CHICAGO, Ill. — So much of the early months of the Ben McCollum era with Iowa basketball have been about the future. Spinning things forward. What the program can become under a coach who has won four national titles at the Division II level.
As that has unfolded, there has been less focus on the past.
But Iowa’s 75-64 win over Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday, March 11, uncovered how the old is still helping shape the new.
Cooper Koch, the son of a former Hawkeye and one of two holdovers from last season’s roster, scored a game-high 19 points in the win. As Koch has navigated his redshirt freshman season, he has also gotten unofficial assists from some Fran McCaffery-era Hawkeyes.
After splitting the regular season series against Maryland, Iowa won the rubber match in a game that all but clinched an NCAA Tournament berth. The Hawkeyes entered the day having lost three straight and facing a demon that has haunted them multiple times this season ― taking care of business against a lesser opponent.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Maryland went on a 15-0 run in the first half to take an 11-point lead, its largest of the game. But from that moment, Iowa outscored the Terps by 22 points, including a monster 21-0 run in the second half.
That was in part thanks to an emerging supporting cast to star Bennett Stirtz. Fifty-eight of Iowa’s 75 points came from players not named Stirtz, an effort that was spearheaded by Koch.
“Every time I threw it to him,” Stirtz said of Koch, “I thought his shot was going in.”
Koch had been in a pretty serious shooting slump. During a six-game stretch in February, he went just 8-of-35 (22.9%) from deep. He scored in double figures just once during that period.
But that has taken a drastic turn over the last four games.
He set a then-career-high 18 points against Penn State. Two games later, he dropped 18 again against Nebraska. Then, against Maryland on Wednesday, he set a new career-high 19 points on 5-of-8 from deep. Over the last four games, he is averaging 14.5 points and shooting 17-of-31 (54.8%) from beyond the arc.
“The same shots that he was missing, he’s making,” McCollum said. “He was bound to… He’s a good shooter. You just can’t shake him. You can’t shake his confidence. You’ve got to kind of stick with him. Because he’s a natural pleaser — first born. Those guys are natural pleasers. And so, sometimes you’ve just got to let him play through a few things and block out the noise.”
So what’s different now compared to before?
“Maybe just a little less worry,” Koch said. “ I don’t know. That’s the only thing I’d say. The shot’s the same. Haven’t changed any mechanics. It’s just going in now.
“Just like shooting it stiff. I don’t know. Just not really caring. If it goes in, it goes in. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But I know my teammates and coaches aren’t going to knock me for any shot I take. So just being able to step up and shoot it with confidence.”
As Koch has steered his way through this season, he has communicated with familiar names from Iowa basketball’s past.
One is Kirk Speraw, a former Hawkeye player and assistant coach who helped recruit Koch before retiring in 2022. The four-star recruit in the 2024 high school class never actually played for Speraw at Iowa, but has remained in contact with him.
“It’s nice, because I think he enjoys seeing the team succeed,” Koch said. “He enjoys seeing me succeed. And I think he’s a great coach. I have a lot of respect for him. So he just definitely helps me with confidence shooting the ball, not being afraid to do it.”
Another is Payton Sandfort, who overlapped with Koch at Iowa last season.
Sandfort, who scored more than 1,600 career points across his four seasons with the Hawkeyes, saw a more advanced version of his younger self in Koch. During the roster-building process following McCaffery’s departure, Sandfort stressed to McCollum the importance of retaining Koch, who had entered the transfer portal.
“He was definitely the person I looked up to the most,” Koch said of Sandfort. “Having to guard him in practice, chase him off ball screens, staggers, all that stuff. It definitely just kind of opened my eyes to, ‘Wow, this is a big jump. But I can definitely make that jump.’”
Though Sandfort is in the professional ranks now — and recently signed a two-way deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder — he has stayed in communication with Koch via a text chain and offered guidance.
“He’s been saying just keep shooting the ball, keep attacking,” Koch said. “He knows the potential I have and I respect him a lot, too.”
Koch has, indeed, kept shooting.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: How former Iowa basketball names continue to guide Cooper Koch
Reporting by Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
