The Hawkeyes made a two-hour trip down Interstate-80 to Des Moines to battle the Bucknell Bison on Saturday afternoon, and Bucknell forgot to get off the bus.
While it was not a traditional home game for the Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Ben McCollum had his guys ready for the challenge.
Outside of a few moments when the offense stalled, Iowa easily handled Bucknell and earned a 94-39 victory.
Eleven Iowa players scored a basket in the win, led by Alvaro Folgueiras' season-high 17 points off the bench, but the story was the defense.
Ben McCollum was impressed with Iowa's tenacity on the defensive end
During McCollum's postgame press conference, he coyly stated that the reason Iowa racked up a season-high 19 steals was obviously due to great coaching.
After sharing that joke with members of the media, McCollum said the real reason was that they got a lot of deflections, which was the key to the game.
He also heaped praise on Isaia Howard's effort off the bench after he led the team in steals with seven.
McCollum said that is just who Isaia is and in his mind, "he is what our program is."
McCollum has been very straightforward and honest about his team's play, regardless of the margin of victory, and he seemed genuinely happy with the defensive effort in the win over Bucknell.
Iowa is in the middle of a four-game home stretch, including its pitstop in Des Moines, and they have one more game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena before Big Ten play begins again after the start of the new year.
Next game: Monday, December 29, versus UMass Lowell (4:00 p.m. Central Time)