HOUSTON – There is absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with the Iowa men’s basketball team.
What this team did to start the new era of Hawkeye basketball was extraordinary. Nobody could’ve ever predicted the season would happen the way it did. Let’s take a trip down memory lane together.
On March 24, 2025, it was officially announced that Ben McCollum was hired as the 23rd head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes. It was either him or Darien DeVries – who ended up at Indiana – and Beth Goetz and Co. decided to go with the guy who was born in Iowa City, who grew up a Hawkeye fan, and won four Division II championships.
Next was the players. The second McCollum was hired, Drake star point guard Bennett Stirtz immediately entered the transfer portal with a “Do Not Contact” tag. It was a given that he was the next one to join the Hawkeyes. Then came Cam Manyawu. And Tavion Banks. And Kael Combs. And Isaia Howard. And incoming freshman Tate Sage.
Then it was the current Iowa players in the portal – Cooper Koch, Payton Sandfort, Josh Dix, and others. Most of them left for their own personal reasons. Koch and his father, former Iowa player J.R., listened to McCollum’s pitch and believed in his word. Cooper didn’t have to be sold that much – it was important for him to continue the Koch legacy at Iowa.
Walk-on Jacob Koch – not related to Cooper, ironically – was embraced by McCollum and allowed him to stay in his hometown of Iowa City.
The newcomers filled in the gaps. Alvaro Folgueiras was the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year from Robert Morris. Brendan Hausen was a lethal shooter from Kansas State. And a freshman class of Trey Thompson, Joey Matteoni, McCollum’s son, Peyton, and Trevin Jirak, who was originally committed to Northern Iowa.
The only one on this squad with true Division I experience was Hausen. But it was a starting point for the rebuild. Continuity between McCollum and his Drake guys would be the biggest key to what the season was going to look like.
Iowa came out on fire, winning its first seven games. The first five were blowouts. A humbling 71-52 loss to then-No. 7 Michigan State on the road was a wake-up call to the Big Ten conference.
Two games later was the intense and historic Cy-Hawk game, and the Hawkeyes proved it can compete with the best in its 66-62 loss to the then-No. 4 Cyclones.
Four more wins followed, one being a win over a gritty UCLA squad to begin the 2026 calendar year. But a three-game losing streak killed any sort of momentum the program was building. The bigger picture, however, was that all three losses – unranked Minnesota, then-No. 16 Illinois, and then-No. 5 Purdue – were all decided within seven points. Competitive losses, at least.
They responded with a six-game winning streak that let Hawkeye fans know they weren’t going away easy. At this point in the season, Stirtz began to cement himself as one of the best players in all of college basketball with a stack of scoring barrages. But the conversation around him was the so-called lack of help around him.
Despite all the momentum, Iowa finished the regular season dropping six of its last eight games. It’s 78-57 blowout loss to then-No. 13 Purdue in front of the first sold-out crowd of the season was concerning. This was what McCollum preached for all season long, and the second it happens, this is the result?
He knew the team needed to rebound from that. So its next game against then-No. 9 Nebraska resulted in a 57-52 victory, gifting the fans who came back with the opportunity to court storm. The kind of win that’ll be remembered for some time. And finally, that signature win all NCAA Tournament teams have.
Eight days later, in the next home game, the Hawkeyes locked in its NCAA Tournament bid with a 74-57 win over Ohio State, who was also on the bubble with them at the time. Not even a loss to the worst team in the Big Ten in Penn State could derail that. And a three-point loss to then-No. 3 Michigan, which was widely considered as a “good loss.”
A 20-11 season, the first 20-win season in four years. Not bad for a coach who was at the Division II level two years ago. He followed that up with his first Big Ten Tournament win.
And what the fans so desperately wanted, they got it. Iowa was selected as the No. 9 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes are back dancing, starting under the Florida sunshine in Tampa.
First round was No. 8 seed Clemson, which was no cake walk. After Iowa walked away with the 67-61 win, it set its eyes on one of the title favorites and the reigning champions in No. 1 seed Florida on home turf – a tall task, literally and figuratively. A 40-minute dog fight resulted in a 73-72 Hawkeye victory, one of the biggest wins in program history and one of the all-time March Madness upsets.
From Tampa to Houston the Hawkeyes went for the Sweet 16 – its first appearance in 27 years. And who better to face than No. 4 seed Nebraska? The Cornhuskers’ best season of all-time was ruined with Iowa’s 77-71 comeback win for its first Elite Eight bid in 39 years.
A second-straight Big Ten foe in No. 3 seed Illinois was waiting. Iowa put together the best performance it could. But in the end, the Illini’s talent prevailed.
Now, all Hawkeye players, coaches, and fans can do is reminisce to what was. This year’s Cinderella team put together an all-time run, and it was nothing but magical. Bracket-busting. Historic.
This team and this coach was one of the most special groups in Iowa sports history. It cannot be underestimated the impact this NCAA Tournament run will have on the future of the program. As long as Ben McCollum is at the helm, the fanbase will continue to show up and support even more than they have this season.
Get ready, Hawkeye fans. This is just the beginning of the Ben McCollum era.
