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Iowa's Alvaro Folgueiras shares emotional moment with mom following upset of Florida

Byington mugby: Alex Byington03/23/26_AlexByington

Immediately after draining the shot of the 2026 NCAA Tournament through the first two round Sunday night, Alvaro Folgueiras pointed to the heavens and honored his late father with a quick prayer. Minutes later, the Iowa junior from Spain was celebrating in his mother’s arms after the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes knocked off defending national champion Florida, 73-72, to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.

It was an emotional experience for Folgueiras, especially since his mother, Beatriz Campos, traveled nearly 4,500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from their home in Malaga, Spain to Tampa to see her son play live for the first time in two years, according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine. It was also their first reunion since August 2025.

Check out the emotional scene below:

Folguerias last saw his mother when he played a pair of friendlies with Spain’s men’s national team last summer while participating in the 2025 FIBA Under-20 EuroBasket Championships in Heraklion, Greece.

“She saw me with the national team in the summer but in college basketball, she came to one game when I was freshman (at Robert Morris in 2023-24) — I didn’t play much,” Folgueiras said of his mother in the postgame press conference. “She coming back after two years and seeing where I am right now, and how much I worked to be where I am right now, for her, it’s a great feeling because she sent a 16-year-odd kid to America without knowing any English. without anything but dreams and hunger. And this one is for her and my dad. He’s watching up there.”

Folgueiras scored 14 points in 18 minutes off the bench, but none were bigger than his final ones when he caught a pass in the left corner and fired off a dagger 3-pointer with about 4 1/2 seconds left in regulation to send the Hawkeyes to their first Sweet 16 this century. Iowa last made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 1999.

“This was real special. We went through a lot of moments in the season, and I’ve been through a lot of moments in my life,” Folgueiras told CBS sideline reporter AJ Ross on the court postgame. “My mom is there after fighting for me her whole life. This is really special. March is for the dreamers, and there’s no better dreamer than us.

“It’s incredible, we’ve got to keep going,” Folgueiras added. “We’re one of the 16 best teams in the country. But we try to keep chugging away. We are hungry still, so yeah, just keep it rolling.”