The 2025 Iowa Mr. Basketball winner saw sparse minutes, but flashed his raw potential in limited action.
The recent commitment of 2026 Iowa Mr. Basketball winner Jaidyn Coon has dominated the Iowa men's basketball recruiting headlines (and rightfully so), but Coon won't be the only reigning Iowa Mr. Basketball recipient to don the black and gold next season.
Incoming sophomore Trevin Jirak, the 2025 Iowa Mr. Basketball honoree, will join Coon as one of two current Hawkeyes to earn the prestigious recognition during their high school careers.
But unlike Coon, Jirak has stepped on the Carver-Hawkeye Arena hardwood. Here's his 2025-26 season grade:
The rundown
Despite having a towering 6-foot-11 frame and averaging 16.2 points and 59% from the floor during his Iowa Mr. Basketball-winning senior campaign, Jirak's only offers out of high school came from mid-major programs - Drake, Northern Iowa, and North Dakota State.
UNI was the first to offer in June 2024, and Jirak committed to the Panthers one month later. He remained a Panther after the conclusion of his high school career, but everything changed when then-Drake coach Ben McCollum was hired by Iowa in late March 2025.
McCollum recruited Jirak while at Drake and decided to bring him to Iowa City. Six days after receiving his offer from the Hawkeyes, Jirak committed.
The West Des Moines native wasn't expected to play a major role for Iowa. That sentiment rang true, as Jirak averaged just eight minutes per game during the season, but he still earned playing time against quality competition - most notably against Purdue on Feb. 14.
The Boilermakers' large frontcourt caused problems for Iowa throughout the entire contest, and Tavion Banks and Cam Manyawu quickly went down with foul trouble. That left the paint duties to Jirak, who, despite his clear inexperience, showed little fear trying to make plays. He finished with a Big Ten season-high of six points, including his lone triple of conference play.
Jirak saw action in only three more games after that, but spending a year on the bench developing in McCollum's system isn't a bad thing for the big man. Jirak was clearly a step behind the competition this year, but what impressed me the most was his passing ability.
Most Big Ten centers aren't strong with the basketball, but Jirak showed he's a capable passer during the Hawkeyes' win over Xavier on Nov. 14. Rather than be positioned in the paint, Jirak acted as the distributor at the top of the key in many of Iowa's offensive sets.
It's hard to grade a player that didn't play a major impact during the season, so I can't give Jirak anything above a C, but the potential is there - McCollum and Co. just need to flush it out over the summer.
Grade: C
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