This was not the kind of game Iowa has played for most of the season. And besides a brief scoring flurry in the second half, it was quite a slog for the Hawkeyes, thanks in part to Richmond’s suffocating defense.

In a frustrating game all around for Iowa, Richmond turned the game into a dogfight and leaned on its strong defense to upset the Hawkeyes 67-63 on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa went to Keegan Murray down the stretch, but the Spiders seemingly had an answer at every turn. Richmond’s Nathan Cayo had a pair of baseline moves in the final minute that helped Richmond seal the win, as an apparent foul against Murray was missed.

Richmond will meet Providence on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes, who had back-to-back shot-clock violations in the first half, struggled against Richmond’s defense to the point where they had just 28 points at halftime to trail by one. For perspective, Iowa averaged 84 points per game in the regular season.

The Hawkeyes shot just 30 percent in the first half, but held a 26-18 edge in rebounds. Jordan Bohannon was also held scoreless in the first half. Iowa was only 1-of-11 from 3-point range, and had just 2 fastbreak points in the first half.

Iowa started much better in the second half when Patrick McCaffery nailed a pair of 3s. But then the Hawkeyes suffered a scoring drought of more than 4 minutes as Richmond countered with an 11-0 run. Bohannon finally scored with a little more than 11 minutes remaining. But the Hawkeyes suffered another drought of more than 4 minutes, as they missed 6 shots in a row and had an offensive foul.