The college basketball transfer portal officially closed at midnight on April 22. Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum and his staff had to rebuild the roster after 13 players entered the transfer portal and three recruits decommitted.
After Cooper Koch withdrew from the portal, McCollum was left with two players from the Fran McCaffery era. He heavily relied on the portal to rebuild the roster.
McCollum added five former Drake players, Brendan Hausen (Kansas State) and Alvaro Folgueiras (Robert Morris) from the transfer portal. That includes the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Bennett Stirtz, and the Missouri Valley Sixth-Man of the Year, Tavion Banks.
The Hawkeyes also flipped in-state prospect, and the 2025 Iowa Mr. Basketball, Trevin Jirak.
The new-look Iowa Men's Basketball team begins the 2025-2026 season on November 4 against Robert Morris (Folgueiras' former team). On April 29, the Big Ten announced the single and double-play conference matchups for all 18 teams.
The first piece of the puzzle. 👀@B1GMBBall x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/o63FOnifTF
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) April 29, 2025
On April 21, it was announced that the Hawkeyes will compete in the Acrisure Series on November 26 and 27 in Palm Desert, California. After agreeing to their first big test of the season, the Hawkeyes learned their conference foes for the upcoming season.
Home only
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Northwestern
- Ohio State
- Rutgers
- UCLA
- USC
Away only
- Indiana
- Michigan State
- Minnesota
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Home and Away
- Maryland
- Nebraska
- Purdue
The Hawkeyes have a tough conference slate against multiple teams that made the 2025 NCAA Tournament field. An interesting double-dip comes against rival Nebraska, where former Iowa forward Pryce Sandfort transferred this offseason.