The Iowa Hawkeyes (6-0) beat the Ole Miss Rebels (5-1), 74-69 in a back-and-forth game which featured 10 lead changes and 9 ties. When the Hawks got up 8 points off back-to-back buckets from Isaia Howard
with 1:56, it was the largest lead either team had.
Bennett Stirtz absolutely looked the part tonight, leading the game with 29 points on 9/20 shooting and 6/8 from deep. 18 points came after halftime and he always seemed to have a counter whenever the Rebels made a run. Cooper Koch notched a double-double at 14 points and 10 rebound and was the closer at the free throw line, with 3/4 shooting as the game wound down.
The game started out rough, as neither team could really get it going. At one point, the teams traded shot clock violations at one point and while Iowa couldn’t hit anything (2/10 start from the field), Ole Miss was plagued by turnovers with 6 through 10+ minutes. The Hawks, to their credit, manufactured offense with 6 offensive boards in the frame converted into 8 points.
Cooper Koch had an good first half with 6 points in 18 minutes (the most he had played since 26 in the season opener) and 3 offensive boards. Bennett Stirtz had 11 points on 4/10 shooting but had a stretch of play where he had his own 7-0 run in about 75 seconds of play.
Unfortunately, the Hawks mismanaged the time down the stretch of the half, up 31-28. Koch passed up a decent look at 3 which led to a contested Stirtz jumper with 0:35 seconds left. They couldn’t secure the defensive rebound on the other end which led to a Kezza Giffa 3 as the clock wound down. So a potential 2-for-1 opportunity ended up with Ole Miss entering half with a tie.
The first 5 minutes of the second half featured much of the same in a klunky back and forth where nobody could string together any makes. An Alvaro Folgueiras layup on a spinning post move where he nearly committed his first turnover of the season, got the ball dropping for both sides.
After Iowa extended the lead to 41-35 after a pair of Stirtz free throws, the 3s started falling with Ole Miss making two to tie it up. Koch and Stirtz made a pair in quick succession but the Rebels kept it tight before another Stirtz 3 extended Iowa’s lead to 52-48. AJ Storr hit two straight baskets and then Eduardo Klafke made a pair of free throws to give Ole Miss a 55-54 lead.
Koch and Stirtz then combined for back-to-back baskets to regain the lead. Folgueiras first (and only) 3 of the game extended Iowa’s lead to 62-57. Later in the half, Iowa had an excellent possession which featured 4 paint touches and a short-range pass from Folgueiras to Howard (the first basket mentioned in the lede) for a floater. Koch came up with a huge defensive board and then Stirtz found Howard for a cut & dunk. 68-60.
Credit to Ben McCollum for going to Howard down the stretch – he was spotty in first half minutes with a team-low minus-9 but played solid defense, collected a couple boards, and made two huge shots.
From there, it was largely just formalities. Iowa’s first turnover of the second half came on a spotty offensive foul from Stirtz when trying to get himself open for an inbound pass. Storr hit a basket on the ensuing possession to get it to 73-69 with 15 seconds left but they couldn’t bring it closer.
The Hawks will take on the winner of Utah / Grand Canyon at 8:30p tomorrow night.
