What to Expect: IU basketball hosts Iowa

Indiana will look to snap a two-game losing streak when it hosts Iowa on Saturday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hawkeyes, losers of three straight, are 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten.

Saturday’s matinee will tip at approximately 2 p.m. ET on FOX:

Indiana suffered its first blowout loss of the season on Tuesday night, falling 81-60 to Michigan State in East Lansing. The Hoosiers tied the game at 53, but the Spartans took firm control after that. IU mustered only seven points over the final 11:19.

Iowa, led by first-year coach Ben McCollum, is No. 20 in KenPom.com and a projected NCAA tournament team. The Hawkeyes, however, have hit a rough patch recently with losses at Minnesota, at home to Illinois and at Purdue on Wednesday night.

MEET THE HAWKEYES

McCollum is in his second year at the Division I level after a 15-year run at Northwest Missouri State that produced four Division II national titles.

Last season, McCollum took over at Drake after Darian DeVries left Des Moines for West Virginia and captained the Drake program to a 31-4 record and a No. 11 seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs beat Missouri in the first round before falling to Texas Tech in the round of 32.

McCollum brought six players from Drake to Iowa City and five of them are regulars in the rotation.

The headliner, of course, is All-American candidate Bennett Stirtz, who began his career at the Division II level with McCollum at Northwest Missouri State. Last season at Drake, Stirtz established himself as one of the premier guards in college basketball and this season he’s playing at an All-Big Ten level for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa’s identity offensively is built around the playmaking and scoring ability of Stirtz, who runs the deliberate offensive style to great success. The 6-foot-4 senior leads the Hawkeyes in both scoring – 17.7 points per game – and assists at five per game. He also leads Iowa with 1.5 steals per game. He shoots 48.1 percent from the field, 37.9 percent on 3s and 81.6 percent from the free-throw line. Stirtz can do damage from just about anywhere on the floor and his mid-range game is a weapon that he will use.

He’s joined in the backcourt by Kael Combs, a Nixa, Missouri native who began his career at Wyoming before following assistant coach Bryston Williams to Drake last season and then to Iowa City for his junior campaign. (Junior big man Cam Manyawu followed the same path.)

The 6-foot-4 Combs is a low usage offensive player who had a remarkable night on Wednesday in West Lafayette. Combs hit four of his five 3-point attempts – the first time he’s made more than one 3-pointer in a game this season – and scored a career-high 16 points in 38 minutes.

Combs Stirtz

(Shot charts via UMHoops.com)

Redshirt freshman Cooper Koch, who stayed at Iowa after the coaching change, starts at the four with Drake transfer Tavion Banks, who has been with McCollum since Northwest Missouri State, is the starter at the three.

The 6-foot-8 Koch has scored in double figures five times, is a 41.1 percent 3-point shooter (56 attempts) and an extremely efficient finisher. A former top 100 prospect in the 2024 class out of Peoria, Illinois, Koch is shooting 62.9 percent on 2s.

Banks, a 6-foot-7 wing, is the second-highest usage player on the roster and the second leading scorer at 9.6 points per game. He’s 9-for-17 on 3s this season, good for 52.9 percent and is shooting 55.2 percent on 2s. He’s excellent on the offensive glass – 10th in the Big Ten thus far in league games in offensive rebounding percentage and also averages more than a steal per game.

Koch Banks

The aforementioned Manyawu starts at the five and while he is undersized against some Big Ten frontcourts, he’s a high-energy guy who is a great rebounder. According to KenPom.com, Manayawu has the 28th-best offensive rebounding percentage in the country. In Big Ten games, he has the third-highest offensive rebounding percentage. At 6-foot-9, Manyawu can also block shots – 14 total in 17 games – and he connects on an efficient 63 percent on 2s.

The three names to know off the bench are freshman forward Tate Sage, senior big man Alvaro Folgueiras and sophomore guard Isaia Howard.

The 6-foot-7 Sage had 13 points recently in 29 minutes in a loss against Illinois and also had 12 points in a home win against Maryland. He’s shooting 59.5 percent on 2s and is 12-for-33 this season on 3s.

Folgueiras, a native of Spain and a transfer from Robert Morris, is a 6-foot-10 center who can stretch the floor. He’s 22-for-53 on 3s and is making 68.2 percent of his 2s. He’s scored in double figures eight times and is third on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game.

Howard, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, had his worst game of the season at Purdue, finishing scoreless in six minutes with two turnovers. But before that, he had 28 points over three games against UCLA, Minnesota and Illinois and is another efficient finisher at the rim on the roster. Howard is shooting 63.8 percent on 2s.

TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW

(All national rankings in parentheses are updated through Wednesday’s games.)

Iowa tempo-free stats preview

Iowa is turning its opponents over at an impressive rate, ranking seventh nationally in opponent turnover percentage (22.4). After Indiana’s recent issues taking care of the ball, limiting mistakes in what is likely to be a low-possession game is essential for IU’s success.

The Hawkeyes can get into foul trouble because of their defensive aggressiveness. Iowa opponents have a free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 38.2 percent, which ranks 252nd in the country. In Big Ten games, Iowa opponents have a free-throw rate of 44.7 percent, which is last in the league.

Offensively, Iowa ranks ninth in the country in 2-point field goal percentage (60.8) and 30th in 3-point shooting percentage (37.3). The Hawkeyes are not a high-volume 3-point shooting team but are coming off a hot 12-for-25 performance on Wednesday at Mackey Arena.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

The KenPom projection is Indiana by one with a 53 percent chance of a Hoosier victory, while Bart Torvik’s ratings have IU by three with a 61 percent chance of a win.

It’s too early to call this a must-win game for Indiana, but it’s no secret that the Hoosiers need a win with a road trip to Michigan looming next. The math for a .500-or-better record in the league also becomes difficult with a loss on Saturday.

For Indiana, making things difficult for Stirtz, avoiding careless turnovers and finding a way to get open, in-rhythm 3-pointers are the keys. Big Ten foes are shooting just 30.6 percent from 3 against the Hawkeyes and Iowa will do everything it can to make Indiana uncomfortable on the perimeter.

The Hoosiers showed themselves capable of playing with Nebraska for much of last Saturday’s home loss, but ran out of gas in the second half as the defense collapsed. To prevail and snap the two-game skid, Indiana needs a complete 40-minute effort against an Iowa team (0-3 in true road games) that is also desperate for a win.

(Photo credit: Iowa Athletics)

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