By Hawk Fanatic

Since the turn of this century, the NCAA Tournament has mostly been a frustrating experience for the Iowa men’s basketball team, and for its fans.

Only five times since 2000 has Iowa won a first-round game in the tournament, and in second-round games, Iowa is 0-5 during that span.

Iowa hasn’t advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament since 1999 when Tom Davis, as a lame-duck head coach, took a team that had finished 9-7 in Big Ten play, and that lost to Wisconsin 74-60 in the Big Ten Tournament, to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Iowa hasn’t been back to the Sweet 16 since then, but the Hawkeyes are back in the NCAA Tournament under first-year head coach Ben McCollum after a two-year hiatus.

No. 9 seed Iowa (21-12) will face eight-seed Clemson in the first round on Friday in Tampa, Florida.

The winner would almost certainly face No. 1 seed Florida in the second round on Sunday, barring a major upset.

By leading Iowa to the NCAA Tournament in his first season as head coach, McCollum already is in select company, joining only Tom Davis, who achieved that milestone in the 1986-87 season.

The Big Ten this season had four men’s basketball coaches in their first season, but McCollum is the only one among the four to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament as Indiana, Minnesota and Maryland all fell short under new leadership.

Iowa also has six players that followed McCollum from Drake after last season, and five of them have played significant roles this season, most notably All-Big Ten senior point guard Bennett Stirtz.

McCollum finished 31-4 in his only season as the Drake head coach a year ago, leading the Bulldogs to their first win in the NCAA Tournament since 1971.

“I think we’ve got a lot of guys that have played in postseason, so they understand some of the preparation that goes into it,” McCollum said Friday. “You also have to make sure that you don’t overthink it to where you make it something bigger than it actually is.

“It’s not necessarily just another game, but it is in a sense, with a little bit of win or go home to it.

“Our guys have been through that. They understand what’s at stake. They understand the preparation. They’ve prepared well. Hopefully we can show that tomorrow.”

McCollum will be matched against Clemson head coach Brad Brownell, who is the longest tenured coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference as he is wrapping up his 16th season with the Tigers.

“I’ve never met him,” McCollum sad Friday when asked about coaching against Brownell. “I think he’s a really good coach. I do know that. I think he gets the most out of his talent. I think he coaches for the most part, from what I see from the outside looking in, pretty good kids.

“I think in the past, he’s had kids for extended periods, which is always good, as well.

“Everything that I’ve seen, he’s a really good coach. Defensively they’ve always been really good. Offensively for quite a few years there, they were really good. I think it’s probably dictated upon his personnel based on their offense. But then defensively they’re always solid, tough, physical team, play hard. They always have a plan, a really good plan, and always finish top of the ACC. I do know all those things.”

The 2026 NCAA Tournament is Clemson’s sixth appearance under veteran head coach Brad Brownell. He has won 316 games as the Tigers’ head coach and he led the program to the Elite Eight in 2024.

The Tigers enter March Madness with a 24-10 overall record and the team finished 12-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, tying for fourth place. Clemson advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament before falling to top-seeded Duke, 73-61.

Clemson suffered a significant personnel loss in the ACC Tournament as its second-leading scorer and top rebounder Carter Welling suffered an ACL injury in the tournament. He was averaging 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and was also leading the team with 24 blocks.

RJ Godfrey, an honorable mention All-ACC performer, leads the team with an 11.9 scoring average to go along with 5.3 rebounds. He shoots 61.2 percent from the field.

The Tigers have nine players averaging at least 5.4 points this season for a team that scores 74.1 points per game. Dillon Hunter (7.5 points) leads the team with 103 assists, while Jestin Porter (9.6 points) has 42 steals.

Clemson shoots 45.3 percent from the field and 34.1 percent from long range, averaging 8.2 made 3s per contest. The Tigers have +56 in points at the free throw stripe.

Defensively, the Tigers are second in the ACC and 27th nationally, allowing 66.7 points. Opponents shot 41.9 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from 3-point land.

Clemson has allowed 60 or fewer points seven times this season and 70 or fewer 24 times.

The Hawkeyes, meanwhile, are just as stingy on defense, allowing 66 points per game — the fewest in the Big Ten and 17th-fewest nationally. Iowa has held eight opponents at 60 points or less this season — the most since 2014-15.

Iowa has held all but three opponents below its team season scoring average this season.

