Iowa
Likes and dislikes from Iowa basketball’s win over Oregon
EUGENE, Ore. — Iowa men’s basketball beat Oregon thoroughly 84-66 on Feb. 1.
With the win, the Hawkeyes improved to 16-5 overall and 6-4 in Big Ten play.
Ben McCollum’s Hawkeyes now get two days off before completing the second leg of their Pacific Northwest road trip. Iowa plays at Washington on Feb. 4.
Likes
- Ridiculous performance by Bennett Stirtz: An almost unfathomable display of offensive efficiency by a perimeter player. Stirtz finished with 32 points on 12-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 from deep. He also had seven assists. Stirtz continues to play at an All-Big Ten level.
- Alvaro Folgueiras: Two games in a row that Folgueiras was in double-figures scoring. After dropping 14 against USC, Folgueiras had 15 off the bench against Oregon. He also added eight rebounds and three assists. Folgueiras has looked much closer to the player Iowa needs him to be these last two games. He raises Iowa’s ceiling when he’s playing at his best.
- 1st-half run: Iowa gained some separation in the back end of the first half. The Hawkeyes once trailed 15-13 but turned that into a 32-21 lead. Folgueiras and Stirtz had their fingerprints all over that run. Iowa led for the remainder of the game.
- Also, a Stirtz milestone: Stirtz eclipsed the 2,000 career points mark. That has come across three stops — Northwest Missouri State, Drake and Iowa.
- Ball security: The Hawkeyes turned the ball over just five times against Oregon. An impressive display of discipline on the offensive end.
- Brendan Hausen: This is not the starting role that some might have envisioned for Hausen when he committed to Iowa from Kansas State. But he has been giving some positive minutes off the bench recently in a limited quantity. He delivered an impactful sequence toward the end of the first half, drilling a corner 3-pointer and then forcing Oregon to call a timeout on the inbounds with his defensive pressure. That helped Iowa take a nine-point lead into halftime.
- Bench points: Decisively in favor of Iowa 34-18.
- Cooper Koch: 10 points for the sophomore. Just his second time in double figures over the last 12 games.
- Road win: Road wins are not easy to come by in the Big Ten. Iowa has not gotten two in a row after beating Indiana in January.
- No extra drama: Iowa didn’t let Oregon climb back into the game like it did USC. The Hawkeyes slammed the door and won without unnecessary stress.
- Four-game winning streak: After losing three in a row, the Hawkeyes have now won four in a row.
Dislikes
- Second-chance points: Oregon had six more offensive rebounds than Iowa and was more opportunistic with those chances. The Ducks cashed in for 16 second-chance points to Iowa’s four.
- Free-throw discrepancy: Iowa attempted 10 free throws. Oregon shot 16. It wasn’t as if the Hawkeyes weren’t attacking the rim. Iowa scored 44 points in the paint in comparison to Oregon’s 26 (which was another positive for the Hawkeyes).
- Rebounding: There wasn’t much to dislike about Iowa’s win over Oregon, so this is a little nitpicky. But Oregon held a 31-26 advantage on the glass over Iowa.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
Iowa
Iowa Boys High School Basketball Substate Finals Locked In For 4A
The fourth and final bunch of Iowa high school boys basketball substate championship games are now set after the second round of Class 4A games were completed on Friday, February 27.
Substate championships in Iowa’s largest classification will take place on Tuesday, March 3, with the higher seed serving as host in all eight games. Winners advance to Des Moines, Iowa and the Casey’s Center to compete in the Iowa High School Athletic Association Boys State Tournament beginning March 9.
Three-time defending 4A state champion Valley was eliminated by Ankeny, 72-36. The Tigers, who lost all five starters from a year ago, won just one game prior to earning a victory in the opening round of postseason play.
Cedar Falls, who has held the No. 1 spot in 4A throughout the season, scored a dominating 78-45 decision vs. Iowa City High to move on.
Colin Rice, a Nebraska commit for Fred Hoiberg, scored a single-game school-record 50 points as Waukee Northwest topped Iowa City Liberty, 101-58.
Council Bluffs Lincoln, Ames, North Scott, Dowling Catholic, Dubuque Senior, Johnston, Linn-Mar, Muscatine, Norwalk, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Des Moines Roosevelt, Urbandale and Waukee all joined them in the next round after winning games at home.
The 1A and 2A substate finals will take place on Saturday, February 28 while the 3A games go down on Monday, March 2.
Here are the Iowa boys high school basketball Class 4A substate finals for Wednesday, March 3.
Wednesday, March 3
Class 4A
Iowa
The One Game That Will Define Iowa’s 2026 Season
When it comes to the Iowa Hawkeyes 2026 football season, it doesn’t get much bigger than Ohio State coming to Kinnick Stadium.
No one knows at this stage where the Buckeyes will be come Oct. 3, but Iowa has a chance to make an early impression against a team that is no stranger to winning the big one.
Iowa’s B1G schedule couldn’t get off to a worse start as they head to Michigan and then welcome the Buckeyes to Kinnick.
Hopefully for Iowa’s sake, their first three games against Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa are enough to get them prepared. If not, things could get ugly.
ESPN Believes Ohio State is Iowa’s Biggest Opponent in 2026
The Michigan game will certainly be a test, but hosting the Buckeyes is a different animal. That gives the Hawkeyes an advantage like no other, and if there was ever a time to give OSU a run for their money, it’s in Iowa City on Oct. 3.
“The Hawkeyes haven’t faced Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium since 2017, when Nate Stanley threw five touchdowns as they stunned the Buckeyes 55-24. An early October win over Ohio State could propel Iowa into the Big Ten title and playoff conversations,” Jake Trotter wrote.
To put things into perspective, Indiana and Oregon were the other two teams that had the Buckeyes listed as their defining game in the 2026 season. Shockingly, Iowa was actually selected against a team, that being Minnesota. Seeing as that’s for the Floyd of Rosedale, it makes complete sense.
Iowa Can’t Let Regular Season Opportunities Go To Waste
Last year was seemingly the Hawkeyes’ first time to actually make the College Football Playoffs. They came up short as their losses to No. 16 Iowa State, No. 11 Indiana, No. 9 Oregon and No. 17 USC all added up. Sure, those were by a combined 15 points, but that doesn’t matter, as it’s bad enough that a three-loss team made the playoffs.
Iowa ended with a bang as they took down No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, 34-27. Now, all eyes are on either Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown. One of those men will have a chance to make their first B1G start at the Big House in Michigan.
It doesn’t get any tougher than that, as Iowa is immediately putting their new QB into deep water. They’ll have three games prior to that to get up to speed, but other than that, it’s go time as OSU awaits after their trip to Michigan.
Don’t forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!
Iowa
Kee High School remembers legendary coach Gene Schultz
MANCHESTER, Iowa — The state of Iowa lost a titan of the prep coaching world this week. Former Kee High School baseball coach Gene Schultz died on Monday at the age of 80.
Schultz spent 45 seasons as the baseball coach at Kee, helping turn the program into an Iowa dynasty. He won 9 State championships (not counting 2 fall titles, which the IHSAA doesn’t recognize in the record books), and took the Hawks to 19 State tournaments, which is also the most in Iowa history.
His 1,754 wins are not only the most in Iowa history, but the most of any high school baseball coach in the country.
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