Alvaro Folgueiras could be key play for Iowa men’s basketball team as Big Ten-only play hits

DES MOINES - Gradual, steady success.

That’s what Ben McCollum says he wants to see from new guys in his Iowa men’s basketball program.

He’ll take a player who comes in and lights it up right away. Any coach would do so.

But this is about the long haul. And in the long haul, Alvaro Folgueiras is going to be fine.

Just fine.

“I think there is a transition,” said McCollum, whose 25th-ranked Hawkeyes host Massachusetts-Lowell in their final non-conference game of the season Monday at 4 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “I think if you’re going to build a program the right way, you shouldn’t just have guys who instantly (dominate). They should be able to play and compete instantly, but it’s tricky.

“Because we do feel like we have a difficult program, we feel like we make guys work pretty hard, we feel like we make them hit a certain standard. He’s getting there. He had his best week of practice (last) week.”

Folgueiras transferred to Iowa after two good seasons at Robert Morris. The 6-foot-10 forward from Malaga, Spain, helped the Colonials to the NCAA tournament last season and was named the Horizon League’s player of the year.

He’s had ebbs and flows this season but is coming off two really good games, especially from an offensive standpoint. Folgueiras scored 13 points two weeks ago in a win over Western Michigan and scored a season-best 17 points last week in a blowout win over Bucknell.

“I thought (against Bucknell) he made the game easy for himself,” McCollum said. “I think some games you try to force things just because you want to try and get the result ... But you don’t understand you didn’t try to achieve that result, you just tried to play your best basketball. As he continues to do that, I think we’re going to see some more success out of him.”

Folgueiras has length and can play an outside-inside game. He has performed well against the lesser teams on Iowa’s schedule but not as well against the better ones.

For instance, he scored two points in Iowa’s Big Ten Conference opener earlier this month against Michigan State, then followed that up with only three points in a win over Maryland. He had four points in a loss at Iowa State.

“You use these games to get the confidence on things that translate to a higher level,” Folgueiras said. “I think that’s a really important point that I’ve been watching and kind of obsessed these last weeks with the coaching staff. This second semester obviously is going to be a really tight one. I’ve just got to make sure that I know what the coaching staff wants from me. I’ve been doing a really intense job these last few weeks on just keeping it simple.”

Which all goes back to the original thought here about success from newbies being gradual.

“I mean, he’s just getting used to the system, then he’s also getting used to the workload. Not even the system per se, but the workload itself,” McCollum said. “Once you get used to the workload, then you get used to the flow, then you get used to the defensive side of the ball. Then you get comfortable and confident in what you do.

“That has just taken him a little more time just because he didn’t have a summer (with Iowa). He’s also been coached a variety of different ways.”

That includes being part of Spain’s national under-20 team the summers of 2024 and 2025.

“So for two years he has played in a different system. Even his freshman year was a little different than his sophomore year. Then that summer he goes and plays with the national teams, so he plays a different style there,” McCollum said. “He kind of gets programmed in that. Then you have to de-program and re-program, and get him to play the style that we’re at. But specific to him, it’s probably mostly the workload is the trickiest part.”

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