TAMPA, Fla. — For a second a straight year, Clemson made an early exit in the NCAA Tournament. This time, it came at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Again, it was the Tigers’ inability to make baskets that ended their season, as No. 9 Iowa downed the No. 8 seeded Tigers, 67-61, in the South Regional of the NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa.

“We just didn’t quite have it tonight,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said. “We just couldn’t quite make the timely play. Again, some of that is Iowa. They’re very well-coached. The kids play extremely hard. They don’t give you anything.

“Obviously they made a couple more plays than we did throughout to keep the lead at two or three possessions.”

Clemson (24-11) opened the game by missing almost everything, while the Hawkeyes came out hot to build an early lead and never trailed. Iowa was led by Kael Combs’ 15 points, while All-Big Ten guard Bennett Stirtz added 16. Alvaro Folgueiras came off the bench for an additional 14 points.

The Tigers got 15 points and seven rebounds from R.J. Godfrey, while Butta Johnson dropped in 11 points. Jestin Porter scored nine points. It was the final college game for all three Tigers.

“Early on, I just think we missed a couple easy shots, especially me, around the rim,” Godfrey said. “I know some of our guys missed some easy ones, but that was in the game plan. They’re going to be disruptive, and they’re very lengthy. But I think it was just us just missing shots around the rim.”

The Tigers tried to rally late in the game, as Nick Davidson laid a shot off the glass before Dillon Hunter, Asa Thomas and Porter drained consecutive threes to get within five points, 56-51, with 5:12 to play.

The Hawkeyes did not make a field goal for over seven minutes at one point in the second half, as the Tigers cut the lead to four, 61-57, with 1:28 to play.

However, they could never get over the hump and get it to a one-possession game.

“I thought we stayed with our plan and hung in there reasonably well defensively, but the defensive rebounding was a problem, and obviously the fouling with the free throws, that was the big difference in the game,” Brownell said. “We couldn’t get some defensive stops when we needed them and had a couple opportunities when we tightened the game up and made a couple plays that just were poor.”

Iowa (22-12) dominated the offensive glass most of the night, especially in the second half when it finished with 11 offensive boards. Clemson had several chances in the last five minutes to perhaps cut into the lead, but they could not get the rebound.

The Hawkeyes finished the night with 15 offensive rebounds and with 16 second chance points. It was obvious Clemson missed forward Carter Welling, who led the team in defensive rebounding this year, but tore his ACL in last week’s win over Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament and was unable to play.

“I think not having Carter definitely affected us a little bit, but still, there was a lot of easy shots that we should have made as a team,” Hunter said. “So, we felt like it was kind of our fault. We’ve played high-level competition with like-sized guys, and we just didn’t make the shots we needed to.”

After Iowa knocked down a three to start the second half, the Tigers rallied with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two points, 35-33, behind the play of Godfrey. However, Stirtz hit a corner three that extended the lead back to five and sparked a 9-0 run for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa extended its lead to as many as 14 points in the second half, 51-37, including a crazy stretch in which Folgueiras scored seven straight points. They also dominated the offensive glass in building their lead, grabbing eight in the first 13 minutes of the half.

UGLY START

Clemson opened the game 5-for-20 from the field in the first 13 minutes, which allowed Iowa to build a 22-10 lead.

The Tigers did get the score to seven points, 32-25, by halftime. However, the Hawkeyes’ length bothered Clemson earlier on.

At one point, Clemson missed six shots around the basket. They finished the first half 10-for-27 from the field and 4-for-11 from three-point range.

Clemson’s defense kept them in the game. Iowa did not fair much better from the field, connecting on 10 of 24 shots in the first half, including 5 of 15 from three. However, Combs had a career first half against the Tigers. He scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

Combs was 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Clemson did a good job on Stirtz in the opening half. He scored 8 points, but was just 2-for-8 from the field.

Taking care of the ball. Clemson took care of the basketball against a very good Iowa defense. The Tigers turned the basketball over just three times.

Clemson in Tampa. The Tigers are now 0-4 all-time in Tampa. The basketball program lost to Florida State in the 2007 ACC Tournament here, then in 2008 lost to Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and in 2011, they lost to West Virginia in the first round.

However, Tampa is the city Clemson clinched its second national championship in football with a win over Alabama at Raymond James Stadium. The Tigers also beat Illinois here in the 1991 Hall of Fame Bowl.

Clemson in the NCAA. Clemson made its 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Friday in its first-round game against Iowa. The Tigers have a 14-16 record in games played in the tournament.

The Tigers have advanced to the Elite Eight twice (1980; 2024) and the Sweet 16 five of the previous 14 appearances (1990, 1997, and 2018 in addition to 1980 and 2024).

Three and you’re in. Clemson advanced to its third consecutive NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history. The Tigers advanced to three straight tournaments from 1996-’98 under then head coach Rick Barnes. The program also advanced to four straight tournaments from 2008-’11, three under Oliver Purnell and one under Brownell.

Brownell became the third coach to take the Tigers to three straight tournaments, joining Barnes and Purnell.

Clemson is a basketball school. Clemson made its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance under Brownell, the most under any head coach in school history. The Tigers are now 6-6 under Brownell in the Big Dance.

This was the Tigers’ fifth tournament appearance since 2018, when Brownell led that team to a Sweet 16 appearance. Clemson also advanced to the Elite 8 in 2024.

Injuries. Forward Zac Foster (ACL) is getting better. He was walking around and seemed better than he was last week. Carter Welling (ACL) was walking around and was in a brace. He said after the game he will have surgery next Thursday. He said there is still some swelling in his knee.