The No. 9 seed Iowa Hawkeyes upset the No. 1 seed Florida Gators in dramatic fashion following Hawkeyes forward Alvaro Folgueiras knocking down a shot in the clutch to seal the team’s trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. And if you ask Folgueiras himself, there was no doubt in his mind of what the outcome would be.
Following Iowa’s big win against Florida, Alvaro Folgueiras affirmed his confidence that his clutch shot was going in the second it left is hand, as per Matt Baker of The Athletic.
“I’m going to be ready,” Folgueiras admitted he told Iowa teammate Bennett Stirtz. “And I’m going to make it.”
“That’s what he actually did,” Stirtz confirmed.
With Iowa trailing 72-70 in the final seconds of the game, Stirtz pushed the ball up court, found Folgueiras floating to the corner, hit him with a pass and the rest is history. With the win, Iowa reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.
This has been a solid season for Folgueiras, his first with the Hawkeyes. A junior, he played his first two seasons of college basketball at Robert Morris before transferring to Iowa ahead of this season. He was a regular starter at Robert Morris last season, but has settled into a reserve role for the Hawkeyes.
He’s appeared in 35 games this season, including one start, at a little over 20 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists with splits of 49.3 percent shooting from the field, 32.7 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 77.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Against Florida, he finished with 14 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in 18 minutes of play. He shot 3-of-5 from the field, 2-of-4 from the 3-point line and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
