The defending champions are officially out of March Madness.
No. 1 seed Florida shockingly fell in the Round of 32 on Sunday to No. 9 seed Iowa. The Hawkeyes led for much of the game and raced out to an early 12-point advantage in the first half at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Fla. But the Gators looked poised to escape with the victory after going on a late run in the second half and taking back a 72-70 lead with 8.9 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately for Florida, they committed a huge defensive blunder to allow Iowa to get a wide-open look from the corner for the game-winning three-pointer. The Gators decided to full-court press the Hawkeyes off the inbounds pass … only for that gambit to blow up in their faces.
Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz easily got past Florida’s Boogie Fland to receive the inbounds pass and then (as a result of Florida’s press) found himself in an easy 3-on-2 situation in the halfcourt. Stirtz then hit the open man in the corner, teammate Alvaro Folgueiras, who calmly sank the game-winning shot to complete the epic upset.
ARE. YOU. JOKING.
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2026
IOWA LEADS. THIS IS MARCH. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/sNDHTqaGj1
Fans all commented on X about how easy it was for Iowa to get a great look for the game-winner thanks to Florida’s questionable defensive strategy.
This was incredibly too easy https://t.co/LuuSP3zm9f
— Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) March 23, 2026
gotta be some of the worst backcourt defense I’ve ever seen LMFAO https://t.co/9BpBPJF8T8
— J (@jtakuz) March 23, 2026
Todd does an incredible job but idk why we are guarding them 94 ft like this in that situation. It wasn’t working for the whole half. I get we were trying to speed em up earlier but Iowa was turning down open looks. They got another one. That was too easy https://t.co/WmO2g67lWs
— FlawdaGata (@AirFlawdaJordan) March 23, 2026
why are you full court pressing ??? https://t.co/w8iFf7E0Hf
— Him Hardaway (@Kadarr) March 23, 2026
Florida had the option of letting their defense get set in the halfcourt and daring the Iowa point guard Stirtz (who was 5/16 from the field on Sunday) to beat them one-on-one. Instead though, they went to a full-court press that was easily broken and ultimately led to their elimination from March Madness.
It probably stings especially too that the player who got beaten was Fland, whom Florida paid a sizable amount in NIL money to in order to secure his transfer over the offseason.
