(PHOTO): Iowa Hawkeyes guard Tavion Banks (6) dunks the ball over Robert Morris Colonials forward Nikolaos Chitikoudis (16) during the second half of a men’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. (Cliff Jette/Freelance)

Mike Hlas | thegazette.com/

Basketballs bounce. So, this will bounce from the Iowa men’s team to other things, and will bounce back. Let us call it … The Bounce.

I’ll also write about other basketball stuff and the human condition. OK, not so much that last one.

I’ll look at the most-recent Iowa game and whatever is on the horizon. So let’s start here with Iowa’s season-opening 101-69 win over Robert Morris Tuesday night.

The crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was announced at 9.232. The season-ticket count is around 8,700. These were once small numbers. They are an improvement from the recent past.

Before discussing the game, let’s note there was more of an early-November buzz in the building. The decision to install seating for a few hundred students behind the south basket seems simple enough, but it makes a difference. The students are visible and audible. You know, it’s supposed to be, with college events being for the students first.

After the Hawkeyes’ 101-69 win over Robert Morris, McCollum and his players went to the fans at courtside to exchange high-fives.

“We’re serving other people, too, when we play. I feel like it’s a big thing to thank the crowd, the students, anybody who came out. That can make their day.”

• Tavion Banks, Iowa forward

“Thanks to the fans for coming out, particularly the student,” McCollum said. “It makes the environment so much more fun, even if you’re not playing well, whatever it may be, to have fans that cheer. It kind of just snowballs on itself where now people are going, students. Where this is a cool place to go, and then more students come, and then more fans from the outside come, and that’s what Iowa basketball needs to be.”

As for the game, the one thing that you can take from it is that the Hawkeyes will defend. They hounded the Colonials from the get-go in quickly building a 17-2 lead, and the fans picked up on the defense more than anything other than the flurry of dunks Iowa had in the second half.

With people in Iowa City this weekend for Saturday’s Oregon-Iowa football game, it will be interesting to see how many drift over to Carver Friday at 6 p.m. for the Western Illinois-Iowa men’s basketball game.

Winning the opener by 32 points isn’t a sign of much in Division I ball. In the previous three seasons, the Hawkeyes began their season with an 89-58 win over Bethune-Cookman, a 110-68 victory over North Dakota and an 89-67 triumph over East Texas A&M. They didn’t win 20 games in any of those seasons and were 28-32 in the Big Ten.

We did learn freshmen Trevin Jirak and Tate Sage are getting thrown into the fire right away. Jirak, a center, had 9 points and drew 4 fouls in 13 minutes. Sage played 16 minutes.

We learned holdover redshirt freshman wing Cooper Koch is very much part of the rotation that isn’t yet a rotation. He played 26 minutes, had 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and defended.

“I didn’t even know who was going to start an hour before the game, to be honest,” said McCollum, who noted that matchups with opponents will have as much to do with that as anything.

Senior shooting specialist Brendan Hausen didn’t get into the game until the second half, which was a surprise, but the Kansas State transfer played 15 minutes after that and scored 10 points.

Touted freshman Trey Thompson did not play. His defense isn’t there yet.

“I would be surprised if he’s not an All-Big Ten player when it’s all said and done,” McCollum said. “Any time you come in (as a freshman) it’s just hard to catch up with the defense, and he’s getting there.”

Easy-peasy for most high-majors

The Big Ten has a rather remarkable first-week schedule. Of the 32 games, only two (Georgetown-Maryland Friday and Arkansas-Michigan State Saturday) are against Power 5 conference teams. Arkansas is the only ranked team.

Every one of the 32 is a home game for Big Ten teams but one. Penn State is playing at New Haven, a first-year Division I program. New Haven was 10-19 in Division II last season.

Robert Morris and Western Illinois were/are Iowa’s guests this week. Some of the conference’s other Week 1 dignitaries: West Georgia, Mercyhurst, Alabama A&M, Rider, and you get the idea. Oakland got drilled 121-78 at No. 7 Michigan Monday and is at No. 1 Purdue Friday.

Surprise, surprise. The Big Ten is off to a 16-0 start. Just three of the games were decided by less than 10 points.

Purdue, by the way, is the preseason No. 1 for the first time. Kansas was the preseason No. 1 last year. It went 21-13 overall, 11-9 in the Big 12.

Spoiler alert: Purdue isn’t losing 13 times.

The Big Ten has transfers who can play

It’s going to take a while to learn who’s who in the 18-team Big Ten with all the comings and goings of players from last season to this. Some who got off to big starts in Game 1:

Cade Tyson, Minnesota: The North Carolina transfer scored 30 points in an 87-60 win over Gardner-Webb. Colorado State transfer Jaylen Crocker-Johnson had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

David Mirkovic, Illinois: The 6-foot-9, 250-pound freshman from Montenegro had 19 points and 14 rebounds in the Illini’s 113-55 clubbing of Jackson State.

Hannes Steinbach, Washington: This is a 6-11 freshman from Germany. Watch out. In the Huskies’ 94-50 rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Steinbach had 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

“He’s so far ahead for being a freshman, just IQ wise,” UW coach Danny Sprinkle said last week. “The game does look easy for him. But he makes it look easy because he’s really talented. He can drive the ball and can pass it. He can see the floor like a point guard.”

Donovan Dent, UCLA: The point guard came hyped after transferring from New Mexico, where he was the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year. He had 21 points and 9 assists in the Bruins’ 80-74 win over Eastern Michigan.

Former Hawkeyes get started elsewhere

Players from last season’s Iowa team have scattered around America. Josh Dix and Owen Freeman will get started with Creighton Wednesday night. Here’s how some of their 2024-25 teammates did in their first games at their new homes:

Brock Harding, TCU: 6 points, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2-of-11 from the field and 0-of-4 from 3-point in 36 minutes of his team’s 78-74 home loss to New Orleans.

Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska: Started and scored 3 points in 21 minutes of the Huskers’ 86-53 win over West Georgia. Was 0-of-5 from the field, all 3-point tries.

Seydou Traore, Utah: Had 23 points and 4 steals in 28 minutes, made 5 of 8 threes in the Utes’ 84-75 win over San Jose State.

Carter Kingsbury, The Citadel: Had 2 points and 2 assists in 21 minutes in a 105-61 win over Erskine. Was 0-of-3 from 3-point.

Riley Mulvey, Siena: Scoreless in 8 minutes in an 82-66 win over Bryant.

Ladji Dembele, UNLV: Started for the Rebels and had 9 points and 3 blocked shots in 25 minutes in an 86-81 home loss to Tennessee-Martin.

Peyton Sandfort: His pro career starts Friday when he plays for the NBA G League’s Oklahoma City Blue at Rio Grande Valley.