Iowa basketball catches Nebraska sleeping with 4-players blunder

With 58 seconds standing between Iowa and the Elite Eight, the pressure was on to execute an inbounds play at the highest level. And they did just that, with some help from Nebraska.

The Hawkeyes led 71-68 and were inbounding the ball from underneath their own basket following a Braden Frager 3-pointer. The Cornhuskers had just called a timeout to set up their defense, a full-court pressure to try and force a turnover. However, Fred Hoiberg made a huge mistake.

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Kael Combs threw the ball down the court to a wide-open Alvaro Folgueiras, who layed it in through contact to reestablish Iowa’s six-point lead and effectively put the game away. The biggest question after the play was how Folguerias was so open at the other end of the court. A Hawkeye hadn’t been that open against a Nebraska defense since DJ Vonnahme last November.

Upon a look at the replay, the broadcasting crew immediately noticed that the Cornhuskers only had four players on the court, creating a key Iowa opening through one of the NCAA Tournament’s all-time blunders.

It’s an inexcusable mistake for a team in the final minute tryng to make an Elite Eight, but it’s objectively hilarious for Iowa fans to see one of their biggest rivals fumble the game away in brutal fashion. A lot of credit needs to be given to Combs for the pass and Folgueiras for finishing through the contact. Iowa needed the cushion, and those two players delivered.

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Iowa now moves on to its first Elite Eight in 39 years, with a matchup against the winner of No. 2 seed Houston and No. 3 Illinois awaiting them in the South Region final from inside the Toyota Center in Houston.

Soak it in, Hawk fans. This is a magical run that had yet another legendary chapter written on Thursday night.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa…

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Publish date : 2026-03-27 03:40:00

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