The Iowa Hawkeyes failed to get a road victory over the No. 5-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday night, but the head coach of the opposition, Matt Painter, left the game blown away by Hawkeyes senior guard Bennett Stirtz.
“He’s a good player. Bennett Stirtz, he’s real, and that kind of just shows everybody that the rankings and all the different stuff [is overblown]. This man went to a Division II college out of highschool; it is wonderful. He will be a first-round choose within the NBA, however in case you’re good, you are good,” Painter mentioned about Stirtz after Purdue’s 79-72 win over Iowa.
“That is what I’ve all the time mentioned from a recruiting standpoint and simply an analysis standpoint.”
Stirtz completed the Wednesday night time Big Ten matchup with 19 factors, 4 assists and three rebounds, whereas taking pictures 7 of 15 from the sphere and a couple of of 9 from behind the arc. On the season, Stirtz is averaging 17.7 factors, 5 assists and 1.5 steals per sport, whereas taking pictures 48.1/37.9/81.6.
Stirtz is in his first season at Iowa after spending the 2024-25 season with the Drake Bulldogs, with whom he averaged a Missouri Valley Conference-high in factors (19.2) and steals (2.1) per sport. Previous to his one-year stint at Drake, Stirtz spent two seasons at Division II Northwest Missouri State.
This season, Iowa is 12-5 total and 2-4 in Massive Ten play in what’s its first yr underneath head coach Ben McCollum, who was beforehand the top coach at Drake for one season, a marketing campaign which noticed the Bulldogs attain the second spherical of the NCAA Match; McCollum coached Stirtz final season.
As for Purdue, the Boilermakers at the moment are 16-1 total and 6-0 in Massive Ten play. Their solely loss got here at residence in opposition to the now-No. 2-ranked Iowa State Cyclones.
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