Nov 18, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Alvaro Folgueiras (7) controls the ball against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks during the first half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

New Star Shines in Iowa's Fourth-Straight Win

Originally posted on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI | By Lane Mills | Last updated Nov 19, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The Iowa Hawkeyes, now under the unbelievably refreshing Ben McCollum at head coach, are quickly renewing their reputation in a B1G Conference that had recently forgotten them, although they can’t really be blamed. Prior to the aforementioned new hire, Iowa had essentially become irrelevant to league competition.

Hitting the Reset Button

Their 17-16 finish in former HC Fran McCaffery’s last season at the helm was bad enough, but taken with his final conference cume of 7-13? The Hawkeyes are firmly a B1G bottom-feeder and, above all else, that seemed to be the catalyst that caused the need for McCollum’s hire in the first place. If Iowa wanted to be respected in their own conference, they needed to hit the reset button.

Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

It’s helped that, thus far, the positive turnaround has been almost immediate. After three straight dominant wins at home, the team had one more favorable matchup of the same sort before hitting the road to take on Ole Miss, a Southeastern Conference sleeper.

Before that challenge, Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) had to come to Iowa City, and in the Hawkeyes fourth straight win, a new top-scorer emerged amidst the victory. Transfer forward Alvaro Folgueiras stood out above the rest, and then some.

The Stretch Forward Strikes Back

Folgueiras, after spending his first two collegiate seasons as the go-to option for the Robert Morris Colonials, is the sort of scoring stretch forward that the game of basketball has, to some extent, moved on from. He moves methodically and can put the ball in the bucket from anywhere; against SEMO, the best of Folgueiras’ game was on prime display.

With a team-high 16 points in 25 minutes, the four-man led the Hawkeyes’ scoring efforts that would eventually result in a runaway 99-70 victory. Just one point shy of the century mark, Iowa continues to make a case for one of the B1G’s best offensive teams, and Folgueiras is at the forefront of that push.

Tallying five rebounds and an assist to boot, his multi-faceted output bodes well for Iowa’s presence in the paint going forward. With the aforementioned Rebels set to host the black and gold in an SEC road game next, the Hawkeyes will need all the down-low production that they can get.

That duel is shaping up to be Iowa’s first real test of the season, but on the backs of Folgueiras and fellow teammate (and usual leading scorer) Bennett Stirtz, Hawkeyes fans have to like their chances.

This article first appeared on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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