happens so quick, and in your mind, you (don’t) try to be conservative,” Folgueiras said. “You’re winning the game. I’m so open, I’m going to go get it.”
Folgueiras had earlier thrown down a dunk against Nebraska’s half-court defense, so this finish was a little easier. But he was fouled as he scored, and he canned the free throw for a 74-68 lead with 56 seconds left.
One possession later, he caught a pass in the left corner and charged to the basket for a one-handed dunk through two Huskers at the rim. Ballgame, at 76-68 with 34 seconds left.
There was curiosity how the man who hit the iconic winning 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left to beat Florida would perform, especially after two single-digit scoring games earlier this year vs. Nebraska. Good Al was Elite (Eight) Al on this night.
“We don’t have stars here. We are all super-important,” Folgueiras said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the newspaper or who gets more fame. We just play for each other. We play for the team. That’s all that matters.”
Up next for Iowa is third-seeded Illinois (5:09 p.m. CT Saturday, March 28, on TBS and truTV). Interestingly, Folgueiras’ only start this season in 36 games came against the Illini when Tavion Banks was sick. He finished with eight points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes in Iowa’s 75-69 loss on Jan. 11. Single digits.
If Good Al can keep it rolling, maybe we’ll be talking about Final Four Al soon.
Iowa’s 6-7 freshmen combine for seven 3s, 30 points, 13 rebounds
Ben McCollum has a type. He likes guys who are about 6-foot-7 who can defend, rebound and shoot the 3-pointer.
Two of them — both freshmen — showed up big-time in Iowa’s first Sweet 16 win since 1987.
True freshman Tate Sage, who had scored in double figures only once in Iowa’s last 16 games, came off the bench to register career-highs of 19 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes on the biggest stage of his basketball life.
Sage had scored 17 points in Iowa’s Jan. 20 win over Rutgers but had averaged only 3.8 a game since.
The Weatherford, Oklahoma, native was a key reason Iowa hung close in the first half despite Nebraska’s torrid scoring pace. He had a team-high 11 points in the opening half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer that pulled Iowa to within 46-43.
Sage’s only second-half 3 was a biggie. After Bennett Stirtz had given Iowa its first lead at 68-65, Sage camped out in the right corner and took a kick-out feed from Folgueiras.
Nothing but net, with 1:18 to play for a 71-65 lead.
“I’ve never lost my self-esteem. I know I can shoot the ball, and I’ve shown that a couple times this season,” Sage said. “To get that many looks and see so many go in, it kind of let the dominoes fall for me.”
Sage rewarded McCollum’s faith.
And so did redshirt freshman Cooper Koch.
Koch knocked down 3-of-8 3s and finished with a solid line of 11 points, five rebounds, no turnovers in 37 minutes.
Koch had a rough midseason slump but has heated up at the right time. In Iowa’s last eight games, he is 27-for-51 from 3 (52.9%). What’s changed?
“They started going in,” Koch said. “My routine stayed the same. When I worked out in the gym, stayed the same. The team had the same amount of confidence in me. Coaches had that same amount of confidence in me.”
McCollum stuck with the five of Stirtz, Combs, Sage, Koch and Folgueiras for much of the second half. That group delivered on both ends of the floor and took care of the basketball. After committing 19 turnovers in its previous meeting vs. Nebraska, Iowa committed five.
“Last year, I couldn’t guard a stool,” Koch said. “Now I think I have more confidence in guarding people, pressuring people.”
Bennett Stirtz gets the last laugh on Nebraska
After Bennett Stirtz was held to 11 points at Nebraska in the last meeting, Huskers media personality Steven Sipple went viral by proclaiming on a radio show, “That’s not a great player.”
In this meeting, Stirtz — a projected first-round NBA Draft pick — had the Huskers’ season fading to black.
Stirtz’s long catch-and-shoot 3-pointer with 2:10 to go gave Iowa its first lead, at 71-68.
“I air-balled and bricked a lot of shots, especially from 3,” Stirtz said. “I was just super-tired, wasn’t trusting it, wasn’t getting my feet set. I really wanted that to go in and got my feet set.”
Stirtz finished with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting while playing all 40 minutes, as usual, with four assists and no turnovers. He was 3-for-9 from 3.
It’s true, Stirtz had been struggling with his shot of late. Entering Thursday, he was 15-for-61 from 3 (24.6%) in his previous seven games after hitting 39.8% for the season before that.
Stirtz could’ve certainly relished this moment individually, having gotten the last laugh on Nebraska in the season’s third meeting. But he was already moving on to the next game while also thinking about future Hawkeyes when putting the magnitude of this win into context.
“It means a lot to the Hawkeye fans,” Stirtz said. “It should probably mean more to all the high school players who want to come here and the recruits we’re recruiting. They should see this and be like, ‘Why wouldn’t I want to come to the University of Iowa?’ It’s super fun.”
Stirtz will be in the spotlight again vs. Illinois. He was held to 12 points vs. Illinois on 5-for-17 shooting in the previous meeting. But it’s reassuring to know he proved clutch in the biggest moment for Iowa against Nebraska.
Suddenly, Iowa is getting the close wins. Here’s why.
McCollum angrily called timeout after Nebraska scored 12 points on its first five possessions to take a quick 10-point lead. McCollum joked that it was a manager’s mistake to let him have an object that he could throw in the timeout. In this case, a marker and clipboard received McCollum’s wrath.
“Ink everywhere. It was very intense,” Stirtz said. “He was just telling us that we suck and that we were soft.”
McCollum did give ample credit to Nebraska for its outrageous start, which was still at over 2.0 points per possession (32 in 15) just 10½ minutes into the game.
As for that first timeout?
“It was just we were trying to predict what they were going to do,” McCollum said. “So what happens is you don’t impose your will. You let them impose their will on you. You try to predict, you look slow, you’re behind plays, and we got behind a lot of plays.
“Now, they played with great pace offensively. I mean, that thing was hummin’. They were moving and cutting, and I didn’t even know what was going on. So, yeah, then we called them into the huddle and just said very nicely, I would like you to play harder, guys, and it seemed to work.”
McCollum said that last part with a grin, knowing there was a splattered marker of evidence.
But things got better. Iowa did hold Nebraska to 39 points over those last 29½ minutes, including 25 second-half points on 9-of-32 shooting (28.1%).
What changed?
“Shrinking the floor a little bit. Doing what we do,” sophomore Isaia Howard said. “Staying together. Imposing our will. Kind of punch them in the mouth. It was a fistfight out there.”
McCollum said Iowa has gone from concentrating at a 97% level to 100% more often now.
That’s why he’s seeing Iowa win these close games — by six over Clemson, by one over Florida, by six over Nebraska.
Remember, Iowa had lost four of five entering the NCAA Tournament — three by three points, the other in overtime (at Nebraska).
“I mean, our concentration is 10 times better. It’s big moments. And our guys really focus in big moments,” McCollum said. “We could have probably done a little bit better throughout the year.
“Everybody arrives when they’re supposed to. And so we talked the whole season about the process of getting better, creating habits. And it takes time, and it takes time. It takes time. Takes time. And so, we’ve gotten a little bit better at habit creation and being more ready, and you see the results of that now.”
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