TAMPA, Fla. — The Iowa men's basketball team held on for a 67-61 win over Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

The Hawkeyes (22-12, 10-10 Big Ten) weathered two 8-0 runs from Clemson (24-11, 12-6 ACC) in the second half before pulling out the win. It was Iowa's first win in the NCAA Tournament since beating Grand Canyon in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Bennett Stirtz led all players with 16 points, Kael Combs added 15 and Alvaro Folgueiras scored 14 in the win. Cam Manyawu added 10 rebounds.

RJ Godfrey led Clemson with 15 and Efrem Johnson added 11.

Head coach Ben McCollum commended his team for their fight following the win — even though he noted their struggles with the Tigers' physical style of defense.

"It's not always pretty," McCollum said. "Sometimes we don't always play with a high level of intelligence. But, no questioning our fight. That's what we recruited. I don't mean they're dumb players, they're not dumb players. They're smart players, but sometimes we do things that are just out of this world. What we never forget to do is fight, though."

The Hawkeyes will face the winner of No. 1 seed Florida vs. No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M on Sunday.

Here's how the win went down:

Iowa takes early lead

H1 15:49 | Iowa 8, Clemson 3

Iowa opened the contest 3-of-4 from the field, including three-pointers from Stirtz and Combs, to take an early 8-3 lead.

Clemson shot 1-of-5 through the first four minutes of the game.

Iowa grows lead to 10

H1 11:32 | Iowa 18, Clemson 8

The Hawkeyes continued to lean on their defense and efficient shot-making to grow its lead to a 10-point, 18-8 advantage over the next four minutes.

Iowa built the lead with a 10-2 run, which included triples from Folgueiras and Combs.

Shooting woes threaten Iowa's lead

H1 3:44 | Iowa 25, Clemson 16

After opening the game 7-of-12 from the field, the Hawkeyes made just two of their next nine field goal attempts.

The shooting woes caused Iowa to go more than four minutes between makes between a Stirtz layup at 8:26 on the clock and a Combs paint jumper with 4:23 remaining.

Clemson closes strong, cuts Iowa's lead to 7

HALF | Iowa 32, Clemson 25

Iowa closed the first half with just two field goals over the final eight minutes while Clemson went 6-of-8 over the same stretch.

The rally allowed the Tigers to cut the lead from 12 points to seven, 32-25, at the halftime break.

Combs finished the half as the game's leading scorer with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting.

Before heading to the locker room, Combs explained what the Hawkeyes needed to do to shake the shooting slump during an interview with CBS.

"Just keep on getting to multiple actions and keep on moving the ball," Combs said. "Getting everyone involved and then get them in rotation."

Iowa's shooting woes continue to begin second half, Clemson climbs within 4 points

H2 15:22 | Iowa 35, Clemson 31

Stirtz connected on a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half to put the Hawkeyes back in front by 10. However, Iowa failed to make a field goal over the next four minutes of action and allowed Clemson to climb within four points by the under-16 timeout.

Godfrey scored four of the six Tigers' points in a 6-0 run to cut the score to 35-31.

Tate Sage, Stirtz reignite lifeless Iowa offense

H2 11:33 | Iowa 44, Clemson 33

The Tigers managed to trim the lead to two, 35-33, with an 8-0 run between 17:41 and 14:09 behind six points from Godfrey.

But the Hawkeyes answered with a 9-0 run to regain a nine-point lead. Stirtz hit a three, Tate Sage got a pair of layups to fall in the run and Folgueiras ended the run with a second-chance layup.

Iowa holding onto lead late

H2 4:37 | Iowa 56, Clemson 51

Iowa managed to grow its lead as large as 14 points with 8:39 remaining in the game (51-37) and 7:32 to play (54-40) in the game, but an 11-2 Tigers' rally cut the lead back to five.

Jestin Porter capped the run with a step-back triple with 5:12 to play to trim the lead to 56-51.

Hawkeyes seal win at charity stripe

FINAL | Iowa 67, Clemson 61

Iowa hit 16 free throws over the final 10 minutes of the contest to secure the win. Folgueiras connected on a pair of free throws in the final minute and Stirtz added two more with 10 seconds remaining to put the score out of reach.

The Hawkeyes went 24-of-31 from the charity stripe in the game. Clemson went 8-of-12.

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