Best 5 wins for Iowa Men in last 50 years ?

RLesterFan · Mar 23, 2026

My choices
1. 1980 Georgetown (pretty easy choice, watched it many times)
2. 2026 Florida (beat the defending champs, first year coach, finally get back to Sweet 16 & game winner)
3. 1993 Michigan (first home game after Street's death against Fab 5, emotional home crowd all game)
4. 1987 Oklahoma (Kevin Gamble hits game winner to go to elite 8)
5. 1980 Syracuse (took down #1 seed to get to elite 8)

JerseyCityHawk · Mar 23, 2026

87 when Kevin Gamble drained the dagger

3….. what a damn win that was but this win last night might be the cream of the crop

oldxbbc · Mar 23, 2026

Man, Kevin Gamble, had no clue it had been that many years ago! Still can’t believe that corner 3 last night. What a great time to be a Hawkeye!

ArtRadley · Mar 23, 2026

In 1999 I thought I witnessed the beginning of greatness when Iowa beat #1 ranked and returning champions UConn at Madison Square Garden in Steve Alford’s first game coaching the Hawks.

it didn’t turn out as well as I expected.

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset · Mar 23, 2026

I'd also nominate 1955 Marquette, an 86-81 Iowa win to advance them to their first-ever Final Four.

jedhawk77 · Mar 23, 2026

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset said:
I'd also nominate 1955 Marquette, an 86-81 Iowa win to advance them to their first-ever Final Four.

Well he did say last 50 years.

I was thinking the same question earlier today and probably cannot argue with any of those on your list. Honorable mention for the game right prior to Michigan in East Lansing with the miraculous comeback. One could potentially argue to add one of the B1G tourney championships? Maybe best to leave the Alford team off the list.

I'm still in shock we won. Go Hawks!

BioHawk2 · Mar 23, 2026

That's actually probably about right. I feel like there should be more options than that but, sadly, there really aren't. Big 10 tournament games are great but they don't really have long term impact for the program, imo.

Hawkangler · Mar 23, 2026

jedhawk77 said:
Well he did say last 50 years.

I was thinking the same question earlier today and probably cannot argue with any of those on your list. Honorable mention for the game right prior to Michigan in East Lansing with the miraculous comeback. One could potentially argue to add one of the B1G tourney championships? Maybe best to leave the Alford team off the list.

I'm still in shock we won. Go Hawks!

I thought about the comeback against Michigan State also, but it was not a tournament game

AFM22 · Mar 23, 2026

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset said:
I'd also nominate 1955 Marquette, an 86-81 Iowa win to advance them to their first-ever Final Four.

In the last 50 years?

eyesofhawk · Mar 23, 2026

All of them

Roncuba65 · Mar 23, 2026

Hawkangler said:
I thought about the comeback against Michigan State also, but it was not a tournament game

Should of never happened. Fran should have gotten T'd up, ending any chance of a comeback possible. Or are you thinking 1993 comeback?

RLesterFan · Mar 23, 2026

jedhawk77 said:
Well he did say last 50 years.

I was thinking the same question earlier today and probably cannot argue with any of those on your list. Honorable mention for the game right prior to Michigan in East Lansing with the miraculous comeback. One could potentially argue to add one of the B1G tourney championships? Maybe best to leave the Alford team off the list.

I'm still in shock we won. Go Hawks!

MSU 17 point comeback was amazing, Val Barnes at his best. TY Eric Snow for helping out

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset · Mar 23, 2026

I will say Iowa winning the 2001 BTT was still a truly special moment both because it was our first CT title, sent us to the NCAAT and also because we made history by being the first team to win 4 games in 4 days.

It was the first actual non-wrestling championship (of any kind) in the major sports that I actually was old enough to watch and recall Iowa winning in my lifetime, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Iowa did win the B10 title in football in 1990, but I was 4 at the time, and peaced out about halfway through the Rose Bowl game to go watch Peter Pan........

Roncuba65 · Mar 23, 2026

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset said:
I will say Iowa winning the 2001 BTT was still a truly special moment both because it was our first CT title, sent us to the NCAAT and also because we made history by being the first team to win 4 games in 4 days.

It was the first actual non-wrestling championship (of any kind) in the major sports that I actually was old enough to watch and recall Iowa winning in my lifetime, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Iowa did win the B10 title in football in 1990, but I was 4 at the time, and peaced out about halfway through the Rose Bowl game to go watch Peter Pan........

Yep. That was a fun 4 days, we knew we had to win to get in. 2002 BTT wasn't bad either with those back to back Recker game winners.

HawkAlum2002 · Mar 23, 2026

Ending Kansas' home non-conference winning streak, also in Tom Davis final year. Still never seen the first 10-15 minutes of that first half since that Luke Recker guy kept keeping Indiana alive vs Kentucky by sending it to double overtime while we waited on ESPN.

bobchawk · Mar 23, 2026

oldxbbc said:
Man, Kevin Gamble, had no clue it had been that many years ago! Still can’t believe that corner 3 last night. What a great time to be a Hawkeye!

Cbs used that clip in their tourney ads for yrs of Gamble running down the court after making that shot.

TampaHawkFan · Mar 23, 2026

Iowa winning at N Carolina on national TV in 1989 was a pretty awesome win, also. How about Roy Marble sneaking to the FT line in place of Ed Horton to help seal it lol.

