Iowa is the ninth seed in South Region and plays Clemson on Friday in Tampa. In his first season as head coach, Ben McCollum has led the Hawkeyes back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years.

Many of McCollum’s players at Iowa were part of the Drake team he led to the second round of the tournament a year ago.

Iowa is 21-12 and McCollum felt confident they were going to receive an at-large bid. They have been off since losing to Ohio State at the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday.