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Ben McCollum says Iowa staff will pursue center from transfer portal: ‘We need some size’
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Iowa’s magical NCAA Tournament run came to an end in the Elite Eight on Saturday night, as the Hawkeyes battled with Illinois for much of the game before the Fighting Illini pulled away for a 71-59 win.
Ben McCollum’s side was able to hang around thanks to a strong night of shooting from behind the arc, but a 40-12 disadvantage when it came to paint points proved to be too much to overcome.
Those numbers were aided by Illinois’ plus-17 mark on the glass, as the three seed’s superior size paid dividends as the game wore on.
And following his team’s defeat, McCollum noted the same thing and added that his team will need to acquire a true center to free up the likes of Alvaros Folgueiras and contend for a spot in the Final Four.
“We need some size…it can be hard for Al [Folgueiras] sometimes down there,” McCollum said. “We just don’t have a true five.”
To McCollum’s point, Iowa has lacked quality size all season. At 6-foot-10, Folgueiras was the tallest player to regularly see the floor for the Hawkeyes, with 6-foot-11 freshman Trevin Jirak being the only player on the roster to eclipse him.
A trio of other players measured at 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-9, with the rest of the team falling in line behind them.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.