By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – As he approaches one year on the job as the Iowa men’s basketball coach, Ben McCollum will achieve a milestone against Purdue on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, win or lose.

The game will mark his first home sellout as the Iowa head coach.

McCollum has made connecting with the fan base a top priority since being hired late late March.

He wants to create a brand in which fan loyalty is based on more than just wins and losses, and he believes that Saturday’s game against Purdue is sold out partly because of the efforts that have been made to connect with the fans.

And while there probably is some truth to that, the biggest reason Saturday’s game is sold out is because Iowa is 18-6 overall, 8-5 in the Big Ten and firmly in position to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2022-23 season.

Iowa is also 12-1 at home this season, the lone loss coming against Illinois (75-69) on Jan. 11.

The 77-70 loss at Maryland this past Wednesday was certainly deflating, but the Purdue game already had been announced as a sellout.

When asked Friday if Iowa’s record has anything to do with the Purdue game being sold out, McCollum said:

“Yeah, I think so, but we don’t want it to be dependent on us winning and losing games. I think the best crowds in the country, and the ones that come regardless; like you see some venues, I won’t name any venues because I don’t want to help promote them, but you see some institutions where they’re awful and they sell our or they’re at the game and they’re cheering. And maybe that was created through some type of brand loyalty. And that’s kind of what you’re looking for.

“But it doesn’t just happen. It takes years and years and it can’t just be dependent on winning. It has to be dependent on the connection that you create because you can control that. I can control the kids that we bring into this program. I can control the connection with the community. And then the community can kind of connect with our program and that’s what makes a program special. Yeah, the winning is a by-product of that, or vice-versa. And maybe that’s a by-product of winning, too.”

Without McCollum mentioning any specific programs, it’s hard to think of any that sellout despite being awful.

For Iowa’s game at Maryland this past Wednesday, the arena was more than half empty, and that was mostly due to Maryland only having two conference wins at the time.

Fran McCaffery was dismissed as the Iowa men’s basketball coach last March after 14 seasons and despite being Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach, and despite having coached some of the best players in program history, most notably Luka Garza and Keegan Murray.

The fact that attendance had dropped significantly in McCaffery’s latter years was certainly a factor in him being let go.

But the biggest reason was that Iowa failed to make the NCAA Tournament in each of McCaffery’s last two season as head coach.

The growing disconnect with fans was a byproduct of that.

McCollum seems to be selling his team’s success a little short, but there is a method behind his message.

Born in Iowa City and raised in Storm Lake as an Iowa basketball fan, McCollum understands the fan base that he’s trying to reach because he’s been a part of that fan base. The loyalty and admiration that he felt as a kid growing up is what he wants kids to feel now.

He was asked Friday what it means for him personally as a life-long Hawkeye fans to have Carver-Hawkeye Arena sold out.

“It depends on how we play, I guess,” McCollum said before laughing. “I think that we’ve worked really hard on making sure that we connect with the community and the state of Iowa and the University of Iowa and Iowa City and etcetera; and I think people are noticing that. Regardless of wins or losses or how the season is going one way or the other, we want to connect and we want to build this thing like I’ve said since day one, together. It doesn’t speak to what we’ve done as far as winning games and stuff like that. I do think it speaks to people being able to connect with the group that we have and being able to connect with my staff and on through.

“That’s why you’re seeing it snow ball a little bit to where we’re able to generate people at games consistently. But if we had five people or we have 25,000, which we won’t have 25,000, it doesn’t seat that many, it’s irrelevant. We appreciate the five people like it is what it is.

“And that’s how we are going to do it and continue to work to build this program. You always want to make it better than the way you found it. And part of that is getting people to games and fighting for that. But also not getting upset if you don’t have 18,000 fans every single game.”

The goal of building the program together is an admirable approach and the right approach to take.

But again, the importance of winning can’t be overstated.

If Iowa were 12-12 instead of 18-6, Saturday’s game probably wouldn’t be a sellout.

Of course, it also helps to have Big Ten power Purdue as the opponent on Saturday, along with a convenient 4 p.m. tipoff and unseasonable warm weather.

So much goes into producing a sellout, but the most important ingredient is winning.

Iowa led Purdue (48-39) with less than 15 minutes to play in their first meeting at Mackey Arena in mid-January.

But the Boilermakers then rallied to win 79-72, thanks partly to their devoted fan base that packs Mackey Arena for every game, creating a hostile environment for the visiting team.

Iowa junior forward Cam Manyawu hopes that Purdue faces the same challenge as the visiting team on Saturday.

