By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Cooper Koch soared high above the rim to grab a defensive rebound.

He then turned and started dribbling up the court with a defender draped all over him. He kept dribbling at a high rate of speed and then saw an open lane to the basket in which he traversed before making a rim-rattling, two-handed dunk.

That kind of physical display in practice on Wednesday maybe helps to explain why Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said on a recent podcast with Jon Rothstein from CBSSports that the 6-foot-8 Koch is the player on the team who has stood out the most this summer.

Koch certainly looked impressive for the 30 minutes of practice that was open to the media on Wednesday.

He looks to be in better shape just since the end of last season; leaner but with more muscle.

Koch showed no effects from the minor injury that had caused him to miss a few practices last week.

So to say that Koch is in a good place both physically and mentally compared to a year ago would be an understatement.

At this time last summer, Koch was coming off a true freshman season in which he only appeared briefly in 10 games due to health reasons.

He was also learning a new system under a new head coach as the only scholarship player from the Fran McCaffery coaching era to stay at Iowa after McCollum was hired as head coach.

Koch is now coming off a redshirt freshman season in which he played a key role in Iowa’s march to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 1987.

He started all 37 games last season, averaging 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He also made 66 3-point field goals – second-most on the team – and scored in double figures in 13 games, including five times in the final nine games.

Koch also played 35-plus minutes eight times last season and made 29 3-point field goals over the team’s final nine games.

His late-season surge has made Koch way more confident, and more sure of himself, compared to a year ago.

“It’s insanely different,” Koch said of his confidence. “Last year, I was just trying to find my footing and figure out the offense and figure out the defense. But now a year with these guys and a year with the coaching staff, it’s definitely just taken me to another level.”

Already an established 3-point shooter, Koch has worked hard this offseason on other parts of his game, including driving to the basket and absorbing contact.

Koch said he currently weighs about 226 pounds, which is almost exactly where he wants to be for next season.

He and his teammates are now adjusting to not having All-Big Ten point guard Bennett Stirtz, who has moved on the NBA.

“Last year the ball was in Bennett’s hands a lot, just kind of stay in the corner and find my openings and knock down shots,” Koch said. “But now that we don’t have Bennett, we’ve got to move the ball a little bit more and use a lot of people on the court. So we’ve got to be able to drive close-outs and get down hill when I have that option.”

When told that McCollum had mentioned him as the player who has stood out the most this summer, Koch said it was largely due from having a year of experience under his belt.

“Just working my hardest every day,” Koch said. “I’m not really doing anything different that I usually do. In year two, you kind of know what to expect, so that definitely helps.”

McCollum continued to praise Koch when asked on Wednesday to evaluate his performance this summer.

He’s been really good,” McCollum said. “He got banged up a little bit for a week there. But he’s back and played well today.”

Koch struggled through a tough stretch midway through last season when his shots weren’t falling.

McCollum was asked during a zoom conference last season if he would consider removing Koch from the starting lineup.

But McCollum stuck with Koch and was eventually rewarded for his patience and loyalty.

“I definitely had a little lull there in the midseason,” Koch said. “So being able to find that stride at the end of season; I knew it was going to happen eventually. But I’m glad I was able to sustain it.

“You want to play your best at the end, so I can’t get too mad about that.”

The way Koch played down the stretch last season, coupled with Iowa’s success as a team, has helped to create a positive mindset this offseason.

“The last ten games of the season, the coaching staff instilled a lot of confidence in all of us, and especially with my shot,” Koch said. “Being able to knock those down and carry that into the preseason and carry it into the summer right now, it’s definitely been a lot better.”

Koch, who is the son of former Iowa player J.R. Koch, briefly entered the transfer portal after Fran McCaffery was dismissed as head coach the day after the 2024-25 season had ended.

However, after speaking with McCollum and seeing how McCollum planned to use him, Koch, a former four-star recruit from Peoria, Illinois, chose to stay at Iowa.

He had scholarship offers coming out of high school from Indiana, Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin among others, so it’s reasonable to assume that Koch would have had some interest in the portal.

But he ultimately decided that the grass wasn’t greener someplace else.

Koch grew up wanting be a Hawkeye and now he’s living that dream and coming off an incredible year for him, and for his team.

And while playing without Stirtz will definitely present some challenges, Koch believes the team is up for the challenge.

“It definitely changes a little bit,” Koch said. “But I don’t think it’s been terribly noticeable. The offense has definitely been there. We’re running a lot more pin-downs and gets and stuff like that.

“But it’s still the same Iowa team, the same gritty Iowa team.”