The freshman chipped in 17 big points off the bench in Iowa's 68-62 win over Rutgers on Tuesday.
With 10:47 left to play, Iowa basketball was in trouble.
The Hawkeyes entered Tuesday night's contest as a 19.5-point favorite over struggling Rutgers, but found themselves trailing 43-39 at the midway point of the second half. That result seemed improbable before the game, but Iowa couldn't muster any offense on this night.
After exploding for 74 points in Saturday's road win over Indiana, the Hawkeyes fell into the classic Tuesday night trap. They were sleepy from the jump, evidenced by star point guard Bennett Stirtz's rough shooting night.
With Iowa suddenly running low on time, head coach Ben McCollum was desperate for an answer, and looked down his bench. There weren't a ton of options, but he could've used sharpshooter Brendan Hausen or Isaia Howard.
But McCollum didn't have to look for help on his bench. Help was already on the floor in the form of freshman Tate Sage. Neither Sage or McCollum expected to be in that situation, but Sage thrived.
The 6-foot-7 guard buried a pair of big triples in the first half to ignite the Hawkeye offense, but Iowa was again desperate for a spark in the second half. Sage doesn't typically come into a game until at least five minutes into a half, but McCollum already had him on the floor by the 17:52 mark of the second period.
Sage remained in the game for the rest of the way, and recorded 11 points (17 in the game) to help the Hawkeyes escape a horrible home loss, 68-62.
The freshman did many things well on this night, but the difference in the outcome was his three-point shooting. Iowa went just 7/19 from distance, but four of those treys came from Sage. Whenever the Hawkeyes needed a bucket, Sage was there in the corner knocking them down.
Stirtz did finish as Iowa's leading scorer with 20 points, but he needed 21 field goal attempts to do so. Sage was flawless, going 5/7 from the floor (3/5 in the second half).
I think it's fair to say the Hawkeyes wouldn't have won this game without Sage's efforts. His typical game average is a modest 7.1 points, so the 10-point increase may have been the difference in the outcome.
Sage was a lightly-recruited player out of Weatherford, Oklahoma. His only Division I offers out of high school were from Drake, Lindenwood, and Tulsa. Sage committed to McCollum's Drake team in September 2024, only to reverse course and play for McCollum's Iowa Hawkeyes.
McCollum always knew Sage had the talents, he just wasn't sure if they would emerge as a true freshman. It's safe to say those skills have taken center-stage.
Sage's pure talent on the floor has impressed me, but what really stands out is his confidence. Most freshman struggle to adjust to Big Ten play right away, but Sage doesn't seem to back down to the pressure.
Playing a bad Rutgers team in front of the home fans is one thing, but this isn't the first time Sage has demonstrated such confidence. He collected 12 points in Iowa's narrow loss to rival Iowa State inside raucous Hilton Coliseum. That was only Sage's second true road game, and you wouldn't have known it when you watched his play that night.
Flash-forward back to Tuesday's game against Rutgers, and Sage is speaking to the media after the game. 247Sport's Eliot Clough asks Sage about his confident motto of playing with no fear, and he gives one of the best quotes I've seen from any player this year.
"Why fear another man? What can he do that I can't?"
That level of moxie is something I wish I had when I played eighth-grade basketball, but Sage shows it every time he steps on a basketball floor. Will he have 17 points each night? Probably not, but depth was one of the Hawkeyes' biggest questions coming into the season, and Sage is slowly silencing those fears.
Legendary CBS college basketball insider Jon Rothstein is the first member of the national media to notice Sage's play. Though Iowa lost that Iowa State game, Rothstein tweeted this:
Tate Sage. Buy Stock Now.
That's my message to you, Hawkeye Nation. Buy stock in Sage before it's too late.