Iowa
Iowa lands four-star WR Terrence Smith after best offensive outing in five years
IOWA CITY, Iowa — One day after Iowa’s offense put up a five-year high of 492 yards in a 40-0 win against Illinois State, the Hawkeyes landed Class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Terrence Smith, who announced his decision on Sunday afternoon through multiple social media platforms.
Smith, who stands 6 foot 4 and weighs 175 pounds, visited Iowa and Minnesota in June, and his decision came down to those longtime rivals. Purdue and Iowa State also were involved in the pursuit of the West Aurora (Ill.) High School product. According to the 247Sports Composite, Smith is ranked as the nation’s No. 47 receiver and No. 326 overall prospect, and the No. 8 prospect in the state of Illinois.
The Hawkeyes, who will sign a smaller than usual class in 2025, rank No. 40 in the composite class rankings with only 15 commits, but six are four-star prospects. Smith is the only receiver commit in the class.
Last year at West Aurora, Smith caught 59 passes for 906 yards and 11 scores. On Friday, he caught one pass for 11 yards and a touchdown in a 53-0 win during which West Aurora completed only three passes.
Smith is a three-sport athlete whom Iowa had targeted for two years. He averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last basketball season and finished sixth in the high jump (6-5) at the Illinois state track meet.
GO DEEPER
Iowa’s recruiting focus in the Chicago area pays dividends on both sides
What does this mean for Iowa?
Recently, Iowa has turned to the transfer portal for help at receiver, and the Hawkeyes have targeted only Smith in the 2025 class. He has the size to play outside but is athletic enough to compete for snaps at any of Iowa’s slots.
Iowa recruits Illinois like there is no state border, and the Hawkeyes have landed six of the state’s top 32 prospects for 2025, including No. 1 Iose Epenesa and three more in the top 11. Five of those commits are Chicagoland area prospects, not including preferred walk-on quarterback Ryan Fitzgerald, the son of former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. Every Illinois prospect who visited Iowa in June committed to the Hawkeyes.
(Photo: Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)
HOUSTON — Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2005.
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, which has never won a national title. The Fighting Illini will face either Duke or UConn next weekend in Indianapolis.
The much taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21 in the South Region final. David Mirkovic led the way with 12 rebounds.
Coach Brad Underwood’s emphasis on recruiting in Eastern Europe has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7-foot-1, and his 7-2 twin brother Zvonimir have shined in March.
Andrej Stojakovic, who was born in Greece but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois.
His famous father watched proudly as his son punched his ticket to the Final Four, and Wagler’s parents — who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas — cheered wildly throughout for their son, who was named MVP of the region.
Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round as part of an impressive run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State.
No. 6 seed Tennessee (25-11) defeated No. 2 seed Iowa State (29-8), 76-62, on Friday in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The Vols advanced to their third consecutive Elite Eight under 11th-year head coach Rick Barnes.
“One, very humbled by it,” Barnes said. “Certainly proud of our basketball team. They worked really hard. Defensively, I thought we knew we would have to have a great effort defensively. Certainly Iowa State, outstanding. T.J. (Otzelberger), outstanding program, coach.
“This time of year is always tough when you lose a key guy like they did, and that’s part of the tournament. That’s the tough part about it, but just really proud of our guys and the effort they made and against a team that they play as hard as any team we played all year. The start of the game, I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that all year, and we were able to withstand it. Again, just really proud of the effort from our entire team. Everybody had a hand in us winning this game.”
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CHICAGO − Tennessee basketball’s Men’s NCAA Tournament game against Iowa State will start a little later than planned.
The Sweet 16 game between the No. 6 Vols (24-11) and No. 2 Cyclones (29-7) will now tipoff at 10:25 p.m. ET at the United Center on TBS.
The game was originally scheduled for 10:10 p.m. before the 15-minute delay. There is also the standard 30-minute break in between tournament games. Tennessee and Iowa State won’t begin until 30 minutes after the end of No. 1 Michigan (33-3) and No. 4 Alabama (29-5).
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson status
Iowa State’s star forward Joshua Jefferson is questionable against Tennessee basketball according to the NCAA player availability report released at 6:32 p.m.
Jefferson sprained his ankle in the opening minutes of Iowa State’s first-round game against Tennessee State. He sat for the remainder of the game and missed the Cyclones’ win over Kentucky on March 22. Iowa State didn’t need the All-Big 12 forward as it generated 20 Wildcat turnovers in its 19-point victory.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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