Latest / Bleacher Report / Iowa Upsets No. 1 Seed Florida - Postgame Reaction | March Madness 2026

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Iowa Upsets No. 1 Seed Florida - Postgame Reaction | March Madness 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And here we go eight point nine to play.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Stirch with the catch, starts bounce past to the quarter.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Bulgaris for three. Whoa wor hole in the play.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Florida's got no timeouts.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Iowa takes the lead by one.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Condon one bout it to Lee Lee across midcourt, Lee
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: speeding toward the basket.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Lee leads it underneath. That's it Iowa for the first.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Time since nineteen ninety nine.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: We'll head to.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: The Sweet sixteen as they knock off the defending national champs.
• 0:34
  Speaker 5: Iowa joining Saint John's as team's going for the first
• 0:37
  Speaker 5: time this century after a shocker knocking off the one
• 0:42
  Speaker 5: seed and defending national champ Florida seventy three seventy two.
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: We welcome you to capitol On Tournament Central Adam Zucker,
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis, and Charles Barkley the Hawkeyes. That's
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: six Big Ten teams now in the Sweet sixteen. Let's
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: go through those last couple possessions. First, Iowa with Bulgaria
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: getting the go ahead shot.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: But that was that was first of all, i would
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: deserve to win that game, no question the better team,
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: but this was an off of defensive thing for Florida.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Because Clark asked me, what you pressure?
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: I said, no, you should not pressure, because if you pressure,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: you're just gonna start a fast break and you're probably
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: gonna give up a three. I said, they have to lead.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Why that was just a fast break. That was like
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: an NBA fast break. Nobody takes the lamp and they
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: just spread out, caught it on the run.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: It caught it on the roof.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: You're gonna pressure, though, you gotta just gotta go that
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: got up. You've got to make him catch it in front,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: and then you use some time.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: But that was just a fast break start.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: I know, but I don't know why they were gambling
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to try to steal. I mean, put in a little
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: pressure on, make them use some Clark, but then you
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: make the gamble and now he's off and running.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: And it created exactly what you were talking about, a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: wide open three. And they deserve. They dominated that game.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: They won points in the paint and tied Florida and
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: rebounded and lead for twenty six minutes.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: And the problem have with them putting pressure on.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: They had to lead.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you're trying to get a steal or something
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: like that, yeah, you overplayed like that. Well, like I said,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: they just started a fast break and it was an
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: easy fast break. He can't force me ahead, and the
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: guy had to lead a corner shooter and my man, guy,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: my man starts backing up. We were going for the
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: dagger right there. That was beautiful. But that's just one play.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Our outplayed them the entire game. I give Floyd the credit.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: They were scrappy. They got back, but let's not make
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: no doubt, Our outplayed them for eighty five percent of
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: the game.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: And that was That was just a heck of a game.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: The fact that it even came down to that play
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: correct is really the issue. I mean, look, I'm surprised
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: enough that I would won the game.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Let's be honest.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I am absolutely stunned and shot at the way.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, they won the game.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: We were talking before the game that say, but they
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: basically don't have a chance. But they are a good
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: three point shooting team, and they do have a laser
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: in Bennett's sturtch, and so that would be their formula
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: for David to slay Goliath. How about they go seven
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: for twenty four from three, Benet stirts zero for nine
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: from three. They beat them in the paint. They beat
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: him on the glass. They shot fifty one percent against
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: one of the best defensive teams that I just want
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: to say this. They are celebrating tonight in Maryville, Missouri,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the home of Northwest Missouri State. Because Ben McCollum spent
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: fifteen years as a Division two coach, He's only been
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: in D one for two years. Won of Drake and
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: I wanted Iowa. There are a lot of really good
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: coaches out there, and he absolutely put on a clinic,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: not just stylistically and strategically, but they were.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: The tougher team they at high level.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Florida's out rebounding teams by fifteen a game, and it's
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: even so. That means Iowa basically out rebounded Florida by.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Fifteen when you look at the stats.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Defensively, it took a while for Florida to adjust to
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: the scrappy, tough, physical nature of Iowa's defense. It was
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: really that was the shocking component how they did. And
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: they were efficient. They were extremely efficient. What a masterpiece
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: by that team and the coaching staff. Tavion Banks undersized
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: but went right at that big Florida front line and
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: really was dominant. He was seven of ten from the floor,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: scored twenty points, had six boards.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: And missed half of his ten three throw attempts. Otherwise
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: he would have had a bigger game. But he was fantastic.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: But from the very star to your point set and Charles,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: this was the more physical team. They were the better team.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: They were the more aggressive team and the deserving team.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: And it was interesting about all those highlights. There's nobody
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: in the paint. I had a perfect game plan. They're like,
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: we're going to let you use you big guys just
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: standing paint offs. If you go back and look at
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: every single highlight we just showed, there's nobody in the paint.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: They bought those big guys from Florida, who are tremendous players.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: They capt them way out there on the perimeter and
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: there was a lot of ball movement and body movement,
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: so they didn't get to use their size. That's how
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: they dominated the paint. I mean, like, if somebody told
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: you before this game, like, no, there's no way I
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: was going out play with those guys in the.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Paint, and they did. We basically said it before the game.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: That was going to be the end.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: That was a coaching coaching, clinic coaching and player clinic
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: congratulation to the Hawk Out.
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: Absolutely Florida was the top rebounding team in the country,
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: even had a couple a couple extra moments for that
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: final play even though they're out of timeouts. The clock
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: review gave them a moment to try to get a
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: playoff and they could not get a shot off at
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: the end. But for Iowa winning, it brings us to
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: our Capitol one rewarding performance and tonight we focus on
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: one of the keys to Iowa's stunning win and that
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: is bench scoring. The Hawkeys getting sixteen points from their bench,
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: with fourteen of those coming from you guess that Alvaro
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: Vulgaris who hit the game winner or shall we say
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: the knockout.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Punch as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: Being ejected.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, with this three pointer in the corner.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Unbelievable and now it is since twenty seventeen, only one
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: defending champ has cleared the first weekend of the tournament.