Cooper Koch is heating up at the right time, and his 19-point outing sent the Hawkeyes to the third round of the Big Ten Tournament.
CHICAGO - Iowa basketball's postseason run is off to a good start.
The Hawkeyes rallied from an early deficit to secure a win over the No. 17-seeded Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center Wednesday. The win marked head coach Ben McCollum's 31st career victory in a postseason tournament (he's won nine titles in his career).
Iowa advances to the third round where it awaits a rematch with Ohio State on Thursday (11 AM, BTN). The Hawkeyes defeated the Buckeyes by 17 in Iowa City, but Ohio State hasn't lost since.
Here are three observations from Iowa's win:
Blackjack for the Black and Gold
HawkeyeRoundtable gives CBS Sports anchor Chris Hassel full credit for this line.
After 20 minutes, Iowa's chances of leaving Chicago with a win were slim. The Hawkeyes trailed by just one point, but the game felt similar to their loss at Maryland on Feb. 11.
Iowa shot just 40% (11/27) from the floor and 2-of-10 from deep in the first half, while also committing six turnovers. It's been a common theme for the Hawkeyes this year, and it's something McCollum has struggled to explain.
"I don't know what it is, but sometimes we just don't start the greatest and then I lose my mind for a few huddles, and then, for some reason, we turn it around. So maybe I should just lose my mind to start the game," McCollum said.
Notable turnarounds for Iowa this season include first half rallies against USC and Ohio State, but the Hawkeyes turned it up a notch in Chicago. Trailing 34-30 early in the second half, Iowa went on an impressive 21-0 scoring run to essentially bury any chance Maryland had of winning this game.
"I thought we were playing with fear in the first half and we were trying to win in the second. I thought we were making good reads," Bennett Stirtz said after the win. "The defense was collapsing when me and Kael [Combs] went in there, and our bigs were making good pocket reads, and then Coop [Cooper Koch] was knocking down threes."
Cooper Koch is heating up
After missing most of last season due to a medical issue, one of the main storylines heading into this year was Cooper Koch. Koch was one of just two returners from Fran McCaffery's final Hawkeye team, and his status as a legacy recruit (his father J.R. played for Iowa) had many fans eager to see what the younger Koch could do.
It's been an up-and-down campaign for the redshirt freshman, but the needle has slowly ticked up for him. Koch has posted 18 or more points in three of Iowa's last four games, which includes a 19-point performance on Wednesday.
Like the rest of the Hawkeyes, Koch struggled in the first, but turned it on in the second - going 4-of-5 from three point range and grabbing two rebounds. College basketball players almost always go through inconsistent patches at some point, but this looks to be the point of the year where Koch has broken out of it.
Whether he goes 0-for-12 or 12-for-12, Koch won't stop shooting. That's the mentality his coaches have instilled in him.
"I just kept doing the same stuff in the gym -- keep working on my shot, keep instilling confidence in myself," Koch said. "That's what my teammates and coaches do. They're not going to knock me for any shot I take."
Iowa will play in the NCAA tournament
There was likely a 90% chance of it happening before this game, but Iowa's win all but guarantees it will return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2023. That's a remarkable achievement for McCollum in his first year in Iowa City, but the Hawkeyes are far from satisfied.
One encouraging note for Iowa fans? The last Hawkeye head coach to make the NCAA tournament was Tom Davis in 1987. That team went 30-5 and reached the Elite Eight - something no Iowa team has done since.
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