With 12:50 left in the first half of Iowa men’s basketball’s Saturday contest against Maryland, first-year head coach Ben McCollum went to his bench, subbing out fourth-year Tavion Banks and third-year Alvaro Folgueiras for third-year Cam Manyawu and first-year Tate Sage.
While Manyawu and fourth-year Bennett Stirtz are no stranger to high-caliber performances, Sage was ready to make an impact despite his freshman status.
“Coach Mac gives me plenty of opportunities to flow and play my game within the system,” Sage said. “I think we come out with a little edge and competitiveness every single time we play.”
The Hawkeyes had a rough start to this season’s Big Ten campaign, suffering a 71-52 loss to No. 7 Michigan State on Dec. 2. The offense struggled in East Lansing, with Stirtz, the only Iowa player to score in double figures, limited to just 14 points by the Spartan defense. This, coupled with a lackluster 37.8 percent in field goals, led to Iowa’s first loss of the season.
While neither Sage nor the Hawkeyes played a perfect game against Maryland, the offense was much more efficient, with a big component of this being the Weatherford, Oklahoma, native, who chipped in 12 points, three assists, and three rebounds against the Terrapins.
“He knows how to play off people,” McCollum said. “Rather than having to have the ball in his hands at all times, he’s able to play off people, and then he got more consistent, got better defensively, he got a little edge to him as well.”
After the loss in East Lansing and with No. 10 Iowa State on the horizon, Manyawu credited Saturday as a good win.
“After going down to Michigan State, getting beat like that, it was a good game for us to come back and win the way we did, execute everything at a high level,” Manyawu. “It was good.”
The third-year transfer from Drake also praised his teammate for giving the Hawkeyes a boost in the first half.
“He’s a really good freshman,” Manyawu said. “I think he’s [going to] continue to grow and develop. You can see it out there, he’s hitting big shots in the first half, and then cuts and getting dunks. I think he makes a lot of big plays for us.”
Not even 30 seconds after being subbed in by McCollum, Sage put up a driving layup in the paint to get his first points of the game. Less than two minutes later, the first-year, aided by Stirtz off of a Maryland turnover, capitalized on a fast break and drove deep into Terrapin territory for his first dunk of the day.
“It kind of felt nice, [to] get settled in a little bit,” Sage said. “It’s not going to happen every night. Tonight came my way and [I] made the most of the opportunity, but some nights it’s not me, sometimes it’s the other people, so as a team, if we can do that every night, it’d be nice.”
Sage also took time to credit McCollum for his role in the his growth throughout the young season.
“He’s definitely changed me, made me a little more competitive, more edgy,” Sage said. “I felt like I really just settled in, [started] playing good in the system.”