Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - ON THE EDGE? Iowa Hawkeyes NCAA Future RELIES on Bennett Stirtz and Company to STEP UP
Episode Date: January 15, 2026Iowa Hawkeyes drop a heartbreaker to Purdue, extending their losing streak and raising big NCAA Tournament questions. Can Bennett Stirtz step up to meet preseason All-American expectations, or will tu...rnovers and defensive lapses derail Iowa’s March Madness dreams? Trent Condon spotlights the crucial moments that cost Iowa against the Boilermakers, keys in on Kael Combs’ emergence, and breaks down where the Hawkeyes must improve—especially attacking the rim and cutting down on costly mistakes in half-court sets.Analytical insight into Iowa’s NCAA Tournament resume reveals growing concern: no Quad 1 wins, a mid-tier strength of record, and daunting road tests ahead. Plus, get the latest on football’s transfer portal targets and why the upcoming Iowa women’s basketball clash with Oregon looms large. Locked On Hawkeyes tackles what’s next for both hoops squads and how Saturday’s showdown with Indiana could shift the season’s trajectory.Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondonLISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEoYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyesEverydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.Wayfair. Every style. Every home. FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The Iowa losing streak is up to three games after they fall tonight at the hands of Purdue.
Another close call, another night of what if suddenly the NCAA tournament resume has some concern.
You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day.
I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast.
Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen.
every day here on the lockdown network, your team every day, now number one for sports
podcast. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa,
including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. You can hear me each weekday from noon
to two with stations in Sioux City, the Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Iowa City with
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Plenty of basketball conversation today as we flip the calendar and get ready for the
women's matchup.
They face off against Oregon coming up Thursday evening in Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Another opportunity for a quality victory for them.
And this schedule getting much more difficult now in the coming weeks for the Iowa women.
Feels like an important one at Carver to get a win against a good appointment.
We'll talk about that matchup.
and some of the different things to look for there.
The Iowa football team continues to work in the transfer portal,
though no recent commitments from when we talked last.
There is some news, some names that are out there
and some potential targets Iowa still after.
We still talk about the punter position as nothing officially has come out of that.
We'll get into special teams and potential long snapper
and still looking for some help at defensive tackle.
We're also going to talk big picture with this Iowa basketball team
as we come on the heels of the loss to Purdue,
another woulda, shoulda, coulda,
and we'll break it down here with a rapid reaction podcast for you this evening.
But I want to dive a little bit deeper later on to Iowa's NCAA tournament resume.
And though many of the predictive metrics are very good for the Hawkeyes,
you look under the hood of that resume.
There are some pretty big concerns.
We'll go inside the numbers with that a little bit later on.
But let's take a look back at the loss to Purdue.
definitely a frustrating one once again as we've talked about now this three game losing streak and the frustrations that continue to build as Iowa themselves built out a lead in this game against the boiler makers.
The fifth ranked team in the country came in what the 15 and one record in Iowa looked right there with them.
I mean, they played a game plan about as well as you could coming out there and doing many of the things we talked about leading into this one what Iowa had to do in order to give themselves a shot.
They rate them off the three point line.
I thought they did a good job defensively, really until about the final 12 minutes of the game of what they did on that end of the floor.
It made it incredibly difficult for them to do many of the things that they want.
They run in a lot of different actions, do a lot of different things.
Iowa in the first half, though, got off to a good start, and they did it with their three-point shooting.
That three-point shooting in the first half, including three of them that had the friendly role that went their way as Iowa, started off Red Hot, five of their first five from behind the three-point arc, finished seven of ten.
from the three point line, 12 to 22 from the floor overall,
shooting 54% in the first half and took the lead into the halftime locker room against Purdue.
It was a little bit of every bun, but once again, Kill Combs is a story.
And if this is going to be the kill Combs that I was going to get throughout the course of the rest of this season,
and I remember a guy that has a couple of years of eligibility, I was going to be in really good shape going forward.
Holmes was tremendous in this one and certainly in the first half.
There are a couple of things you can point to as always with all these different guys.
But I thought he did a really nice job with the squad, knocking down the open shots that he needed to.
And of course, what he does on the defensive end.
And he was outstanding also, I thought, against Braden Smith and what he did against the preseason, All-American.
And many people's choice to be the Wooden Award winner coming up this season in college basketball.
He was really good there.
Had to be happy with what they had.
But as you go through and you dig a little bit deeper.
And then as soon as Purdue gets right back into it, I will respond it.
