Instant Takeaways From Iowa Men's Basketball's Win Over Eastern Illinois

It's safe to say that life looked a little different for Iowa men's basketball the last time Eastern Illinois came to town. 

The Hawkeyes allowed a bad Panthers team to score 92 points (55 in the second half) in a dismal loss to EIU on Dec. 21, 2022, but that was far from the case when the two programs met nearly four years later on Friday evening. 

Iowa was coached by Fran McCaffery back then, which probably explained the defensive struggles in that 2022 contest, but the Hawkeyes now have the always-intense Ben McCollum on the sidelines now. 

Iowa emerged as one of the top defensive teams in the Big Ten last season, and there was nothing about Friday's performance that said it couldn't do the same in 2026-27. The Hawkeyes dispatched Eastern Illinois, 91-47, in a final tune-up game before a tough pair of non-conference games next week. 

Here are some instant takeaways from the victory: 

Iowa wasn't necessarily locking down Eastern Illinois on every possession, but McCollum's teams usually play with high intensity on the defensive side of the ball, and that certainly showed early in this basketball game. Though many Hawkeye fans couldn't watch the first portion of the game on TV because of Purdue and Valparaiso going to double overtime, the fans inside the building certainly loved what they saw. 

Eastern Illinois really struggled to settle into its half court offense because of Iowa relentlessly face guarding the ball, which led to turnovers and late shot clock situations for the Panthers. All of this came to a head at the end of the first half that saw the Hawkeye defense hold EIU without a point for 6:21, a stretch that resulted in five Panther turnovers and a 15-2 Iowa run in the process. Eastern Illinois shot just 33% in the first half, allowing the Hawkeyes to take a 41-20 lead at the break. 

The defense never let up, either. The Panthers were confused by Iowa's defense all night and shot around 30% again in the second half, a stark contrast to what happened when they traveled to Iowa City four years ago. 

McCollum told the media after Tuesday's win over Lipscomb that he felt Iowa's offensive execution was there, the shots simply didn't fall. It turns out he was right, as there was no lid on the rim in this game. The Hawkeyes settled into their offensive action early and often in this game, and Eastern Illinois had no answer for it. What made Iowa's offense efficient on Friday was its balanced scoring attack. All but two Hawkeyes (Jaidyn Coon and Joey Matteoni) that touched the ball in the first half scored, with Tate Sage finally connecting from long range after going 0-for-4 against Lipscomb (he led the way with 10 points in the first half. 

Iowa shot at a 61.5% clip in the first half, which rounds out to 1.323 points per possession (that's pretty good). Things stalled a bit in the second half, but when you're leading by 30 points against a bad team, there's always room to get things going again. The Hawkeyes did just that, with Peyton McCollum draining four triples in the second half along to guide Iowa to over 70% shooting in the second half. 

Though the Hawkeyes were shooting the ball well, that was when they actually held on to it. Turnovers weren't a major problem in the opener, but McCollum and the coaching staff will certainly want to address that in the film room after Friday's game. Iowa was very sloppy with the ball in this one, especially in the second half. It committed 10 turnovers in the first 23 minutes of this game (27% turnover rate) and finished with 15 which led to the offense slowing down for a portion of the second half. 

There's a lot of players that are going to get much better as this season wears on, but Hawkeye fans should probably pay attention to Ty'Reek Coleman. Iowa is going to need a reliable guard alongside Kael Combs to win games in the Big Ten, and though we're only two games into this season, Coleman seems like the perfect fit for McCollum's offense. 

McCollum wants his guards to be very athletic and shifty, and that's exactly what Coleman is. When he's going downhill to the rim he's extremely tough to stop, and he even showcased the shooting ability by knocking down a triple to finish with 13 points and six assists. 

"I thought this was his best that I've seen him with control, just complete control," McCollum said after the game. 

Trey Thompson came to Iowa City with a lot of hype after he chose the Hawkeyes over Tennessee, UConn and other top programs and reclassified to the Class of 2025 to do so, but it took until Nov. 6, 2026, for him to score his first career points in the black and gold. Thompson's first bucket was fittingly a trey, which will probably be his trademark this year if he plays valuable minutes. He finished with 11 points (3/5 from three). 

"It felt good [to be back]. Honestly, I felt like the reads were really clean. It's a little fast paced in high school, but I felt at home every single day of practice. He [McCollum] gets us ready for it, so felt pretty good," Thompson said. 

Now 2-0, Iowa returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 10, for a neutral site matchup against Virginia Tech in Sioux City, Iowa. The Hokies are 2-0 on the young season after dispatching Coppin State and Mercer this week. 

Tip off from the Tyson Events Center is set for 6 p.m. local time on FS1.