TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alvaro Folgueiras told Bennett Stirtz he’d be ready for the ball, and he delivered in the clutch.

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, the Hawkeyes reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, while Florida (27-8) became the first No. 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness.

“This is really special,” Folgueiras said. “March is for the dreamers and there’s no better dreamer than us. It’s incredible. We have to keep going. We are one of the 16 best teams in the country. We’re still hungry.”

Iowa (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes, becoming the first No. 9 seed to beat a No. 1 since 2018, when Florida State shocked Xavier. The Hawkeyes will face No. 4 seed Nebraska in the South Region semifinals Thursday night in Houston.

“They fight, they compete, they exemplify everything we want in Iowa basketball,” said McCollum, who brought Stirtz and three other players with him from Drake.

Xaivian Lee’s driving layup put Florida ahead 71-68 with under two minutes left. 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. The play was designed for Stirtz but when the defense converged on him, he tossed it to his teammate.

“We’re unselfish. We like to see each other succeed,” Stirtz said.

When McCollum heard Stirtz say Folguerias asked for the ball, he asked: “You said that?”

“Irrational confidence,” McCollum said with a smile.

Florida didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer, with Lee’s desperate drive ending with a pass that Haugh couldn’t handle.

“A disappointing result for us tonight, but credit Iowa,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “I thought they played well, especially in the first half. Had us on our heels a little bit, and I thought they were physically tougher than us in the first half. And it took a little bit for us to regain our footing and then they got off to a good start in the second half. … I thought obviously on the last play, we wanted to take a foul to prevent them from getting off a 3, and they got away from us. We weren’t able to take it and they knocked it down, so credit to them for that. Just a tough way to go out.”

Coming off a 59-point victory over Prairie View A&M on Friday night, Florida played like a team that hadn’t been tested. Iowa outfought the Gators on both ends.

“Five grown men vs. five grown men and we wanted it more,” Folgueiras said.

It felt like a home game for the Gators, who played in front of a sea of orange and blue at Benchmark International Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Fans left stunned.

“We’re the only ones who believed in us and it’ll probably stay that way,” Stirtz said.

Tavion Banks led Iowa with 20 points, Folgueiras had 14 and Stirtz finished with 13 on another off night when he shot just 5 of 16. Cooper Kock scored 12 points on four 3s.

Alex Condon led Florida with 21 points, Haugh had 19 and Lee added 17.

A scuffle broke out just past the midpoint of the first half with Iowa leading 19-13 when Condon and Folgueiras battled for a loose ball. Both players went to the floor holding on tightly. Folgueiras swung his arm back but didn’t follow through with a punch and the players had to be separated. Golden sprinted onto the floor to help calm things down, and both players were assessed technical fouls.

“I didn’t throw a punch,” Folguerias said. “It’s March Madness. Everybody wants to win.”

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Tennessee reaches its 4th straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia 79-72

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Bishop Boswell are roommates on the road and the Tennessee standouts suggested they spend almost every moment — from the practice court to the weight room to social activities — together.

“We can’t get enough of each other,” Gillespie said.

How does another March Madness weekend as roomies sound?

Gillespie scored 21 points, Boswell and Nate Ament made critical free throws down the stretch and sixth-seeded Tennessee advanced to its fourth straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia 79-72 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

“They fought through a lot of things that maybe we didn’t have to,” coach Rick Barnes said, “but they found a way to fight through it.”

The Vols (24-11) will face No. 2 seed Iowa State in a Midwest Region semifinal in Chicago on Friday night.

A year after he helped Maryland reach the Sweet 16, Gillespie led the way for the Vols. Tennessee has been a consistent first-weekend winner under the 71-year-old Barnes, who has yet to lead the school to the Final Four.

Gillespie had 50 points in two games in Philly — he scored 29 against Miami (Ohio) in the first round.

“I know how talented he is,” Boswell said. “Any time I attack the gap and I see him open, I’m betting it’s going in.”

Even from long, long range.

Against No. 3 seed Virginia, Gilespie made the shot of the game on a desperation 3-point heave as the shot clock expired and followed that with a tremendous lob pass for an alley-oop to J.P. Estrella for a 62-53 lead.

