The hype and excitement around Bennett Stirtz has been incredibly high since the day he announced he would be joining his head coach in Iowa City.
Stirtz and Ben McCollum had a ton of success together at Northwest Missouri State and Drake, and now the pair would try and bring that winning culture to an Iowa basketball program desperately in need of a reset. While there was a lot of confidence nationally for McCollum, some people had concerns about Stirtz’s ability to translate his game to the Big Ten.
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Those concerns have been neutralized quickly, as Stirtz’s game has fit in well at the Big Ten level. He’s helped lead the Hawkeyes to a 12-3 record and filled in as that star player the program has been missing since Keegan Murray. His efforts through the first 15 games of the season have garnered a lot of attention and national respect, as Stirtz was named to the midseason top-25 Wooden Award watchlist on Wednesday.
The Wooden Award, named after legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden, is given each year to the best player in college basketball. According to the Wooden Award website, a player’s performance on and off the court, academic prowess, and character are all taken into consideration when handing out the award. It’s widely considered one of the most prestigious individual awards a player can win.
Stirtz is a strong contender for the award, as his on-court production has matched his leadership off of it. He’s averaging 18 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 50% from the field and 40.7% from three. Of the 25 players on the midseason watch list, Stirtz is averaging the most minutes per game at 35.5. His ability to maintain his high level of play over that amount of minutes every game is truly special.
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If Stirtz wins the Wooden Award this year, he would join Luka Garza as the only players in the history of the men’s basketball program to win the award. Garza won in 2021 after his stellar senior campaign. Caitlin Clark won the award twice across her record-breaking career with the women’s basketball team. Because of them, Iowa is tied with Purdue for the fourth-most total Wooden Awards nationally with three, trailing only Duke, UCONN, and North Carolina.
The season’s only halfway over, but Stirtz’s move to the Hawkeyes has been nothing short of a rousing success so far. Iowa’s going to have a real chance to win some impactful games in March behind Stirtz and McCollum.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa basketball star named to midseason Wooden Award watch list