And that run that they had taking the lead 4839, there was 1436 to go when they were able to do that one.
And then it all changed.
One thing Ben McCullum mentioned in the post game was maybe, I think, the thing that probably is one of his biggest frustrations from this one,
just listening to him and listening to his tone.
And as we're getting to know Ben McCollum a little bit better and certainly understanding,
his mannerisms, how he talks about different things.
He talked a few different times about their ball screen defense and what they did,
certainly in the final 12 minutes or so of the ball game.
And one thing that he pointed to was once again,
it wasn't so much the guards that were getting into trouble.
It was the Biggs.
And they were sagging too much, coming underneath,
and just giving up too much coverage with the Biggs.
So that's what he pointed to.
And he could look at Banks and Manwa and Fool Garris, certainly those guys and what
that happened to them on the defensive end of the floor.
And I think that kind of paints the picture of what we saw and how Purdue finally got going.
And they, of course, were red hot then to wrap up the ball game.
Iowa couldn't get a stop late.
And when you're calling card is what Iowa is on the defensive end of the floor.
You've got to be able to do it.
They played well enough on the boards.
Another thing that definitely jumps out.
And there's a lot of passing in this Iowa offense, right?
A lot of actions, a lot of different things that they're doing.
And that's the tempo that they run.
the long possessions that they have, that's going to be a piece of it.
And it's not boring playing four quarters, right?
Four corners basketball, the old Dean Smith and playing stallball.
That's not what it is.
There's movement, but just how many times they pick up dribbles for no reason,
or the laziness at times with some of the passes leading to the turnovers.
And when you're playing lower amount of possessions,
the 13 turnovers that they had in the ball game,
feel like 20 in the temple that they played before under Fray McCaffrey.
It just under Ben McCollum 13 turnovers, that's a huge number.
And it was across the board.
Banks had three.
Sturts had three, two apiece from cones and Fulgaris and Howard.
Can't have it.
You just can't have it if you're going to be able to compete,
go on the road and beat a team like Purdue.
You can't turn the ball over like that in the limited amount of possessions
that you're going to get from Iowa basketball.
A couple other things, and it continues to come up now for this Iowa basketball team,
is, well, two-full.
The lack of getting to the free throw line,
and then secondarily,
the number of times that they're putting the other team
on the foul line there.
And Ben McCollums brought it up now
a couple of different times.
Last week, we had assistant coach on
and Coach Williams mentioned that's something
that they're still just trying to figure out.
And it's their first time through the Big Ten,
new officiating crews,
understanding what works, what these officials.
Matt Painter certainly knows.
Tom Izzo certainly knows.
T.J. Othaburger,
certainly knows you're going through the regnors for the first time with a lot of new faces,
a lot of different people, but you need to figure it out.
Another thing you need to do, though, is you got to be tougher.
And you saw it a couple of different times again in this one.
Iowa finishes four of eight in the ball game and layups, four of eight.
And how many of those times was contorting your body, trying to absorb the contact,
trying to take the contact away a little bit in a certain way, just go up strong.
and that's something I think that's going to go hand in hand with it and taking those laps.
You know, Bennett Sturt's one of the few good plays he made late in the game and chucking up a couple of awful threes.
And we'll get to Sturts here in a moment was when he drove in, got that bucket off the glass and got the end one.
Those are the kind of plays that he needs to continue to make.
He can't continue to fall in love with the three point shot.
And in this one, he finishes two and nine from behind the three point arc.
Two of those shots late in the ball game were just absolutely brutal.
They were not in rhythm.
They were not in part of the offense.
It was not a clean look.
It was not good offensive sets.
It was just being a chucker.
And as a former chucker, I know what a chucker looks like.
Those were not good.
And you could see certainly after the second one,
Coach McCollum was upset with Bennett Sturts.
Bennett Sturts is not playing like an All-American.
He's very good.
I saw he was third team All-American mid-season by, I think it was a sporting news.
He's got to play at a high level.
and he, I think, was one of those guys that was dealing with the illness, getting his legs back.
They just need a better better better-in-stirts than what they got and what they've got, certainly here recently.
And when the three-point shot isn't there, and there are times that has definitely been the case with him throughout the course of this season,
they need him to do more.
When you go through and you look at the game log, and on top of it, he's also dealing with the foul trouble now.
For the fourth consecutive game, he's been in foul trouble.
He picks up those two fouls.
Now that's what he ended the ball game with, just two fouls.
He has to sit out for a bit in the first half.
