BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Even though he stands 7-foot-1, Adam Woodbury was hard to find in the locker room after Friday’s 72-70 victory over Temple in overtime.

Iowa’s much-maligned senior center was sitting on a chair in the corner of the locker room, hidden behind a sea of reporters in the bowels of the Barclays Center.

Woodbury was receiving the hero’s treatment after making a tip-in the final seconds of overtime to secure the victory.

Reporters practically fell on top of Woodbury as they squeezed closer and closer in order to get his comments on extending his college career for at least one more game.

“I couldn’t be any happier for him,” said Iowa senior forward Jarrod Uthoff. “Words can’t describe it.”

That was pretty much the consensus among all the Iowa players.

Of course, they were thrilled to stay alive in the Big Dance and get a chance to face No. 2 seed Villanova in the second round on Sunday. But the fact that Woodbury tipped in the game-winning basket on missed shot by Mike Gesell made the moment more special because Woodbury is Iowa’s emotional leader, but also because he has been a target for criticism throughout his career.

“It means a lot to him,” said senior guard Anthony Clemmons. “He’s a guy that doesn’t show emotion. But he showed a lot of emotion when he came into this locker room.

“A lot of guys bash him. But he made the layup at the right time. I’m very proud of him. I’m glad he’s my teammate and I’m proud of the moment.”

Woodbury’s career as a Hawkeye has been filled with peaks and valleys, much like this season has been for his team.

But Woodbury never has wavered in the face of adversity. The Sioux City native has just kept working to get better, ignoring the criticism and distractions along the way.

Woodbury was rewarded for his perseverance on Friday by making one of the biggest baskets in the history of the Iowa program.

"Just to see the joy on the coaches’ faces and everybody’s faces was just a cool moment," Woodbury said. "To see those guys appreciate what I did feels great to me.

"But I’m ready to move past all that and get ready for Villanova."

Woodbury tried to downplay his game-winning basket afterwards, saying it wouldn’t have happened without Gesell attempting a shot.

“He had to go make a play, so I’m thinking he’s the hero of the whole thing because without him putting that shot up I got no chance to put it back,” Woodbury said of Gesell. “Fortunately, he put it up and it bounced right to me.

“I knew if he made it, great. And if he missed it, I knew I had to go get it and put it back in. It just bounced my way and I was fortunate enough it went in.”

Being fortunate is part of staying alive in the NCAA Tournament, which had been a problem for Iowa until recently. The Hawkeyes have won an NCAA Tournament game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since a two-year stretch from 1995 to 1997.

Friday’s victory won’t erase the disappointment from this season, which saw Iowa lose five of its previous six games. But it will add to Woodbury’s legacy. No matter what happens beyond this point, Woodbury always will have Friday’s tip-in to savor.

“The season is filled with peaks and valleys, and hopefully, we’re on the upturn to a peak and we can finish the season on a very high note,” Woodbury said.

Some of the reporters who cover Temple felt that Woodbury got away with pushing off on a Temple player before making the tip-in. Woodbury seemed slightly amused by that complaint.

“Rewind the 45 minutes of game film and there was pushing off on every play,” Woodbury said. “If they want to scream about that, so be it. But the refs are not going to call that foul.”

Iowa seemed poised to win the game in regulation, leading 62-58 with 18.4 second remaining.

However, the Owls made a basket and took advantage of two missed free throws by the usually reliable Peter Jok in the closing seconds.

Iowa still had the upper hand at 63-60 when Clemmons fouled Temple’s leading scorer Quenton DeCosey while DeCosey was attempting a 3-point shot with 2.1 seconds remaining.

DeCosey withstood the pressure, making all three free throws to force overtime.

“I wanted to make it as tough as possible,” Clemmons said. “He has a funky release, so I wasn’t expecting it.
“I fouled the guy. I admitted to coach that I did. You have to give that guy credit because he came up and knocked three straight free throws down in a tough situation.”

Clemmons redeemed himself by making a key steal against DeCosey in overtime.

“I knew I had to make up for the foul and that was the best way,” Clemmons said.

The Hawkeyes deserve credit for not wilting when the game went into overtime. It would’ve been easy for the Iowa players to lose focus after DeCosey made his three free throws, but they stayed locked in.

“I think that was running through all of our minds,” said Uthoff, who led Iowa with 23 points. “We had it won. We missed a couple free throws and we missed a couple shots that were wide open. I in particular missed several shots that were wide open.

“So that was tough for us. But that’s what a team is. We’re a bunch of tough guys, tough minded. So we were able to come back from that.”

Iowa prevailed despite being outrebounded 49-38 and despite only shooting 34.8 percent from the field.

The Hawkeyes knew they had to value the basketball because Temple does such a good job of doing that on offense. Iowa met that challenge by only committing three turnovers in 45 minutes, while Temple finished with 12 turnovers.

"I’m just proud of how our guys kept battling because when you shoot like that, you have a hard time beating people on most days," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

So you can credit Friday’s victory to a number of things, including ball security, toughness and Woodbury being in the right place at the right time.

“I’m thrilled for Adam,” McCaffery said. “He battled all game long. He’s battled his entire career. And for him to get the game ball, the game-winner in the NCAA Tournament in overtime, I’m just thrilled for him.”

Woodbury’s game-winning basket is proof that good things happen to good people who stay the course and rise above their critics.

And now that course is headed to the next round of the NCAA Tournament.