IOWA CITY — Iowa basketball played Saint Louis in a closed preseason scrimmage last weekend.
The Billikens are in their second season under head coach Josh Schertz. According to Stu Durando, Saint Louis beat Iowa, 99-74. But because the game was closed to the public, the scrimmage deserves more context.
At Iowa men’s basketball media day on Oct. 15, assistant coach Josh Sash described the structure of the closed-door scrimmage.
“We played five 12-minute quarters with no score on the clock,” Sash said. “We started a different lineup every single one of those. We took Bennett (Stirtz) out with around the four-minute media (timeout) in that third scrimmage, and then he didn’t play again. Several guys that first started and played a lot in the first two kind of got scaled back.
“Number 4 and Number 5, you had a lot of action with our freshmen. I thought Trevin (Jirak) did a really good job offensively, of triggering our offense and just kind of calming it. Trey Thompson, Tate Sage, Peyton McCollum, all three of those guys showed some pretty good flashes.”
Iowa intentionally did not scout the scrimmage to see how the Hawkeye players would respond.
“We kind of allow our guys to solution find,” Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said. “We kind of allow them to suffer and see if they can work through some problems. So those scrimmages don’t usually feel good.”
Video: Ben McCollum says ‘we’re pretty excited’ about freshman class
Head coach Ben McCollum speaks at Iowa men’s basketball media day on Oct. 15, 2025.
McCollum offered more specifics of what he learned about his squad from that preseason contest.
“We need to work against switching,” McCollum said. “We need to work against a press. We need to, when runs go against us, we need to be able to function on the floor together and not need a time-out because in a loud environment, we’re going to need those things.”
“And then there’s a few guys that probably made their way into the lineup late in the scrimmage, where it was the last couple segments where they played great. So we’re pretty excited about that part of it.”
Jirak, a freshman, offered more insight.
“We had a little too many turnovers,” Jirak said. “Control the ball better. Just kind of play our game a little more. It was a little different playing someone else for the first time in a while. So it was nice getting your feet a little wet playing someone new.”
Video: Trevin Jirak on the learning curve of playing at college level
Freshman Trevin Jirak appears at Iowa men’s basketball media day on Oct. 15, 2025.
The scrimmage allowed Jirak to gain experience matching up with a talented frontcourt player like Robbie Avila, who averaged 17.3 points per game last season for the Billikens.
“He’s a talented player,” Jirak said. “He knows how to read the court. He knows how to play well. So it was good for me to go against someone like that who’s played (three) years of good college basketball, someone that knows what it takes to be a big man. So, it was good for me to go against someone like that.”
While the score of the game paints a lopsided picture, there is more nuance to what went down. Importantly, it gives Iowa a chance to grow before the wins and losses actually count toward their overall record.
“I think it was really good for us to have that secret scrimmage,” said Iowa junior guard Kael Combs. “I think the good is, now we know where we stand, defensively and offensively. We know what to work on. I wouldn’t really say there was a whole lot of bad. Coach (McCollum) said he went back and watched it, and we just did some things that we can improve on, and that will help us. But I’d say that we had a lot of good coming from the secret scrimmage, and it’s going to help us moving forward.”
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com