Iowa men's basketball dominates battle of former Drake head coaches - Hawk Fanatic

Iowa men's hoops dominates battle of former Drake head coaches

Iowa State defeats Indiana 74-57 in Bloomington.Ben McCollum wins first Big Ten road win

By Hawk Fanatic

In a battle of top coaches, Drake, who still coaches in his home state of Iowa, emerged victorious.

That would be Iowa men's basketball coach Ben McCollum, whose team defeated Darren DeVries' Indiana Hoosiers 74-57 on Saturday at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.

With the win, Iowa snapped a three-game losing streak, McCollum's first in 13 years as head coach, and improved to 3-4 in the Big Ten and 13-5 overall.

Indiana falls to 12-6 and 3-4.

Senior guard Bennett Stirtz scored 27 points for Iowa and made two 3-pointers in the second half to help Indiana rally, giving Iowa a 57-47 lead with 9 minutes, 14 seconds to play.

Iowa senior forward Tavion Banks, who was struggling with flu-like symptoms, also had his best game as a hockey player, as he scored 26 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, and was as dominant as ever.He made all nine of his free throw attempts, while Stirtz went 10-for-11 from the line.

"I'm trying to get through it," Banks said in a Learfield radio interview."I'm feeling a little better. I'm still a little under the weather, but it doesn't bother me."

Banks scored 18 points in Iowa's previous game against Illinois last Sunday, but Iowa still lost that game, 75-69, in Iowa City.

Banks' 26 points in Saturday's win were his most for a Hawkeye.

Banks and Stirtz are among six former Drake players who followed McCollum to Iowa.The most points Banks scored in a game for Drake was 21.

"My confidence is really through the roof right now," Banks said."The coaches also believe in me playing my game, so I just want to give credit to them and my team because they believe in me."

Iowa never trailed in Saturday's game, and with the lead growing to 22 points in the second half, McCollum was able to rest some of his starters late in the game.

Iowa also held Indiana scoreless for nearly nine minutes in the second half.

Iowa led 49-39 when Indiana scored six straight points, cutting the lead to 49-45 with 11:13 left.

Iowa responded with a 17-3 run to stretch the stretch, giving McCollum his first Big Ten win.

“I thought we played winning defense and that's how we win on the road,” McCollum said."Like we've said all along, it's a work in progress. We're learning every day, and I'd rather learn from a win than a loss."

Iowa shot 21 of 23 from the line as a team, almost entirely due to Stietz and Banks, who combined to shoot 19 of 20 from the line.

Iowa State has struggled to get to the free throw line in recent games, and McCollum thinks he knows why.

"We just attacked well," he said."I thought Bennett did a great job of being physical on his drives to finish. I think sometimes he gets lost on his drives and it's like I don't know if he's yellow, but he's not. It's just that it takes him away from the goal. You've got to drive downhill and be physical on those drives or you're not going to get it."

"And I thought he did a better job (today)."

Although junior forward Alvaro Folgueiras was held scoreless and had just three shots, McCollum still praised Folgueiras for his performance on the other end of the field during his postgame radio interview.

"I thought Alvaro played his best game this year defensively," McCollum said."I thought he was fantastic. At first I thought he was probably as bad as I've seen him. But in that second half, he was fantastic defensively. And I thought that gave us a boost.

“And then, obviously, the other guys did a good job of realizing who they were dealing with and took some things away.

As for the Drake connection, McCollum, born in Iowa City and raised in Storm Lake, finished 31-4 in his only season as Drake's head coach last season, while DeVries, an Aplington native, compiled a 150-55 record in six seasons as Drake's head coach from 2018-24 while making three BullAA appearances.

McCollum's record-breaking success at Drake caught the attention of Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz, and when DeVries accepted the Indiana job in March, Iowa hired McCollum less than a week later.

Saturday's game will be the second time this season that McCollum has faced former coach Drake.

For the first time in Minneapolis on Jan. 6, Niko Medved didn't fare so well as the Minnesota Gophers lost 70-67.

Medved was Drake's head coach for one season in 2017-18.

Stirtz picked up his second foul with 4:08 left in the first half, and Iowa up, 30-25.He was called on both occasions while being defended by Indiana guard Connor Enright, who played for DeVries at Drake two years ago.

McCollum had a chance to leave Stirtz in the first half, but Stirtz avoided his third foul and helped Iowa create a 38-28 halftime lead on 5-for-7 shooting from the field and four assists at halftime.

Iowa never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 11 points at the half.

The Hokies also shot 54.2 from the field in the first half, making 13 of 24 field goal attempts and holding a 17-13 advantage.

Iowa made nine of its last 12 shots from the field in the first half.

The challenge for Iowa going into the second half was what started it.

Iowa would go on to meet that challenge in impressive fashion, earning a Quad 1 victory.

Iowa now returns home to face Rutgers on Tuesday.