IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Robert Morris, 101-69, on Tuesday night inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in the team’s season-opener. It marked head coach Ben McCollum’s first victory at the helm of the Hawkeyes.
The Hawkeyes opened the game on a 17-2 run, forcing four turnovers in Robert Morris’ first eight possessions. Iowa extended its advantage to 22-4 as senior Bennett Stirtz scored 10 of the Hawkeyes’ first 22 points on a perfect 3-of-3 start from the field.
Redshirt freshman Cooper Koch added a dunk as Iowa’s lead grew to 41-19 late in the first half and freshman Trevin Jirak notched his first career collegiate points to give Iowa its largest lead of the half, 49-24, with under a minute remaining. The Hawkeyes led 49-26 at the break.
Stirtz paced all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with 15 points on 5-of-6 (.833) shooting to go along with three assists, two steals, and one block. Iowa’s defense forced 13 first-half turnovers while holding Robert Morris to 11-of-29 (37.9) from the field and 1-of-11 (.091) from beyond the arc.
Back-to-back buckets from senior Tavion Banks sparked an 8-0 Iowa run early in the second half, extending the lead to 69-40 at the 12-minute mark. The Hawkeyes later used another 8-0 spurt to push the advantage to 84-46. Iowa outscored the Colonials, 23-6, over an eight-minute span.
Stirtz led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-5 from deep. He also led Iowa with six assists and four steals. Banks added 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, going 5-of-6 from the foul line, while grabbing four rebounds and recording two steals.
As a team, Iowa shot 29-of-47 (61.7) from the field and 7-of-15 (46.7) from beyond the arc. The Hawkeyes made 36-of-44 (81.8) from the free throw line. The Iowa defense forced 23 Robert Morris turnovers.
