Coach Ben McCollum saw game slippage from his unbeaten Iowa team on Friday night.
The stats from an 81-62 win over Xavier tell another story. The Hawkeyes (3-0) sank 56.9% of their field-goal attempts and dominated the glass 41-24 while making more foul shots (20) than the Musketeers took (14).
Iowa continues its season-opening five-game homestand on Tuesday night when it welcomes Southeast Missouri State to Iowa City.
Just as he did last year when he directed Drake to the Missouri Valley Conference title and its first NCAA Tournament win since 1971, McCollum is riding Bennett Stirtz. The senior point guard is averaging 21.3 points, 5.3 assists and 2.7 steals while playing 115:25 of a possible 120 minutes.
Stirtz coming off a 21-point, eight-rebound performance against Xavier in which he never came off the court.
Despite his growing reputation as a coach who can enjoy instant success, McCollum maintains that he is playing the long game with his new program.
“Being good is hard, and that’s what makes it fun,” he said. “If we don’t have everyone invested in this thing, we can’t get it to where we want it to. There’s going to be ebbs and flows to it.”
While the Hawkeyes try to stay unbeaten, the Redhawks (1-3) hope to find some consistency as they venture beyond Missouri’s borders for the first time this season. The defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champs fell 84-72 at home to St. Thomas-Minnesota on Saturday, allowing the Tommies to can 58.7% of their field-goal attempts.
Luke Aldomovar, who paces SEMO with 14.3 points per game, scored 20 against St. Thomas while going 3 of 6 on 3-point tries. Braxton Stacker (13.3 ppg), Marqueas Bell (12.3 ppg) and BJ Ward (11.5 ppg) also average double figures.
Coach Brad Korn returns eight players from last season. The Redhawks are picked to finish second in the OVC, giving Korn optimism in spite of the slow start.
“You’re able to layer your stuff offensively and defensively a little bit more because you’re not spending as much time teaching a whole new group,” he said.
Iowa has won both previous meetings, including a 106-75 rout in 2022.
–Field Level Media
