The Hawkeyes needed this game in the worst way, and they got it. A manageable six-game stretch now awaits.
After a narrow loss to No. 5 Purdue, Iowa basketball fans were frustrated.
The loss marked the Hawkeyes' third straight, and their 12-2 start suddenly looked like fool's gold.
But Iowa fans must've forgotten who their head coach was. This is not Fran McCaffery's program anymore, it's Ben McCollum's. The 44-year-old's last three-game losing streak came back in 2013, when his Northwest Missouri State squad lost Fort Hays State by four points at home.
The Bearcats won three out of their last four games to close the regular season and narrowly made a heroic run in the MIAA Tournament, losing to Central Missouri in overtime. They followed up with a Sweet 16 run the following season, and eventually won four Division II national championships under McCollum.
Flash-forward to 2026, and McCollum's maiden Iowa Hawkeye team was in the same position. The predictive metrics strongly favored the Hawkeyes, but the critical Quadrant 1 and road win was lacking on their resume.
Needless to say, they checked off both boxes against an equally-desperate Indiana team on Saturday. Like the Purdue game, Iowa came out strong out of the gates and jumped out to a double-digit lead, but this time it held on for a dominant 74-57 win (it probably wasn't even that close).
Bennett Stirtz was his usual stellar self, recording a game-high 27 points, but the story of this game was Tavion Banks. There's still a lot of season left and I tend to get ahead of myself, but Banks is easily the second-best player on this Hawkeye roster right now.
He's definitely played like it, too. Whenever Stirtz was double-teamed, he had little problems finding Banks, who used the extra space to tally a season-high 26 points on 8/12 shooting. He and Stirtz combined for 53 of Iowa's 74 points, but its not just Banks' offense that makes him such a valuable player for this team - it's really everything else.
The FOX broadcast crew of Jason Benetti and Steve Smith called Banks the "hardest worker in the Big Ten," and he lives up to that nickname each and every night. Expecting Banks to consistently drop 20 points in the ragged Big Ten is a tall ask, but his versatility is what carries the Hawkeyes to victories.
Yes, Stirtz is the primary scorer, but he doesn't give you the rebounding and defense that Banks does. Banks recorded a team-best eight rebounds and did an admirable job defending Indiana's leading scorers Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries (both were held to a combined 16 points). Throw in a perfect 9/9 shooting from the charity stripe, and you can't script up a better game for Banks.
This wasn't just a blip on the radar game for Banks, either. Foul trouble at Purdue held him to nine points in 22 minutes of action, but the senior shined against Illinois on Jan. 11. Though McCollum later revealed Banks was throwing up before and after the game, Banks had 16 points on 8/14 shooting, and Iowa might have been blown out if it weren't for some of his key hustle plays in the first half.
Banks' emergence comes at just the right time for the Hawkeyes, and their schedule offers a chance for the entire team to build confidence. There's no such thing as an easy game in the Big Ten, but Iowa's next six games are: Rutgers, USC, at Oregon, at Washington, Northwestern, and at Maryland.
Neither team in that stretch has a winning conference record, and USC is the only team to boast an overall mark over .500. A 5-1 or even 6-0 record over that stretch seems manageable, which would have the Hawkeyes sitting at 19-5 or 18-6 heading into a final stretch filled with opportunities, beginning with a rematch against Purdue on Valentine's Day.
McCollum will make sure his team remains focused on each game in front it of it, but beating Indiana on Saturday will make the coach sleep a little easier.