Bennett Stirtz officially commits to Iowa
Since the moment the Ben McCollum was officially announced as Iowa’s next head coach, the expectation is that his star player, Bennett Stritz, would follow him to Iowa City.
That expectation became reality on Tuesday when the 6-foot-4 Missouri Valley Player of the Year announced on social media that he was committed to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Stirtz visited Iowa City early this week and got his first look at the place that he will call home for next season.
He is originally from Liberty, MO, where he was coached by his father at the high school level. In his senior year he earned first team All State honors in Missouri, averaging 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game.
From there he began his college career playing for McCollum at the D2 level at Northwest Missouri State. He was named the conference freshman of the year and in his sophomore year, Stritz was named second team all-conference, averaging 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game.
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Stirtz then transferred and followed McCollum for his junior season at Drake University. He was named newcomer of the year in the Missouri Valley, along with Conference Player of the Year averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game this season.
Three of his teammates from Drake are also in the portal and considering a transfer to the University of Iowa. Those players include 6-foot-7 wing Tavion Banks, who just entered the portal earlier on Tuesday. Also in the portal is 6-foot-8 forward Cam Manyawa, 6-foot-4 combo guard Kael Combs, and 6-foot-5 wing Isaia Howard.
Iowa’s overall roster continues to evolve. They were able to land a re-commitment from redshirt freshman wing Cooper Koch. Also remaining on the Iowa roster for the time being are Seydou Traore, Carter Kingsbury, and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu, along with walk-on’s Nate Koch and Trey Buchanan.
The Hawkeyes are also waiting on decisions from Pryce Sandfort and Josh Dix. They both have made visits to other programs in the last week.
