By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Ben McCollum won a lot of basketball games in a short time not too far from where he will be coaching on Sunday in Des Moines.

In his second season as the Iowa men’s basketball coach, McCollum’s 2-1 Hawkeyes will face 2-1 Creighton at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Casey’s Center in downtown Des Moines.

The Casey’s Center is approximately 2.5 miles from the Knapp Center on the Drake campus where McCollum coached the Drake men’s basketball team in 2024-25, leading it to a 31-4 record in his only season as head coach.

His success at Drake helped pave the way for McCollum to land the Iowa job after Fran McCaffery was fired shortly after the end of Iowa’s 2024-25 season.

McCollum would go on to lead Iowa to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the first time since 1987 in his debut season, helping to re-energize a program that had seen its home attendance fall to disturbingly low levels.

Iowa is 2-1 this season, losing to Virginia Tech 93-88 in overtime this past Tuesday in Sioux City, and now here comes another challenge from a Power 5 team, only this time in central Iowa.

Playing back-to-games in northwest and central Iowa against two formidable opponents is considered an effective way to promote the program in different parts of the state, and to build on the success from last season.

But there is also the risk of losing, which Iowa already has done once, due mostly to multiple defensive breakdowns and way too many missed free throws.

McCollum had just spent several minutes talking with the media on Thursday about his team’s poor free throw shooting when he was asked to evaluate the defense.

“I’ve got a  lot of concerns about our defense, to be perfectly honest,” McCollum said. “What I thought after the game was accurate. I thought we played with a lot of we don’t want to get beat mentality like I just explained with the free throws. I thought we played with a lot of that rather than with a n attacking mentality defensively.

“And I think when you’re passive or tentative in some of those situations, especially against a team like (Virginia Tech) where they’re not going to pass as much, it really hurts you from a defensive perspective.”

Creighton, meanwhile, suffered its first loss of the 2026-27 season, falling 89-82 at Kansas State on Tuesday in Manhattan. The Wildcats led by as many as 15 points midway through the second half.

Three CU players are averaging in double figures with Wes Enis leading the way at 19.7 points per game. Enis has made a team-high 12 3-pointers in 38 attempts, but is shooting just 35.8 percent from the floor.

Enis was a Division II All-American at Lincoln Memorial in 2025 before playing last season at South Florida.

BJ Davis, who scored 25 points at K-State, averages 15.7 points with nine 3s, while Brody Robinson averages 10 points.

Creighton is +6.3 on the boards despite not having any players average more than 4.7 rebounds. The Blue Jays have five different players pulling in at least three rebounds per contest.

Creighton is shooting 41.3 percent as a team and 32.7 percent from long range to average 80.3 points.

The Bluejays were picked to finish seventh in the BIG EAST preseason coaches’ poll. Jackson McAndrew and Oswin Erhunmwunse were both tabbed as third-team All-BIG EAST selections.

Alan Huss is in his first season as the Creighton head coach, replacing Greg McDermott, who retired after last season as Creighton’s all-time winningest coach in program history with a 366-189 record.

“They’re going to get after you defensively,” McCollum said. “They’re really well coached. They changed their defense from last yeare where they’re more of a side defensive team, trying to force turnovers, trying to create actions defensively.

“Offensively, they’ve got really good guards. They’ve got good bigs. They’re athletic. All of it. They’re a good basketball team. I think they’re still trying to find themselves a little bit, similar to us.”

McCollum also believes that he potentially has a good team, but it’s still a work in progress as Iowa moves on without former star point guard Bennett Stirtz, who now plays in the NBA.

One area of concern is the free throw stripe where Iowa missed 16 of its 47 free throws against Virginia Tech

“I think free throws are tricky,” McCollum said.

McCollum said part of the challenge is trying to address the problem, but without applying too much pressure.

“I think the next step is just in the practice perspective, how can you add some pressure to them and get used to that,” McCollum said. “I think you want to be careful there. You’ve got to find the right timing to do that because it can also create a problem that you don’t necessarily want where it can kind of associate free throws with pressure and free throws with missing and making.”

McCollum said he expects 7-foot-3 center Andrew McKeever to play against Creighton. The Saint Mary’s College transfer, who is the tallest player in program history, made his Hawkeye debut in the loss to Virginia Tech after missing the first two games due to a back injury.

Following Sunday’s game, Iowa will hit the road for a game against Xavier next Friday in Cincinnati.

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Iowa projected starters

11 Kael Combs 6-3 204 4th Year Nixa, Mo. 6.3 1.3 3.7 .668 .000 .700 19.7
36 consecutive starts… 10 pts. vs. Virginia Tech…12 career games in double figures… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

G 23 Isaia Howard 6-5 216 3rd Year Plattsburg, Mo. 7.3 7.7 0-0 .467 .500 .571 24.8
“Howie”… elite competitiveness… 1st career double-double, finishing with 13 pts./15 reb. vs. VT… most rebounds by Hawkeye since 2022.

G 24 Tate Sage 6-7 210 2nd Year Weatherford, Okla. 9.3 2.7 0.7 .409 .250 .778 23.3 First career start vs. Lipscomb… double figures in 8 contests as first-year… scored 19 points with four 3-pointers in Sweet 16 win over Nebraska.

F 3 Cam Manyawu 6-9 255 4th Year Kansas City, Mo. 5.7 3.3 0.3 .538 .000 .333 12.1 75 consecutive starts… double figures in 10 games in ‘25-26… Drake & Wyoming transfer.

F 8 Cooper Koch 6-8 228 3rd Year Peoria, Ill. 13.7 5.0 1.3 .526 .417 .800 34.0 39 consecutive starts… career-high 26 points vs. Virginia Tech… went 15-of-17 from free throw stripe.

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Creighton (2-1) vs. Iowa (2-1)

When: Sunday, 2 p.m.

Where: Des Moines, Casey’s Center (16,110)

TV: FS1

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Sunday’s game is the 27th meeting all-time between Iowa and Creighton. The Hawkeyes lead the series, 14-12.

The Bluejays have won two straight in the series, including a 92-84 victory in Omaha in 2023. Iowa has faced Creighton just three times since 2000.

Iowa’s last win over Creighton came in 2001, winning 69-56 in Uniondale, New York, in the NCAA Tournament behind 19 points from Reggie Evans, 16 by Mike Henderson, 15 by Dean Oliver and 12 by Glen Worley.

Current Creighton head coach Alan Huss played 15 minutes off the bench in the NCAA Tournament loss, finishing with nine points on 3-for-3 shooting. It was Huss’ final collegiate game.

Iowa is 45-37 all-time against current members of the Big East Conference. The Hawkeyes defeated Xavier last season in Iowa City.