Two a nine from the three point line, this one.
Two of eight against Illinois.
Two of ten against Minnesota.
These last three games, I mean, you're a combined.
When you're shooting that many times with that kind of volume,
and you're six of 27 from behind the arc, you've got to find a different way.
He doesn't go to the free throw line against Illinois.
He gets there just four times against Purdue.
He needs to be working more to get to the rim.
And stop falling in love with that outside.
shot, get to the rim, get into the paint, do those kind of things.
I think that'll go a long way. And on top of it, it'll get him to the line.
It'll get the scoring going. It will all come together if that happens.
All this being said, yes, another frustrating one.
I still like this team. I still like this team. I still like the upside of them to battle
in this environment like they did, have a lead deep into the second half, what they did
coming back against Illinois, having a shot against Minnesota. We've talked about it many times
with this squad. It's a very likable group, but that only gets you so far.
Because when you bring in a preseason All-American, that wasn't voted on by Iowa Media.
I wasn't voted on by guys on the lockdown network. This was national people coming together
and came up with this before the year, believing he was going to be that type of player
after what he did in his season at Drake a year ago. Those were the expectations, not my
expectations, the national expectations. And he's not playing at that level. Fair or unfair,
it needs to be better.
If this team is going to be somebody
that can get to the tournament,
win a game or two,
do some special things,
Bennett Sturts needs to be a whole lot better
than what he's been at this point in time.
Cooper Kotch has had some open looks
these last couple of games.
He's got to knock him down.
He's a good three-point shooter.
I mean, there's a lot of fingers
that you can point on this squad right now.
Alvira Fulgaris needs to be a lot better
than what he is.
There's bright spots.
Tavian Banks knock it in three pointers.
Three of them in the game,
including banging one in deep into the second half of that one.
I thought Manuel was as good as he's been in a while.
Still, overall, a lot of things that just leave you frustrated because they're close.
You need to get over the hump.
It was another tough one.
And now here comes Indiana.
Well, Iowa goes back to the state of Indiana to take on the Hoosiers over the weekend.
The importance of that one cannot be overstated.
And we're going to talk about that a little bit.
Not the Indiana game.
We'll get to that on Friday.
What we are going to get into, though, with this Hoosier matchup, is the resume.
As Iowa still sits without a quad one victory, though the metrics, the Ken Palms, the Bart Torvitz,
the analytical sites really like this Iowa basketball team.
There are some numbers that don't.
We'll talk about that when we come back and how concerned should we be with the resume for the Hawkeyes.
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Trent, kind of back with you once again here.
Rapid Reaction after Iowa Falls to Purdue 7972 as the Hawkeyes now.
Three consecutive losses as they sit currently.
at number 20 in the Ken Pomeroy rankings, 12 and 5 overall.
Indiana on tap coming up 1 o'clock on Saturday from Assembly Hall.
But I want to talk about the resume for Iowa.
And I know our everyday listeners know I'm a bit of a number nerd for a myriad of different reasons.
Always like numbers, how they match up, something that I always like growing up.
And I also like numbers as it pertains to gambling because, yes, I like to gamble.
But I have always enjoyed looking at the numbers from Ken Pomeroy.
And now it's gone a step further as there's all kinds of different websites,
analytical websites that you could look at, Bartorvik, Evan Maya,
tons of them out there.
They give you a lot of different information.
Then what I like to do is try to take that information to see if it kind of marries
with what we're actually seeing, what we're watching the games,
because games now are not just played inside of a box score, right?
Actually got to watch to see if all those things work together.
So the Iowa resume looks like this.
Talk about the numbers.
They're net ranking.
That is the sorting tool that the NCAA selection committee uses.
It's not a hard and fast rule.
It's not that your net ranking is solely what they look at.
And that's how they're going to put you in the bracket because if that was in the case, 21.
However, they use more than that.
This is more of a sorting tool.
And they use that sorting tool to put the different teams and the different quadrants.
And Iowa currently is 0 and 4 against quad 1 teams.
Now, you look at the four teams that they have losses to.
Road loss, Purdue, six in the net.
Iowa State 7.
Michigan State 13th.
And a home loss to Illinois, who's 10th.
None of those losses are bad.
And even when you look at Quad 2, where Iowa's currently 2 and 1,
whole win against UCLA, a road loss against Minnesota,
and then New Court win against Old Misses.
They got a win on Wednesday night that helped push them back into the top 100
and made that a quad two victory.
Still, the lack of the resume is not very good
when you don't have a quad one victory.