“I think it has a huge effect,” Manyawu said of home-court advantage. “Just like when you score, or something big happens, and having the crowd behind your back, that is kind of demoralizing to the other team, just from how loud the fans are and all the energy. It just gives you so much momentum in the flow of the game.”

Purdue has won three straight games after having lost three straight during a week stretch in late January.

The Boilermakers saw a 22-point lead evaporate on Tuesday at No. 7 Nebraska before winning, 80-77, in overtime. Purdue shot 46 3-point field goals in the game.

Saturday’s game will match two of the nation’s top collegiate point guards in Purdue senior Braden Smith and Iowa senior Bennett Stirtz, who has combined to score 122 point over the last four games.

Stirtz and senior forward Tavion Banks are the only players for Iowa to score in double figures in the last two games and the only players on the team who are averaging double figures in points.

McCollum made it abundantly clear in his post-game interview following the Maryland loss that Stirtz needs more help from his teammates on offense, and McCollum said the same thing on Friday.

“I think that they need to, yes…yes, which is great, I appreciate that they’re allowing him to do what ne needs to do,” McCollum said. “But they’re pretty good players and so they need to go do something as well. It’s something that, hopefully, we’ve addressed and will continue to address.”

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STARTERS HT. WT. YR.-EXP. HOMETOWN PPG RPG AST FG% 3FG% FT% MPG

G 11 Kael Combs 6-4 205 Jr.-TR Nixa, Mo. 6.0 2.3 2.4 .505 .367 .886 25.7
Started Iowa’s last 19 games… career-high 16 points, 4 3-ptrs. at Purdue… 57 assists, 31 TOs… averages 2nd-most minutes on team… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

G 14 Bennett Stirtz 6-4 190 Sr.-TR Liberty, Mo. 20.4 2.4 4.9 .514 .405 .831 36.6
Acrisure Classic MVP… 120 consecutive starts… 6+ assists in 9 games… 20+ pts. in 14 games… 32/6 ast. at MD, 36 pts. vs. NW, 32 pts./7 ast. at Oregon… Bob Cousy Top 10, Wooden Award Top 20.

F 3 Cam Manyawu 6-9 250 Jr.-TR Kansas City, Mo. 6.7 4.3 1.0 .644 .000 .612 17.7
58 consecutive starts…double figures in 6 games… 13 pts., 3 steals at Purdue… Drake & Wyoming transfer… has nine career double-doubles.

F 6 Tavion Banks 6-7 215 Sr.-TR Kansas City, Mo. 11.0 4.6 1.2 .533 .483 .811 22.2
20 pts./7 reb vs. USC… DI career-high 26 points, 8 rebounds at Indiana… double figures in 13 games, 2 20-pt. games… Drake & NW Fla. St. College transfer… MVC Sixth Man of the Year.

F 8 Cooper Koch 6-8 220 RS Fr.-1L Peoria, Ill. 6.9 3.2 1.1 .457 .378 .750 26.2
Double figures in 2 of last 4 games… 1st career double-double vs. Ole Miss (14 pts./10-reb.)…10+ points in 7 games… 2+ 3PT in 10 contests… lone returning scholarship player.

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KEY RESERVES HT. WT. YR.-EXP. HOMETOWN PPG RPG ASST FG% 3FG% FT% MPG

F 7 Alvaro Folgueiras 6-10 230 Jr-TR Malaga, Spain 8.3 3.9 2.0 .493 .356 .692 20.3

G 10 Jacob Koch 6-2 185 So.-1L Iowa City, Iowa 0.4 0.0 0.2 .333 .000 .000 2.1

G 15 Brendan Hausen 6-4 220 Sr.-TR Amarillo, Texas 4.4 0.7 0.3 .364 .362 1.000 10.0

G 23 Isaia Howard 6-5 215 So.-TR Plattsburg, Mo. 6.1 3.0 1.2 .463 .256 .778 19.3

G 24 Tate Sage 6-7 210 Fr.-HS Weatherford, Okla. 6.3 2.0 0.9 .515 .409 .708 17.5

C 27 Trevin Jirak 6-11 250 Fr.-HS West Des Moines, Iowa 3.7 1.0 1.2 .531 .143 .632 8.8

F 44 Joey Matteoni 6-9 215 RS Fr.-TR Overland Park, Kan. 1.7 0.6 0.3 .533 .000 .500 3.9

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Purdue (20-4, 10-3) vs. Iowa (18-6, 8-5)

When: Saturday, 4 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: FOX

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Saturday’s game is the 178th meeting in the all-time series, dating back to 1908. The Boilermakers lead the series, 99-78.

Purdue has won the last five games in the series with the Hawkeyes’ last victory coming in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament championship game, winning 75-66.

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