(Iowa City, IA) — The Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team will have a completely different look next year and they will have a star to lead it. Multiple media outlets are reporting that Bennett Stirtz will leave Drake University, enter the portal and follow his head coach Ben McCollum to Iowa to play basketball. The Des Moines Register says that Stirtz will actually enter the NBA Draft and test the professional waters but maintain his college eligibility with the intention to play for the Hawkeyes. Stirtz has one year of college eligibility remaining.
Stirtz was the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year in his one season with Drake — leading the conference in scoring averaging 19.2 ppg, steals (2.1 per game), minutes per game (39.4) and assist to turnover ratio (2.9). He was also third in field goal percentage (.498) and 7th in free throw percentage (.794). Stirtz hit about 40 percent of his three point shots (64-162) and was second in the MVC in assists (5.7 per game).
There were only two games all season long in which Stirtz did not score double figures in points. He scored 21 points in each of the NCAA Tournament games against Missouri and Texas Tech. He scored 24 or more points in a game 10 times and scored 30 points in a game twice. He scored at least one three point shot in the last 15 games of the season. Perhaps his best game was on New Years Day 2025 when he had 30 points and 12 assists (both season highs), was 12-19 from the field and 4-9 from three point land in a 74-70 loss at Illinois Chicago.
Stirtz will be needed at Iowa as the roster is very much in flux. Josh Dix, Owen Freeman, Brock Harding, Pryce Sandfort, Cooper Koch, Ladj Dembele and Riley Mulvey have all entered the transfer portal — Mulvey has already committed to play at Siena.
Stirtz is a native of Liberty, MO and played two seasons at NW Missouri St. for McCollum and then left the Bearcats following his head coach to Drake last year.
In terms of his NBA possibilities, ESPN is currently ranking Stirtz as the 35th best prospect in the draft — that would potentially put him in the early part of the 2nd round.
