Iowa Hawkeyes, who are unbeaten and full of confidence, will soon discover how genuine their early-season momentum is. In one of the most difficult tests any team in the league could take on to begin conference action, Iowa, at 7-0, travels to play the eighth-ranked Michigan State Spartans, the current regular-season conference champions. The game will begin in East Lansing on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT and will only be available for streaming on Peacock.
Iowa is riding high after a championship run at the Acrisure Classic, when the Hawkeyes defeated Grand Canyon and Ole Miss in consecutive neutral-site games. The title-clinching stretch demonstrated Iowa’s developing balance. Senior guard Bennett Stirtz poured in a season-high 29 points during the 74–69 victory over Ole Miss, then sophomore guard Isaia Howard led the way with 19 points in a grind-it-out 59–46 win over Grand Canyon. That defensive effort was particularly impressive. Holding Grand Canyon to just 46 points represented Iowa’s finest defensive showing since 2010 and its first victory when scoring fewer than 60 points since 2020. It was a reminder that this year’s Hawkeye team can win games in more ways than one.
Offensively, Iowa has been practically faultless through seven games. The Hawkeyes are shooting 53.1 percent from the field, the eighth-best mark in the country. Stirtz leads the squad at 18.6 points per game while shooting an efficient 50 percent from the floor and an amazing 45.7 percent from three-point range. His solid performance has anchored an assault that has reached 90 points four times already this season. Now comes the stiffest defensive test yet. Michigan State carries with it one of the most stable defenses in the nation, ranking 11th in scoring defense by allowing only 61.6 points per game. Even the most disciplined offenses struggle to maintain clean looks against the Spartans, who have the 32nd-best field-goal percentage defense in the country.
Michigan State’s résumé is already stacked with solid wins. Before December, the Spartans defeated three ranked teams: the then-No. 15 Arkansas Razorbacks 69-66 on November 8, the then-No. 13 Kentucky Wildcats 83-66 on November 18, and the then-No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels 74-58 on Thanksgiving Day. Each of those victories confirmed what the polls had already indicated: the Spartans are once again a strong contender.
The key component of Michigan State’s offense has been balance. Four players average double figures, topped by forward Jaxon Kohler at 14.6 points per game. Guard Jeremy Fears Jr. adds 12.0, while forward Coen Carr (10.7) and center Carson Cooper (10.6) round out a deep, physical scoring team. Both Kohler and Fears have been particularly dangerous from the outside, hitting 46.2 percent and 47.1 percent from three-point range, respectively.
The game also holds historical significance for Iowa’s first-year head coach Ben McCollum, who became just the fourth coach in program history to start his Hawkeyes tenure with seven straight victories, and the first since Tom Davis during the 1987–88 season. This early milestone speaks to the quick buy-in and chemistry his team has shown. The Hawkeyes’ pre-conference schedule was a mix of home dominance and tournament toughness, with victories over Western Illinois Leathernecks, Xavier Musketeers, Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, and Chicago State Cougars before winning the Acrisure Classic.
A lot about Iowa’s ceiling will be revealed by what transpires next. A road win against a top-10 opponent in a tough Big Ten setting would be a message that this Hawkeye start is no fluke. Even a close loss, however, might give vital lessons for a club still developing its identity under a new coach. On Peacock, tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. For Iowa supporters, it’s the season’s first real yardstick and possibly the start of something truly remarkable.
