The 2020–21 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team represented the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020, and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The team was led by 11th-year head coach

Fran McCaffery Francis John McCaffery (born May 23, 1959) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as head coach of Lehigh University, UNC Greensboro, Siena, ...

and played their home games at Carver–Hawkeye Arena as members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. The Hawkeyes finished the season 22–9, 14–6 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. They defeated

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament before losing to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

in the semifinals. The Hawkeyes received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West region. They defeated

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

in the First Round before losing to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the Second Round, ending their chances at their first Sweet Sixteen since 1999. Senior center

Luka Garza Luka H. Garza (born December 27, 1998) is a Bosnian-American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national team. Garza played college bask ...

was named Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus All-American for the second consecutive season. He was also named the consensus National Player of the Year and ended his career with a school-record 2,306 points (7th in Big Ten history). Senior guard Jordan Bohannon ended the season with school-records of 639 assists and 364 3-point field goals (2nd in Big Ten history).

Previous season

The Hawkeyes finished the 2019–20 season 20–11, 11–9 in Big Ten play to finish in four-way tie for fifth place. Their season ended when postseason tournaments including the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament were canceled due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Forward

was named Big Ten Player of the Year and was a consensus All-American.

Offseason

Returning players

Junior forward Luke Garza announced on April 10 that he would declare for the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

, but retain his eligibility. On August 2, Garza withdrew his name from the draft and announced he would return to Iowa for his senior season.

Departures

2020 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

On September 16, 2020, the NCAA announced that the start of the season would be pushed back to November 25 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. , - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament *Source
Schedule
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Rankings

^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball season

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball seasons

Hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...