Saddled by one of the worst shooting performances of the season, No. 5 seed Iowa was upset by No. 12 Richmond, 67–63, in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday.
Richmond, who won the Atlantic-10 tournament title to steal an automatic bid to the Big Dance, stifled the Big Ten champion Hawkeyes defensively. Iowa shot just 36.4% from the floor overall, and 6 of 29 from three (20.7%).
Spiders guard Jacob Gilyard led the way with a game-high 24 points, while forward Tyler Burton scored 18 and Nathan Cayo netted 15, including some crucial baskets down the stretch.
Iowa star Keegan Murray finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in the loss, but was relatively quiet due to the staunch defensive effort by Richmond to take the best player on the floor out of the game.
According to ESPN, it is the ninth tournament game that Richmond has won as a 12-seed or lower. That’s five more than any other program since seeding began in 1979.
Iowa was a popular selection by many to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament following their conference title. With the loss on Thursday, Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery has still remarkably never made a Sweet 16.
