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Led by Stirtz, Iowa holds off Ole Miss

On3 imageby: Tom Kakert1 hour agoHawkeyeReport

Many were wondering what would happen once the Iowa men’s basketball team faced their first significant test of the season.

The answer was a resounding success. The Hawkeyes created some distance late and held on to beat Ole Miss 74-69 at the Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs. All American Bennett Stirtz led the way for the Hawkeyes with 29 points.

 Iowa will play the win over Utah and Grand Canyon on Wednesday evening starting at 8:30 pm central on CBS Sports Network.

Both teams struggled out of the gate in this one with the score of 4-2 at the first media timeout with Iowa ahead.

Ole Miss took a brief 8-7 lead before Bennett Stritz took over the game for the first time. He scored seven points in rapid succession to give Iowa a 14-8 lead. But, the Rebels were not going to go quietly. With the Hawkeyes up 16-10, Ole Miss scored the next six points of the game, the last two on back to back dunks to tie the score at 16. At that point Iowa head coach Ben McCollum called a timeout to reset his team.

That worked, briefly, as Kael Combs scored to put Iowa back on top, but the Rebels scored the next six points and were suddenly up 22-18. Then it was Cooper Koch and Stirtz that got the Hawkeyes back in the right direction.

The Hawkeyes went on a 9-0 run that featured four points from Koch to tie the game. Koch finished with his first double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds in the game. Combs hit a short jumper and Cam Manywau knocked down two from the charity stripe and suddenly Iowa went from down four to ahead by five points.

Ole Miss rallied one more time in the first half. They converted on a second chance opportunity with Kezza Giffa drilling a three pointer from the corner to send us to break tied at 31 points.

Both teams traded baskets to start the second twenty minutes before Iowa went on a 6-0 run that included a spinning bucket from Alvaro Folguerias to go up 41-35. As quickly as that six point edge was developed, it disappeared as A.J. Storr and Giffa hit back to back three point field goals to tie the game at 41.

Every time the Rebels would mount a change, the Hawkeyes and Stirtz, or Koch, had an answer. A Stritz three and a pair of free throws from Tavion Banks put Iowa up 54-48 in the second half. But, Storr, who led the Rebels with 22 points, scored five really quickly and the Rebels were back on top 55-54.

Just as quickly as that happened, Stirtz and Koch found the scoring column again and Iowa was back up by four. A Stirtz bucket made it 64-57 and Iowa felt like they were somewhat in control in the final minutes. Isaia Howard, who had a quiet first half, came in late to play defense on Storr. He also found the scoring column in the final minutes with a nice cutting bucket, followed by a pass from Stirtz for the dunk for a 68-60 lead for the Hawkeyes.

While Ole Miss continued to try and claw their way back, Iowa finished the game off from the foul line with Koch and Banks making their free throws to lock up the sixth win in a row to start the season for the Hawkeyes.

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