Bennett Stirtz scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half, as the Iowa Hawkeyes took control early and never looked back, opening the Ben McCollum era with a 101-69 victory over visiting Robert Morris on Tuesday night in Iowa City, Iowa.
Stirtz, one of six players who followed McCollum from Drake, made his first five field-goal attempts of the game, and finished 6-of-10 shooting on the night.
Fellow Drake transfers Tavion Banks (17 points), Cam Manyawu (10 points) and Isaia Howard (10 points) also shined for the Hawkeyes, who took control of the game early and never let up.
Stirtz, who earned 2024-25 Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors, also dished out six assists and is expected to be the floor leader for the Hawkeyes, who shot 61.7% for the game, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, 6-foot-10 new Hawkeye Alvaro Folgueiras, who averaged a team-leading 14.1 points and 9.1 rebounds for Robert Morris last season, added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists against his former team.
The Hawkeyes’ first five points of the night came at the free-throw line, where they finished 36-of-44. However, after Robert Morris’ Nikolaos Chitikoudis’ basket got his squad within 3-2, Iowa reeled off the next 14 points to essentially put the game out of reach.
Five different Hawkeyes scored during that run, highlighted by five points from Stirtz. Folgueiras knocked down the first of his three 3-pointers during that spurt for Iowa, which shot 64.0%, including 4-of-7 from 3-poinr range, to lead 49-26 at halftime.
The Hawkeyes also scored 16 points off 13 first-half turnovers by Robert Morris, which shot 37.9% from the field, and 1-of-11 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Chitikoudis had a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out for the Colonials, who committed 23 turnovers overall (which resulted in 33 Iowa points), but shot 63.2%, including 10-of-13 from distance, in the second half.