“I was definitely lucky,” Gilespie said of the 3.

Yet Virginia — coming off its first NCAA Tournament win since its 2019 national championship — pushed the Vols to the limit over the final minutes.

The Cavaliers (30-6) trailed by two points and seemingly wasted an opportunity when Jacari White shot two airballs on the same possession to give the Vols the ball with 2:12 left.

No worries.

The Vols threw away the inbound pass and Virginia had a chance to make some happy March memories. Dallin Hall drove the lane and kicked the ball out to an open Thijs De Ridder for a 3 that put the Cavaliers ahead 71-70 with 2:03 left. De Ridder led Virginia with 22 points.

This lead wouldn’t last — no last-shot heroics necessary.

Ament hit two free throws for a 72-71 lead and Boswell made 1 of 2.

Again, White had a shot at tying the game, only the miss a layup and have the ball go off Hall as it bounced out of bounds. After a review that upheld the original call, Tennessee had possession, and Gillespie made six free throws in the final 30 seconds as the Vols celebrated yet another trip to the tournament’s second weekend.

Although it was tough to tell for sure on the slow-motion replay, Hall conceded he knocked the ball out of bounds.

“I knew it hit me, barely,” he said. “Unfortunately, it worked out the way it did. It was a super-fast play, but there was a lot of opportunities, and it never comes down to the one play.”

Ament, a gifted 6-foot-10 freshman who was scoreless in the first round, scored 16 points. Boswell hit four 3-pointers and had 13 points and nine assists.

Virginia has an NCAA Tournament win to build on

The Cavaliers lost in the first round or the First Four in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and title-winning coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired before last season. Ryan Odom took over this season and quickly turned the program around.

White followed up his 26-point effort in the opener against Wright State with just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

“Lot of tears in there,” Odom said. “Lot of gratitude. You just have to put things in their proper perspective, which is not easy to do in moments like that.”

Up next

The Cyclones beat Tennessee in 1969 but they’ve lost their last two against the Volunteers, the first during a tournament in December 1977 and the most recent on Jan. 27, 2018, during the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

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Bradley scores 18 to lead No. 1-seeded Arizona past Utah State, 78-66

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Motiejus Krivas had 11 points and 14 rebounds and top-seeded Arizona beat No. 9-seeded Utah State 78-66 on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd.

The Wildcats (34-2) take an 11-game winning streak into Thursday’s game against No. 4-seeded Arkansas in the West Region in San Jose.

The Wildcats will be looking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since doing so in both 2014 and 2015. They began their March Madness run by breezing to an opening 92-58 victory over Long Island on Friday.

Arizona, which won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, led the whole way in front of a loud, red-clad contingent of fans that made it feel like a home game some 400 miles from campus.

But the Aggies (29-7), who won the Mountain West regular-season and tournament championships, didn’t fold despite trailing 51-33 five minutes into the second half after giving up a 9-0 run.

The Wildcats then went cold from the field and the Aggies pulled to 58-54 on a 3-pointer by Drake Allen.

It was 60-56 when Bradley, the Big 12 player of the year, finished a fast break with a high bank shot, was fouled and converted the three-point play for a seven-point lead.

Allen hit a 3-pointer for the Aggies before Bradley answered with a jumper and a free throw on consecutive possessions.

Brayden Burries had 16 points and nine rebounds for Arizona, while Koa Peat had 14 points and 10 boards.

Led by the 7-foot-2 Krivas, the Wildcats outrebounded the Aggies 54-26.

Garry Clark scored 13 for Utah State, MJ Collins had 12 and Allen 11. Mason Falslev, the Mountain West player of the year, was held to eight points.

Karaban scores 27 points in 73-57 win over UCLA

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Alex Karaban scored a career-high 27 points and had Bill Murray and the rest of the UConn crowd roaring with each splashed 3 as he helped send the second-seeded Huskies back to the Sweet 16 with a 73-57 win over UCLA in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night. The Huskies will play third-seeded Michigan State in the East Region semifinals on Friday night in Washington. The Huskies snapped a tie game with a 14-0 run the second half that put the game away.