After a dominant 59-point victory over Prairie View A&M Friday, it seemed No. 1-seeded Florida would coast to another victory in the Round of 32 against Iowa.
But the No. 9-seeded Hawkeyes had other plans. The Gators struggled all night, and despite holding a 72-70 lead with 8 seconds left, the Gators surrendered a game-winning 3-pointer to Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras with 4 seconds to go.
On the final possession, UF sophomore guard Xaivian Lee drove to the hoop and looked to make a pass instead of taking a reverse layup, and the clock hit zero. The defending national champions were eliminated.
With the Gators season now over, several issues plagued UF in its defeat. Here are five areas that cost Florida a chance at the Sweet 16.
Offensive indecisiveness:
Florida scored 64 points in the paint against Prairie View A&M. So it was a shock to see the Gators abandon that offensive gameplan early in favor of a more perimeter-based one.
Florida took 19 3-point attempts, a majority of which came in the first half. Meanwhile, Iowa pounded the paint en route to its early lead.
While the Gators began finding their rhythm in the paint in the second half, it was too late. On the final possession, Lee had a chance at attempting a game-winning reverse layup, but he failed to get a shot off, ending the game on a low note.
In a game where Florida was expected to dominate down low, the contest ending with a successful paint stop by Iowa was not the way UF expected its season to end.
Rebounding:
The Gators can attribute much of the shaky first half to their performance on the glass.
The Gators entered the tournament No. 1 nationally in rebounding margin, grabbing 59.5% of boards.
However, Florida was outrebounded by the Hawkeyes in the first half, a shocking change for the nation’s best frontcourt.
The Hawkeyes grabbed 18 rebounds to Florida’s 14. Rueben Chinyelu, Florida’s leading rebounder, grabbed just one rebound and the starting frontcourt, including Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, combined for just six.
Normally not a strong rebounding team, Iowa came into the contest averaging just 28 rebounds per game. Ultimately, both teams grabbed 27 boards, and Iowa grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to UF’s 9.
Slow starts:
Even in its historic victory against PVAMU, Florida found itself tied with 13:41 to go in the first half.
Then, against Iowa on Sunday, the Gators were on the ropes early again. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 10 points in the first half, taking a 23-13 lead with 8:11 to go in the first. Florida went into the locker room at halftime down 33-31.
The reason for Florida’s slow starts was not consistent across both games.
On Friday, the Gators allowed Prairie View A&M just seven rebounds in the entire first half. Despite that, PVAMU hit five of its six 3-point attempts early, which made for a close contest at first.
Against Iowa, the Gators also struggled with their offensive efficiency in the first half. They shot just 37% from the field and 27% from 3-point range, a major dip from Friday’s matchup, where they shot an impressive 75% from the field and 43% from deep in the first.
Lee was the only Gator in the first half who was able to produce on the offensive front. He had 10 of the team’s first 19 points and was the only one to crack double digits in the opening 20 minutes.
Foul trouble:
While Florida ended the contest with 18 fouls to Iowa’s 19, UF found two crucial players in foul trouble early: Chinyelu and Condon.
The latter, who had been Florida’s most steady frontcourt player all season, was practically a non-factor Sunday. In 19 minutes of play, Chinyelu scored 0 points on only one shot and grabbed a rebound.
Meanwhile, he took 4 fouls, which forced him to sit out for the majority of the second half and forced Florida to play its bench a combined 42 minutes.
Meanwhile, Condon, who led all scorers with 21 points, was playing with four fouls for much of the second half, which forced him to play less aggressive post defense. In a contest where every point was necessary, that may have been the difference in the end outcome.
Tempo:
Stylistically, Florida and Iowa could not differ more. The Gators came into Sunday as one of the faster-paced teams nationally, while Iowa set a new-decade low with just 53 offensive possessions in its victory over Clemson Friday.
But the Gators ended up playing the game at Iowa’s speed.
Florida was limited to just 7 fastbreak points, down from its 18 against PVAMU. Meanwhile, Iowa grabbed 9 points on the break.
Further, Florida slowed down its offense late in the second half, wasting much of the shot clock.
That was especially apparent on Florida’s second and third final offensive possession, where Boogie Fland turned the ball over after 26 seconds had come off the clock and then Haugh missed a quick 3-pointer.
Then, Golden said UF planned to foul Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz on the eventual game-sealing possession, but the Hawkeyes’ got around the gameplan.
By playing to the Hawkeyes’ pace, UF allowed Iowa to dictate the game, and ultimately, to prevail.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @avadicecca24.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @maxbernstein23.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 sports editor. Previously for The Alligator, she covered volleyball and did sports enterprise. Ava enjoys watching and playing sports in her free time and has been a Boston sports fan all her life. (Brad Marchand is still everything.)
Max is a junior sports journalism student in his seventh semester at The Alligator. He serves as The Alligator's assistant sports editor and football beat coordinator. He previously served as The Alligator's sports editor and as a reporter for football, women's tennis, volleyball, lacrosse and sports enterprise. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. Max wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Maxim Mamin).