Wobmam Rulez! · Mar 23, 2026

RLesterFan said:
My choices
1. 1980 Georgetown (pretty easy choice, watched it many times)
2. 2026 Florida (beat the defending champs, first year coach, finally get back to Sweet 16 & game winner)
3. 1993 Michigan (first home game after Street's death against Fab 5, emotional home crowd all game)
4. 1987 Oklahoma (Kevin Gamble hits game winner to go to elite 8)
5. 1980 Syracuse (took down #1 seed to get to elite 8)

Perfect. I concur. I watched all of them, too just like many others around my age or older. Great to finally have a game from this century added to the list.

Wobmam Rulez! · Mar 23, 2026

ArtRadley said:
In 1999 I thought I witnessed the beginning of greatness when Iowa beat #1 ranked and returning champions UConn at Madison Square Garden in Steve Alfraud’s first game coaching the Hawks.

it didn’t turn out as well as I expected.

FIFY and I thought the same thing.

Wobmam Rulez! · Mar 23, 2026

EvilMonkeyInTheCloset said:
I'd also nominate 1955 Marquette, an 86-81 Iowa win to advance them to their first-ever Final Four.

Just a smidgen more than 50 years ago however. Then the great Bill Russell had to go and ruin it.

Wobmam Rulez! · Mar 23, 2026

TampaHawkFan said:
Iowa winning at N Carolina on national TV in 1989 was a pretty awesome win, also. How about Roy Marble sneaking to the FT line in place of Ed Horton to help seal it lol.

I watched that in my army barracks. Was it 88 or 89?

Hawksfor3 · Mar 23, 2026

TampaHawkFan said:
Iowa winning at N Carolina on national TV in 1989 was a pretty awesome win, also. How about Roy Marble sneaking to the FT line in place of Ed Horton to help seal it lol.

Always enjoyed Billy Packer's comments during that "incident" lol.

2432Hawk · Mar 23, 2026

Couple of my favorites

win over UConn with Ray Allen in Great Alaska Shootout

ncaa tournament game vs loaded UTEP team

HawksRule73 · Mar 23, 2026

1. Georgetown to get to Final 4.

2. Florida to get to Sweet 16 (because they were #1 seed and defending champs and a de facto home game and it’d been 27 years)

3. OK to get to Elite 8 (fun fact, that exact same OK team won the natty the very next year against a KS team that we smoked by 20 earlier that year).

4. Ark to get to Sweet 16.

5. Michigan after Street’s death

Hawksbyamillion_rivals316961 · Mar 23, 2026

As a kid I became enamored with Iowa when we went to the sweet 16 back in Davis’ last season. The 2001 BTT was a memorable experience as well but the thing that has always meant the most to me as a fan was getting back to a sweet 16. In my lifetime, it’s this win over Florida and the 1999 sweet 16 team.

uihawk82 · Mar 24, 2026

RLesterFan said:
My choices
1. 1980 Georgetown (pretty easy choice, watched it many times)
2. 2026 Florida (beat the defending champs, first year coach, finally get back to Sweet 16 & game winner)
3. 1993 Michigan (first home game after Street's death against Fab 5, emotional home crowd all game)
4. 1987 Oklahoma (Kevin Gamble hits game winner to go to elite 8)
5. 1980 Syracuse (took down #1 seed to get to elite 8)

That is a great list. As an old timer I would at to your list but not take any of those games away. I would add the mid-60s Iowa win over #1 UCLA on a neutral court in a 4 team early season tourney and the 1970 team making the great late comeback at Purdue against a very good Purdue team.

That win gave Iowa a perfect 14-0 conf record. A High scoring game and hawks made up maybe 8 pts in the last minute or so.

uihawk82 · Mar 24, 2026

HawkAlum2002 said:
Ending Kansas' home non-conference winning streak, also in Tom Davis final year. Still never seen the first 10-15 minutes of that first half since that Luke Recker guy kept keeping Indiana alive vs Kentucky by sending it to double overtime while we waited on ESPN.

Yeah, that was a great game because nobody won at KU. Dr Tom was a great coach at BC, Stanford, and Iowa. He had those players believing and that win plus a sweet 16 in his last year were a big middle finger to the Ath Dir.

ArtRadley · Mar 24, 2026

Wobmam Rulez! said:
FIFY and I thought the same thing.

I was living in NJ at the time and attended the game in person. I even kept the program because I thought this was going to be a great story to tell. It is an interesting story...but not exactly a great one.

RuggieC · Mar 24, 2026

I’m going to go with us beating Nebraska to get the the Elite 8.

RO Hawk44 · Mar 25, 2026

Always liked the Mich St game on the road after Street's death more than the Mich home game. Playing listless and down 17 late in the game before forcing OT.

RLesterFan · Mar 26, 2026

Might be a new contender tonight

jedhawk77 · Mar 26, 2026

RLesterFan said:
Might be a new contender tonight

Rambler Hawk · Mar 26, 2026

RLesterFan said:
Might be a new contender tonight

Hawkfan_08* · Mar 26, 2026

I wish I was just my younger self. I feel like I wouldn't sleep for the next week.

Best 5 wins for Iowa Men in last 50 years ?

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