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 games, are 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten.
Saturday’s matinee tips off at approximately 2:00 PM ET on FOX:
Indiana suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday night, falling 81-60 to Michigan State in East Lansing. The Hoosiers tied the game at 53, but the Spartans then took firm control. IU mustered just seven points in the final 11:19.
Iowa, led by first-year coach Ben McCollum, is ranked No. 20 in KenPom.com and a projected NCAA tournament team. However, the Hawkeyes have hit a rough patch lately with losses at Minnesota, at home to Illinois and Wednesday night at Purdue.
MEET THE HAWKEYES
McCollum is in his second year at the Division I level after a 15-year stint 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 defeated 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 started his career at the Division II level at McCollum at Northwest Missouri State. Last season at Drake, Stirtz established himself as one of the premier guards in college basketball and is playing at the All-Big Ten level for the Hawkeyes this season.
Iowa’s identity offensively is built around the playmaking and scoring ability of Stirtz, who leads the deliberate offensive style to great success. The 6-foot-1 senior leads the Hawkeyes in both scoring (17.7 points per game) and assists with five per game. He also leads Iowa with 1.5 steals per game. He is shooting 48.1 percent from the field, 37.9 percent on 3s and 81.6 percent from the free throw line. Stirtz can do damage just about anywhere on the floor and his mid-range game is a weapon he will utilize.
He is joined in the backcourt by Nixa, Missouri, native Kael Combs, 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 standout night in West Lafayette on Wednesday. Combs hit four of his five 3-point attempts – the first time he has made more than one 3-pointer in a game this season – and scored a career-high 16 points in 38 minutes.
(Shot Charts via UMHoops.com)
Redshirt freshman Cooper Koch, who remained 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-1 Koch has scored in double figures five times, is a 41.1 percent 3-point shooter (56 attempts) and an extremely efficient finisher. Koch, a former top 100 prospect in the class of 2024 from Peoria, Illinois, is shooting 62.9 percent on 2s.
Banks, a 6-foot-1 wing, is the second-tallest player on the roster and the second-leading scorer at 9.6 points per game. He is 9-of-17 on 3s this season, good for 52.9 percent, and shooting 55.2 percent on 2s. He’s excellent on the offensive end: 10th in the Big Ten in league play so far in offensive rebounding percentage and also averaging more than a steal per game.
The aforementioned Manyawu starts at the five and while he is undersized against some Big Ten frontcourts, he is an energetic 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-1, Manyawu can also block shots — 14 total in 17 games — and connects efficiently at 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-1 Sage recently had 13 points in 29 minutes in a loss to Illinois and also had 12 points in a home win against Maryland. He is shooting 59.5 percent on 2s and is 12-for-33 on 3s this season.
Folgueiras, a native of Spain and a transfer from Robert Morris, is a 6-foot-1 center who can stretch the floor. He is 22-for-53 on 3s and makes 68.2 percent of his 2s. He has scored in double figures eight times and is third on the team in scoring at 8.7 points per game.
Howard, a 6-foot-10 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 once again an efficient finisher on the edge of the roster. Howard is shooting 63.8 percent on 2s.
PACE-FREE PREVIEW
(All national rankings in brackets will be updated during Wednesday’s games.)
Iowa is turning opponents over at an impressive rate and ranks seventh nationally in opponent turnover percentage (22.4). After Indiana’s recent ball-handling issues, limiting mistakes in what will likely be a low-possession game is vital to IU’s success.
The Hawkeyes could be in big trouble because of their defensive aggressiveness. Iowa opponents have a free throw percentage (FTA/FGA) of 38.2 percent, which ranks 252nd in the nation. In Big Ten games, Iowa opponents have a 44.7 percent free throw percentage, which is last in the league.
Offensively, Iowa ranks ninth in the nation in 2-point field goal percentage (60.8) and 30th in 3-point shooting percentage (37.3). The Hawkeyes are not a big 3-point shooting team, but they are coming off a nice 12-for-25 performance at Mackey Arena on Wednesday.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The KenPom projection is Indiana at one with a 53 percent chance of a Hoosier win, while Bart Torvik’s ratings are IU at 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 the Hoosiers need a win with a road trip to Michigan looming next. The math for a league record of .500 or better also becomes difficult with a loss on Saturday.
For Indiana, by making things difficult for Stirtz, avoiding careless turnovers and finding a way to get open, rhythmic three-pointers are the key. 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 at the rim.
The Hoosiers showed themselves capable of playing for much of last Saturday’s home loss to Nebraska, but ran out of gas in the second half as the defense collapsed. To prevail and break its two-game skid, Indiana will need a full 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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