It's incredibly difficult to be a tournament team,
meaning I was got to find opportunities.
Now, win against Indiana on the road,
that would be a quad one victory.
That would be a big one for them.
And there's going to be more opportunities in front of them,
but I found this interesting.
So talked about those predictive metrics.
That is what Ken Pomeroy is.
That's what Bart Torvik is.
BPI, if you see that,
these are the metrics,
that are predictive, more in line with the gambling side of things.
However, result-based metrics, what you've actually done,
your actual resume does not paint a very good picture.
Three different metrics that are listed and are on the team sheets that are there
that the NCAA selection committee will use.
The three metrics, KPI, that is from Kevin Paga, his index,
ESPN strength of record and wins above bubble.
Net win above bubble.
That has been a metric that is becoming more and more in vogue.
And you heard that a little bit in the last couple of years
during the selection pity when they were talking about different teams.
Well, in those metrics, I was not a top 25 team,
as they are in the predictive.
It's pretty bubble-ish.
KPI 53.
That's usually on the outside looking in for the tournament.
Strength the record, 41.
Wins above bubble ranked 45th.
that is painting a picture that says Iowa has a lot of work in front of them.
And it's not just as simple as going out there and winning the games that you should.
Beating teams at home, like Rutgers, even USC, beating Northwestern.
Now, it's going to take more than that.
And it's not just road victories against an Oregon, Maryland, Penn State,
three bad opponents that they're going to have and getting road victories there
is not going to do a ton for them.
There has to be more there.
there has to be more on this Iowa resume.
And that means not just going out when they go to the West Coast to begin February against Oregon and Washington and getting a split.
If you're talking about winning both of those games, including a Washington team that still rates decently in the net and would be a quad one victory.
That means maybe having to go on the road and beat a real good team like in Wisconsin.
And we saw what they've done this week with a buzzer beater against Minnesota, what they did knocking off Michigan and given the Wolverines their first.
loss of the year. Nebraska, you get two opportunities against the undefeated
Huskers. Obviously, either one of those games would be huge for the resume. You get
Michigan in March, though a final home game at Carver Hawkeye Arena of the season.
You'll get them. That's the number one team in the country in terms of net and RPI.
That would go a long way. What I'm saying here is very simple. It's not just beating the teams
that they should. In fact, you kind of add up what Iowa has. And let's do that quickly.
Rutgers, USC, both at home, give them victories.
one out of two against Oregon and Washington.
There's three.
Northwestern, four, at Maryland five.
You get a little bit later on.
Ohio State at home, all right, there's six.
You win a Penn State.
You're still at eight wins in the Big Ten.
And it's going to take certainly a whole lot more than that,
I believe, for this to be a tournament team.
That means the quality victories need to be there.
There's a lot of work still to be done.
And when you look at these kind of metrics,
and when you look at the way that Iowa stacks up
in comparison, they have work to do.
I think they can get there.
I still like the trajectory of this team.
The potential upside that is there.
A lot of the questions that we've had about this group,
I think they've answered.
They're competitive.
This is not the old days when this team at different times
would tuck their tail and run in difficult spots.
And that's why I really like the makeup of the squad.
But there's work to be done.
Need to continue.
And win Saturday against Indiana would certainly go a long way
to changing that.
Go to a long way of changing Iowa football.
That is a transfer portal.
11 commitments there yesterday.
If you missed it here,
lockdown Hawkeyes.
We went through and ranked those 11 guys
and their importance to Iowa football
in my mind for next season.
But they're not done.
Still work to be done in the portal.
We'll get you a couple of names
that Iowa is looking at,
get the perspective on that.
Plus get ready for Iowa, Oregon,
on the hardwood,
on the women side of things coming up Thursday evening
at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Little football talk.
we come back, Locked on Hawkeyes.
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As we wrap things up here, Lockdown Hawkeyes,
want to jump into football.
Throw a couple of names out there.
Iowa continues to look at defensive tackle,
still a need position as I was going through.
In fact, next week we're going to take a stab
at the two deep, three deep, maybe the four deep for Iowa football,
and we will go through positionally after the transfer portal comes to a close.
A couple of names, though, for you.
I'll mention Khalil Petit.
And that was a guy out of temple, defense to tackle, good size to him,
that we kind of talked about a lot initially.
There was a report for Blair Sanderson of Hawkeye Report that he did take a visit to Iowa,
still waiting decision on that front,
as he has not made anything official at this point,
know they also followed a guy that is currently committed to Yukon,
potential something there.
