Iowa men’s basketball got a notable recruiting boost this week when top-10 2027 guard Cayden Daughtry included the Hawkeyes in his list of 14 schools.
For Ben McCollum’s program, it’s another sign that the future-facing recruiting push is starting to pay off. Iowa has spent the summer working through workouts and building toward next season, but the staff has also been pressing ahead on the trail, where Daughtry has become one of the biggest names in the class.
When McCollum first began recruiting Daughtry in the summer of 2025, the Florida guard was ranked No. 24 overall in the 2027 class. Since then, his rise has been dramatic. Rivals now lists him as a five-star prospect, Florida’s No. 3 overall player, the No. 2 point guard, and the No. 3 overall prospect in the class.
Daughtry’s latest cut also underscores just how crowded this race has become. After more than 30 offers, he has narrowed things to 14 programs that include Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan and USC.
The Hawkeyes have been in the mix for a while. They’ve been recruiting Daughtry since his under-17 days, and Bennett Stirtz has played a major role in that effort. Daughtry said Stirtz being at one of his games last week “meant a lot” to him, and he’s made clear that Iowa’s attention has stood out since McCollum took over.
That connection matters because Daughtry has been everywhere this summer. He helped Team USA win gold and then dominated the 2026 Nike Peach Jam with the Florida Rebels. He was named Peach Jam MVP after leading his team to the title, averaging 32.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Now the challenge shifts to the next phase. Daughtry’s top-14 schools will keep pushing, and Iowa will have to keep doing what it has done so far: stay aggressive, stay involved and keep selling the guard development track record that Stirtz helped reinforce.
That path is part of what makes Iowa intriguing here. Daughtry has seen a player like Stirtz go from Division II Northwest Missouri State to a first-round NBA Draft pick, and that kind of rise has real weight in a recruitment like this.
Landing Daughtry would be a major win for McCollum and the Hawkeyes. It won’t be easy, with Florida and several other heavyweights involved, but Iowa has already done the early work to get itself in the conversation.
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