HOUSTON – Ben McCollum was furious. Saliva settled on the edge of his lip, but he didn't wipe it away. He was in the middle of a rant and his Iowa team was down 10 points to Nebraska entering Thursday's Sweet 16 meeting.
Next to him was Bennett Stirtz, the stoic Hawkeyes star who had seen multiple outbursts from McCollum. Stirtz was unfazed.
“He hit his whiteboard and broke his marker on the hardwood floor. Ink everywhere,” Stirtz said after Iowa's win over Nebraska. “That's what he likes to do. He's the negative guy, and our assistant coaches are the positive people. He just told us that we sucked and that we were weak.”
McCollum had a different interpretation of that crucial moment against the Cornhuskers.
“They were moving and cutting, and I didn't even know what was happening. So… we called [the team] in the huddle and I just said very nicely, 'I wish you guys would play harder,'” McCollum said. “And it seemed to work. Isn't it? Wasn't it like that?'”
Stirtz nodded.
“Yes,” he replied.
It's true that McCollum is demonstrative. Look no further than last Sunday's near-collision with Florida coach Todd Golden during Iowa's loss for the No. 1 seed in the round of 32.
Stirtz is the complete opposite. He is perpetually cool.
That fire-and-ice pairing of McCollum and Stirtz, who are together at their third school, following stints at Division II Northwest Missouri State (2022-24) and Drake (2024-25), has fueled Iowa's surprise run to the Elite Eight. The Hawkeyes went just 10-10 in the Big Ten, but are on the verge of their first Final Four appearance since 1980. It's the fourth time in four years that McCollum and Stirtz have advanced to the NCAA tournament together. It's also the furthest they've advanced at any level.
First, they reached the second round of the 2023 Division II NCAA Tournament, where Stirtz scored seven points in a loss to Southern Nazarene. A year later, they reached the Division II Sweet 16, where Stirtz scored 12 points against Minnesota State before losing to the eventual national champion on a buzzer-beater. And after making the Division I skip Drake last season, they won a first-round game when Stirtz led the 11-seeded Bulldogs to a first-round upset over 6-seeded Missouri by 20 points before running into Elite Eight side Texas Tech in the second round.
There was no surprise when Stritz followed 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 finishing fifth in the conference in scoring (19.7 points per game), but has saved his best for the NCAA tournament. His 3-pointer with 2:10 left in Thursday's win over Nebraska gave Iowa its first lead of the game. The Hawkeyes never trailed again, closing out the victory to set up Saturday's matchup against Illinois (6:09 p.m. ET).
0:17
Bennett Stirtz gives Iowa the lead with a 3
Bennett Stirtz hits a huge three-pointer for the Hawkeyes.
“You see him on the court and then you see me on the bench, polar opposites in personalities. Not polar opposites in courage,” McCollum said. “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, with all those different things.”
Added Stirtz: “He shoots straight. Even when it's hard and even when it's tough. He pushes you beyond your limit, and I think that's where the confidence comes in… he just pushes everyone on this team, and honestly, you can see the benefit of that.”
Minnesota State head coach Matt Margenthaler isn't surprised by the duo's success in March. He still has nightmares about Stirtz and McCollum's team at Northwestern Missouri State that nearly derailed his team's Division II championship run in 2023.
His rise, Margenthaler maintains, is a beacon for Division II basketball: proof that players and coaches at that level can also be stars at the next.
“I think you always wonder when you move up a level, 'Can he do it at the next level in the Missouri Valley Conference?' And then he proved it in a year,” Margenthaler told ESPN. “And then, 'Can he do it again in the Big Ten?' And then he continues to surprise the coaching world with what he can do.”
“[Stirtz’s] “The trust has grown and grown and grown,” Margenthaler said. “He's obviously a Division I basketball player, but he's gotten better every year.” I mean, what a story: those two guys together and what they're doing.”
And if you ask McCollum and Stirtz, they're not done yet.
“In 20 years, it's going to be a crazy story. A guy who goes from Division II with his coach and then goes to Drake and then the University of Iowa and actually goes further in the Division I tournament than he did in Division II,” McCollum said. “I think when you're a player-coach [relationship] Sometimes they obviously care and love each other and all that, but they can't connect. [this] type of level. But it's been an incredible journey, although it's far from over.”