A couple of their names, a visit that happened for a wide receiver
that is going to be, would be a preferred walk-on
if he makes a decision to make his way to Iowa City.
And that is Lance Begley, walk-on at SMU and a walk-on at the University of Iowa.
Still, bodies in that room, getting more guys.
Kind of a gadget guy might be something to keep a look at.
And finally, one other name, and we haven't talked about a ton, is Long-Snapper.
feels like Iowa probably feels pretty good.
Boston Everett, a punter out of Australia,
the Philpott kid who is down at Simpson,
potentially both those guys adding to the ranks at the punter position.
But long snapper, it's important, as we saw against Oregon,
and a two-point loss and give up the safety.
The way that it just looked to be a struggle at different times this year.
Well, they have a name, at least on the list.
It's Maddie McLaughlin down in St. Louis.
he is a high school kid class of 2026,
but we see young guys before come in right away,
ready to go at that position.
I've gone through all the big special teams camp,
cold kicking camps and the like,
and that's a name certainly to know Maddie McLaughlin,
potential long snapper for Iowa.
Wrapping things up over on the women's side of things
is the Iowa women get ready for that match up coming up
this evening against Oregon.
So Iowa, really good shape.
And you go through and you look at this squad,
What they've done to this point put themselves in a week that they didn't play very well.
The win against Northwestern was ugly.
They had the comeback, which was fun, but you also find yourself down double digits against a Indiana team that is definitely down.
So it's Oregon tonight.
The Ducks come into this one, Iowa, a projected four-point favorite at Bort Bartorvik.
They're 14 to 4 on the season, lost their last time out against Michigan State in a tight one at home.
Now they go on the road here to Iowa City and make the sojourn back to the Midwest against the Hawkeyes on Thursday, and then they'll go to Wisconsin after that.
Still, this is a Oregon team that a tick below Iowa, pretty good defensively, 21st in the country and defensive efficiency, solid on the offensive end as well.
At 34th, you kind of go through, look at the way that they do.
A lot of it is a three-point shooting.
They shoot it well from behind the arc, 35%.
it's simple, but this is a team that can score.
You've got to slow them down.
And that's what I really like about this Iowa women's team this year.
And when we talk about upside of squads is on the defensive end of the floor, they've been really good.
First half, not the case against Indiana way they clamp down, obviously in the second half of this one, a chance to go six and O.
And then after that, another home game against a Michigan State team that's good, that's solid.
Same kind of team as Oregon, as we talked about those two teams just played a really close game.
But you get both these games at home, suddenly you win two home.
home games against opponents that your favorite against,
your 7-0 in the Big 10.
But boy, after that lookout, next week, next Thursday,
it's Maryland on the road.
Okay?
Then it's Ohio State.
After that, it's USC and UCLA, both those games on the road.
It is going to be some heavy, heavy lifting after these two games,
and both of them being at home definitely feels like those are ones you want to put in the wind column.
If this team at minimum is going to be hosting in the first and second round of the NCAA tournament,
that means finishing as a top four seed being a top 16 type of team.
They can get there absolutely.
Ava Hayden, though still inconsistent, the foul trouble that has come up from time to time.
And Chichat Wright, who was dealing with it Monday, certainly against Northwestern,
get her back, get her healthy, shooting the ball so well from behind the arc this season.
She has been tremendous to watch the addition now again of getting Kylie Fearbought.
back in there, what she can do on the defensive end. I love the emergence that we've seen
from Journey Houston, the freshman that seemingly nobody wanted to talk about during the offseason
coming into the year. And she's found at minimum role on this squad. A lot of good for this team.
Still remember, a very, very young team. And outside of McCabe and Stulkey and Fearbach,
a lot of underclassmen out there playing at a good level. Should be a fun one against Oregon
coming up tonight at Carver Hawkeye Arena. That'll do it for today. Metscheid back with you.
We'll have a recap of what we see at Carver with the Ducks and the Hawkeyes.
We'll also talk some more football with you.
Tom Caker from Hawkeye Reports, going to join us and a whole lot more.
Your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast right here, make sure you hit subscribe if you're watching
this on YouTube or a five-star review always helps us out.
And you can also check out the Every Dare Club once again.
Check it out on our feed.
You can look at the show notes.
You'll also find a link there or locked on Hawkeyes.
dot supercast.com and see
we're going at free.
Makes sense for you.
We'll talk to you again tomorrow until then.
Go Hawks.
