Bennett Stirtz Is Soaring, and Iowa’s Future at Point Guard Is Already on Ben McCollum’s Radar
Ben McCollum didn’t need long to realize Bennett Stirtz could hoop. Back when he first saw him play in high school, McCollum - then coaching at Division II powerhouse Northwest Missouri State - pegged him as a solid D-II talent. But once Stirtz landed on McCollum’s roster, it didn’t take long for that projection to get blown out of the water.
“His freshman year, I’m like, ‘Geez, this guy’s a high-major kid easy,’” McCollum said Tuesday. “And then he just continued to get better and better and better.”
Fast forward, and Stirtz is now lighting it up in the Big Ten under McCollum again - this time at Iowa. The Hawkeyes are heading into a Wednesday night road test at Maryland, one of just eight regular-season games left before the postseason stretch. But while March is in the air, so is the looming question of next season - and who’s going to be running the point when Stirtz is gone.
Right now, though, Stirtz is still very much in the building, and he’s making the most of every minute. The sophomore guard is coming off a career-high 36-point performance against Northwestern, just a week after dropping 32 on Oregon. That kind of back-to-back brilliance hasn’t gone unnoticed - he’s the first Hawkeye since Keegan Murray in 2022 to earn Big Ten Co-Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks.
And the national spotlight is catching up. Stirtz was named the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the U.S.
Basketball Writers Association and cracked the Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List, joining four other Big Ten standouts. He’s not just playing like a star - he’s positioning himself as a likely NBA Lottery pick when this season wraps.
That, of course, means Iowa’s going to have a big hole to fill at point guard. McCollum knows it. He’s been here before.
At Northwest Missouri State, McCollum had a knack for finding elite guards. DeShaun Cooper and Justin Pitts were two of the best to come through his system, and both played key roles in delivering four Division II national championships to the program. That kind of track record doesn’t happen by accident.
So while McCollum’s not losing sleep over next year just yet - not with a road game at Maryland and a red-hot Iowa squad riding a six-game win streak - he’s already got a plan in mind.
“It’s a pretty good place to play point guard, I would say,” McCollum said Monday night on the Hawk Talk radio show. “It’s probably a good opportunity for somebody. I think it’s the best recruit available ... whether it’s high school or the portal, we’ll find somebody that’s efficient enough to be able to replace that.”
Right now, though, the focus is squarely on Maryland - and keeping the momentum rolling. The Hawkeyes already beat the Terrapins once this season, an 83-64 win back on Dec. 6 in Iowa City that marked McCollum’s first Big Ten victory. A win Wednesday would give Iowa a regular-season sweep of Maryland for just the second time in program history.
There’s more on the line, too. McCollum is one win away from tying Bucky O’Connor’s record for most wins by a first-year Iowa head coach (19), set back in the 1951-52 season. That would put McCollum in second place all-time for wins in a debut season in Iowa’s history.
And with a showdown against No. 13 Purdue looming right after the Maryland trip, Iowa is hoping to avoid the kind of stumble that followed their last big win streak - a January slide that saw them drop three straight before this current six-game heater.
McCollum knows the formula to win on the road - and it’s not just about showing up.
“It’s just a matter of knowing what the recipe is to be able to win on the road, and making sure that you're fully prepared, fully ready to go take something,” he said. “Because you can't just go on the road and just say, ‘Hey, we're just going to play better and try to win.’”
For now, the eyes stay on the task at hand: Maryland, then Purdue, then the rest of the stretch run. The future at point guard?
That’ll come in time. But if McCollum’s track record is any indication, Iowa fans can trust he’ll find the right guy.
“We’ve just had a knack, I guess,” McCollum said. “Kind of got a little bit lucky in finding the right point guards, finding the ones that you know are ready to go, ready to perform. Hopefully we’ll do that again, and we’ll find a couple and see what happens.”