The unlikely rise of Iowa’s Ben McCollum, Bennett Stirtz: Division II to Elite Eight

HOUSTON — Ben McCollum was livid. Saliva sat on the sting of his lip, however he did not wipe it off. He was mid-tirade, and his Iowa group was down 10 factors to Nebraska early in Thursday’s Sweet 16 assembly.

Next to him stood Bennett Stirtzthe Hawkeyes’ stoic star who had seen a number of McCollum outbursts. Stirtz wasn’t fazed.

“He slammed his whiteboard and broke his marker on the hardwood floor. Ink everywhere,” Stirtz stated after Iowa’s come-from-behind win over Nebraska. “That’s what he likes to do. He’s the negative guy, and then our assistant coaches are the positive people. He was just telling us we sucked and we were soft.”

McCollum had a special interpretation of that pivotal second in opposition to the Cornhuskers.

“They were moving and cutting, and I didn’t even know what was going on. So… we called [the team] into the huddle and just very nicely said, ‘I would like you to play harder, guys,'” McCollum stated. “And it seemed to work. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that how that went?'”

Stirtz nodded his head.

“Yes,” I responded.

McCollum is admittedly demonstrative. Look no additional than final Sunday’s near clash with Florida coach Todd Golden throughout Iowa’s upset of the No. 1 seed within the Round of 32.

Stirtz is the alternative. He’s perpetually cool.

That fire-and-ice pairing of McCollum and Stirtz — who’re at their third college collectively, following stints at Division II Northwest Missouri State (2022-24) and Drake (2024-25) — has fueled Iowa’s shock run to the Elite Eight. The Hawkeyes went simply 10-10 within the Big Ten, but are on the brink of their first Final Four look since 1980. It’s the fourth time in 4 years that McCollum and Stirtz have superior in an NCAA match collectively. It’s additionally the furthest they’ve superior at any degree.

First, they made it to the second spherical of the 2023 Division II NCAA match, the place Stirtz scored seven factors in a loss to Southern Nazarene. A 12 months after that, they reached the Division II Sweet 16, the place Stirtz scored 12 factors in opposition to Minnesota State earlier than shedding to the eventual nationwide champion on a buzzer-beater. And after making the Division I soar to Drake final season, they received a first-round recreation as Stirtz carried the 11-seeded Bulldogs to a first-round upset of a 6-seeded Missouri with 20 factors earlier than working into an Elite Eight-bound Texas Tech within the second spherical.

There was no shock when Stritz adopted McCollum to Iowa — or when the 2024-25 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year continued to thrive in McCollum’s system. The senior guard earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after ending fifth within the convention in scoring (19.7 PPG) however has saved his finest for the NCAA match. His 3-pointer with 2:10 to play in Thursday’s win over Nebraska gave Iowa its first lead of the sport. The Hawkeyes by no means trailed once more, closing out the win to arrange Saturday’s matchup in opposition to Illinois (6:09 pm ET).

“You see him on the floor, and then you see me on the sideline — so polar opposites in personalities. Not polar opposites in value,” McCollum stated. “He’s super competitive. I’m super competitive. I feel like he works with a level of humility. I feel like he’s a really tough kid. I feel like he serves others, all those different things.”

Added Stirtz: “He shoots it straight. Even when it’s tough and even when it’s hard. He pushes you past your limit, and I think that’s where the trust comes in… he just pushes everyone on this team, and honestly, you can see the benefit from that.”

Minnesota State head coach Matt Margenthaler is not shocked by the duo’s success this March. He nonetheless has nightmares about Stirtz and McCollum’s Northwest Missouri State squad practically derailing his group’s Division II championship run in 2023.

Their rise, Margenthaler argues, is a beacon for Division II basketball — proof that gamers and coaches at that degree may be stars on the subsequent, too.

“You always question, I think, when you go up a level, ‘Can he do it at that next level in the Missouri Valley Conference?’ And then he proved that in one year,” Margenthaler informed ESPN. “And then, ‘Can he do it again in the Big Ten?’ And then he just continues to amaze the coaching world with what he can do.”

“[Stirtz’s] confidence has grown and grown and grown,” Margenthaler stated. “He is obviously a Division I basketball player, but one that has made himself better each year. I mean, what a story: those two guys together and what they’re doing.”

And in case you ask McCollum and Stirtz, they don’t seem to be accomplished but.

“In 20 years, it will be an insane story. A guy that goes from Division II with his coach and then goes to Drake and then goes to the University of Iowa and actually makes it farther in the tournament in Division I than he did in Division II,” McCollum stated. “I think when you’re a player-coach [relationship] sometimes, you obviously care for each other and love each other and all of that, but you don’t get to connect on [this] kind of level. But it’s been a hell of a ride, but it’s far from over.”