Iowa men’s basketball team gets Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon League’s Player of the Year

From Spain via Pittsburgh, the Iowa men’s basketball team has a new forward who rebounds and has a perimeter game.

Alvaro Folgueiras, the Horizon League’s 2024-25 Player of the Year, has transferred to Iowa from Robert Morris.

The 6-foot-9, 19-year-old Folgueiras averaged 14.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game in his sophomore season for the 26-9 Colonials, who won the Horizon’s regular-season and tournament titles in March.

Folgyeiras started all 35 games. He made 45 of 109 3-pointers for 41.3 percent, and shot 54.8 percent overall. He had 12 double-doubles, games of 10 or more points and 10 or more rebounds. He had 35 points in one game, 19 rebounds in another.

“Alvaro is an extremely versatile player,” Iowa Coach Ben McCollum said. “He shoots at a high clip, is super competitive and has won … we value winning. On top of that is his ability to pass the ball and trigger offense, which is what we needed. We’re excited Alvaro is a Hawkeye.”

Robert Morris, located in suburban Pittsburgh, was a No. 15-seed in the NCAA tournament. It lost 90-81 to No. 2-seed Alabama in the first round. Folgueiras had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

As fate would have it, Iowa’s first game in the Ben McCollum coaching era is against Robert Morris, Nov. 4 in Iowa City.

Folgueiras is the seventh transfer who has committed to McCollum’s team and ninth scholarship player. For Iowa’s updated roster, click here.