“It’ll probably be a slower paced because people usually play at our pace,” Bennett Stirtz said. “Other than that, it’s just going to be a super physical game. They’ll try to speed you up on the offensive end.

“So if we play at our pace, it should be a good one.”

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz is a master at controlling the pace on offense.

Much will be expected from him, as was the case last season when Stirtz led Drake to the Big Dance as its do-everything point guard.

“I know that coming in I’ve got to play well if we want to make a run in this tournament,” Stirtz said. “And I embrace that challenge, and I want to be there for my teammates and help them get to that point.

“But I’ve said it all year, our defense has to travel, too. So that definitely has got to be cleaned up.”

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No. 9-seed Iowa (21-12) vs. No. 8-seed Clemson (24-10)

When: 5:50 p.m.

Where: Tampa, Florida, Benchmark International Arena (20,500)

What: NCAA Tournament first-round game

TV: TNT

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Friday’s game is the fifth meeting all-time between Iowa and Clemson that began in 1962. The Hawkeyes lead the series, 3-1.

It is the first meeting between the schools in the postseason.  Iowa won the most recent meeting, winning 74-71 in a semifinal game at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida, on Nov. 25, 2022. The Hawkeyes’ lone loss came in Iowa City, falling 71-55 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in 2011.

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Iowa probable starters

G 11 Kael Combs 6-4 205 Jr.-TR Nixa, Mo. 5.9 2.5 2.3 .473 .333 .826 25.8
Started Iowa’s last 28 games… career-high 18 points, 5 reb., 7-14 FG at Nebraska… 16 points, 4 3-ptrs. at Purdue… 74 assists, 44 TOs… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

G 14 Bennett Stirtz 6-4 190 Sr.-TR Liberty, Mo. 20.0 2.5 4.5 .492 .376 .845 37.5
First-team All-Big Ten selection (media), 2nd (coaches)… 129 cons. starts… 6+ assists in 10 games… 20+ pts. in 18 games… 30+ in 3 games…averaged 21 pts./6 asst. in 2025 NCAA Tournament.

F 3 Cam Manyawu 6-9 250 Jr.-TR Kansas City, Mo. 7.1 4.5 1.0 .640 .000 .603 18.9
68 consecutive starts…double figures in 10 games… 14 pts./8 reb. vs. #3 Michigan… 13 pts., 3 steals at Purdue, 12 pts., 7 reb. vs. Ohio State… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

F 6 Tavion Banks 6-7 215 Sr.-TR Kansas City, Mo. 10.5 4.7 1.2 .537 .472 .810 23.3
20 pts./7 reb vs. USC… DI career-high 26 points, 8 rebounds at Indiana… double figures in 16 games, 2 20-pt. games… Drake & NW Fla. St. College transfer… MVC Sixth Man of the Year.

F 8 Cooper Koch 6-8 220 RS Fr.-1L Peoria, Ill. 7.7 3.0 1.1 .437 .394 .793 27.6
Double figures in 11 games; 19 3s in last 5 games… career-high 19 pts., 5 3s vs. MD… 18 pts., 6 3PT at NEB… 1st career double-double vs. Ole Miss (14 pts./10-reb.)

Key reserves

F 7 Alvaro Folgueiras 6-10 230 Jr-TR Malaga, Spain 8.1 3.8 2.3 .495 .326 .729 21.0.

G 10 Jacob Koch 6-2 185 So.-1L Iowa City, Iowa 0.4 0.0 0.2 .333 .000 .000 2.1.

G 15 Brendan Hausen 6-4 220 Sr.-TR Amarillo, Texas 4.0 0.7 0.5 .325 .328 1.000 10.3.

G 23 Isaia Howard 6-5 215 So.-TR Plattsburg, Mo. 5.4 2.8 1.2 .455 .276 .742 18.8.

G 24 Tate Sage 6-7 210 Fr.-HS Weatherford, Okla. 5.7 1.9 0.7 .480 .367 .719 15.9.

C 27 Trevin Jirak 6-11 250 Fr.-HS West Des Moines, Iowa 3.6 1.0 1.2 .486 .176 .704 8.3.

F 44 Joey Matteoni 6-9 215 RS Fr.-TR Overland Park, Kan. 1.5 0.6 0.3 .533 .000 .333 3.6

Editor’s note: hawkeyesports.com contributed to this article.