Iowa Trio Leading Nation in Efficiency

The 2025-26 Iowa Hawkeyes, currently boasting a 9-2 (1-1 in-conference) overall record, have wasted no time in forming a new identity under a new head coach. After last season's relatively disastrous finish in Fran McCaffery's final year behind the wheel (17-16, 7-13), men's hoops was desperate for a change. A change that, in swift time, came in the form of Ben McCollum.

A former Drake Bulldog, McCollum's ability to, thus far, overhaul the Hawkeyes' roster and produce a bunch that is consistently competing on the national stage, in one of the NCAA's premier basketball conferences, is about as close to a miracle as you could come in Iowa City.

To boot, Iowa is already heavily being considered by the AP Poll and, given a few more wins, could find themselves ranked in the early season just one year after missing postseason play entirely.

At the forefront of this round-ball revolution within the team is a trio that, according to a recent, televised graphic from FOX College Hoops, is among the most efficient of their kind in the nation. Between Bennett Stirtz, Tavion Banks and Isaia Howard, the Hawkeyes are defined at their core by a statistical efficiency that appears almost fabricated, upon closer look.

Video Game Numbers

The three team-leaders have a composite defensive rating of 97 and, even more impressive, an offensive rating of 99. Their overall net metric comes out to 99 as well; they're only joined in this analytical heaven by sets of players from the Clemson Tigers and Vanderbilt Commodores, respectively.

I love you, Ben McCollum. pic.twitter.com/1MG12svjAv
— Hawkeye Enjoyer 🐤 (@HawkGuyEnjoyer) December 17, 2025

"I love you, Ben McCollum" said a poster who publicized the picture on X (Twitter), celebrating a sort of consistent national attention that men's basketball hasn't enjoyed in Iowa City in remote recent memory. This specific statistic may revolve around the players, but the program's newfound, sudden success certainly tracks back to the hire that was made in the spring.

Coach McCollum at least appears to be the long awaited answer behind the wheel for the black and gold.

Just the Beginning

Under McCollum, the program is only just getting started in what could shake out to be a long-term era of memorable success and record-setting for the Hawkeyes. As fans start to fill the seats in Carver-Hawkeye Arena once more (a plea close to McCollum's coaching heart), the team continues to suggest that the semi-controversial reset perhaps could not have panned out better.

If McCollum and his team continue to improve at this pace, it won't be long before Iowa works their way into national numbers on a more widespread, noticeable level.

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