Ben McCollum’s first season at Iowa suddenly became magical in March. The first-year head coach led a team of transfers, many of them who began their career at Division II, or followed him from Drake, to the program’s first Elite Eight in 46 years. Then, after riding some hot three-point shooting to a 32-28 halftime lead over Illinois in the South Regional on Saturday night in Houston, it all came crashing down.
The Hawkeyes were outscored 43-27 in the second half as Illinois imposed its will with a massive front-court and rebounding advantage in its 71-59 win. Iowa’s shooters went cold and were helpless on the interior, going 1-8 from two-point range after the intermission. It was the type of performance that will seemingly instruct many of McCollum’s offseason moves as he prepares for an encore performance in Iowa City and life without Bennett Stirtz.
“Our lack of shooting caught up with us,” McCollum offered as an explanation for his team’s second-half struggles in his postgame press conference.
“We couldn't space it, and when you can't space it, you can't get to the rim, so it just became a problem where we were having to take tough threes. And so you compound that with giving up offensive rebounds because we were still right there regardless, but that was probably the biggest factor, was we just didn't have enough shooting out there... and that probably was our Achilles heel all season."
Iowa needs to find more shooting for next season
In just two years in Division I, McCollum has already cemented his place as one of the premier game planners in college basketball. He took a severely undersized Iowa team and outscored the defending national champions in the paint to dethrone Florida last week, but eventually, he just bumped his ceiling on the talent limitations of his roster.
With Illinois’s massive size advantage, the Illini outscored Iowa 40-12 in the paint, and outrebounded the Hawkeyes, 38-21 as well. So, size will undoubtedly be on his wishlist when the portal opens on April 7, but from McCollum’s explanation, shooting will come first.
McCollum did everything he could to maximize the shooting around Stirtz against Illinois, often playing Cooper Koch, Tate Sage, and Isaia Howard in a desperate attempt to space the floor and create driving lanes. In the first half, Iowa’s constant offensive movement forced the Illini into rotation and off of shooters, but in the second half, they ignored Iowa’s non-shooters, like center Cam Manyawu, and were hesitant to help off the perimeter, trusting their ability to protect the rim. It bogged down the spacing and forced the Hawkeyes to jack contested shots.
For a coach like McCollum, more shooters means more options, and in a single-elimination tournament, that’s terrifying. So, it will seemingly be priority No. 1 for the post-Stirtz era in Iowa City.