Iowa City Today

Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball will host Western Illinois on Friday, November 7 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Central Time and will be available for streaming on B1G+. Radio coverage will be provided by the Hawkeye Radio Network, featuring Gary Dolphin as play-by-play announcer and Bobby Hansen as color commentator. The network broadcasts across more than 40 stations throughout Iowa and neighboring states.

The Hawkeyes began their regular season with a decisive 101-69 win over Robert Morris earlier this week, marking their 14th consecutive victory in a season opener. Head coach Ben McCollum joined Ralph Miller (1965) and Lute Olson (1975) as the only Iowa coaches whose teams scored over 100 points in their debut games with the program.

Senior Bennett Stirtz led Iowa in scoring against Robert Morris with 19 points, matching Aaron White’s record for most points by a Hawkeye in a team debut over the past three decades. Stirtz also contributed six assists and four steals. He is currently the only active player nationally ranked in the top ten for both career points (1,637) and assists (438), and one of just six players with at least 1,500 points and 350 assists.

The team’s roster features significant changes under first-year head coach McCollum, including twelve newcomers out of fourteen players. Six of these athletes previously played under McCollum at Drake University, where they helped achieve a 31-4 record last season and reached the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32. According to 247Sports, Iowa's transfer portal class was ranked eighth nationally.

Stirtz has received preseason All-American honors from CBS Sports, Field of 68, Jon Rothstein, and Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. He is also on watch lists for several national player awards including the Naismith Trophy.

Iowa is receiving votes in both major preseason polls—ranked No. 37 by Associated Press voters and No. 39 by coaches.

Western Illinois enters Friday’s contest after an opening loss to Radford (80-75). Guard Lucas Lorenzen led WIU with 25 points during that game. The Leathernecks have fourteen newcomers this season from various collegiate levels; Ifiok Peter is their sole returning player after redshirting last year. The team includes three Iowans: Lucas Lorenzen (Milford), Jake Edwards (Winfield), and Goanar Biliew (Denison).

Historically, Iowa holds an undefeated record against Western Illinois at 11-0 overall—including nine wins at Carver-Hawkeye Arena—with their last meeting resulting in a 92-71 victory for Iowa in 2021.

Coach McCollum brings experience from his tenure at Northwest Missouri State where he led teams to four NCAA Division II National Championships between 2017 and 2022. His teams have consistently recorded more than twenty wins per season since his third year there, amassing a combined record of .919 since the start of the 2016–17 campaign.

Senior Bennett Stirtz has started every collegiate game of his career—104 total—and has played forty or more minutes on forty-one occasions.

Friday’s matchup marks Western Illinois’ second stop on a four-game road stretch that spans multiple states early this season.