At the beginning of the season, many observers probably didn’t expect Iowa and No. 11 Michigan State to each be unbeaten heading into their Big Ten opener at Tuesday night in East Lansing.
But that is the case, so already it will be an intriguing matchup when the Hawkeyes and Spartans hook up for their only meeting of the regular season.
For Iowa, many weren’t anticipating a 7-0 start given it is coming off a bad season last year and has a new coach in first-year man Ben McCollum, who came over from Drake.
Primarily a high-scoring but poor defensive team under former coach Fran McCaffery, McCollum already has instilled a defensive identity at Iowa, which is limiting opponents to 61.1 points a contest this season.
“Sometimes it’s going to look ugly and you’ve got to win ugly,” McCollum said. “That’s the best part about this team. Who can’t win when everything is going your way offensively? Like, who can’t win? Can you win when things aren’t going your way offensively? Can you survive with other ways? And our kids can.”
Iowa also has been buoyed by the brilliant early play of senior guard Bennett Stirtz, who came over with McCollum from Drake.
Stirtz is averaging 18.6 points per game, is shooting 45.7% (16 of 35) from the 3-point range and was named the Most Valuable Player of the recent Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, averaging 21 points in wins over Ole Miss and Grand Canyon.
Stirtz and Iowa hope to keep it going against a Michigan State team that also is surprisingly unbeaten, although that is more a byproduct of its schedule.
The Spartans knew they were going through a nonconference gauntlet with three games against ranked opponents Arkansas, Kentucky and North Carolina in their first seven games.
Michigan State has gone 3-0 in those games to set itself up nicely for the start of conference play.
Point guard Jeremy Fears said the experience of going to the Elite Eight last year has paid off in the early going.
“I think a lot of veteran leadership,” he said. “I think a lot these guys, you know, we kind of played in big games last year. It kind of helped us going into this year. We already have three top-25 opponents. Just being able to play good opponents from last year, It’s helping the new guys and young guys with trying to teach them how to win.”
Fears might be one of the most improved players in the country so far this season. Taking on a more expanded role as the team’s primary point guard and ball handler, the third-year player leads the country in assists per game at 9.7 to go along with 12 points per contest.
Center Carson Cooper and forward Jaxon Kohler have also taken big leaps, Kohler is averaging 14.6 points and 9.7 rebounds a contest, while Cooper is averaging 10.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in addition to playing outstanding interior defense.
“We are not an overly talented team,” Michigan State head coach Tom said. “But boy, we are a connected team. We are a tougher team. We’re a fairly tough team. When those things come together, special things can happen.”
