Ben McCollum explains what led to him breaking his marker vs. Nebraska

Iowa fell behind 12-2 to start its Sweet Sixteen game against Nebraska. In turn, Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum called a timeout and gave his team a piece of his mind. During the fiery rant, McCollum threw his marker and it exploded on the floor, spraying ink across the hardwood.

McCollum’s message was received. The Hawkeyes fought back and won 77-71 to advance to the Elite Eight. After the game, McCollum opened up on what he said during the passionate timeout.

“You should have asked them the message. Don’t do that, actually,” McCollum said with a smile. “It was probably the first timeout. It was just we were trying to predict what they were going to do. So what happens is you don’t impose your will. You let them impose their will on you. You try to predict, you look slow, you’re behind plays, and we got a behind a lot of plays.

“Now, they played with great pace offensively. I mean, that thing was hummin’. Like, they were moving and cutting, and I didn’t even know what was going on. So, yeah, then we called ’em into the huddle and just said very nicely, I would like you to play harder, guys, and it seemed to work.”

McCollum shook his Hawkeyes out of their early sleepwalk. Against Iowa’s pesky defense, Nebraska shot just 41% from the field and 34% from beyond the arc.

The Hawkeyes squeezed 10 turnovers out of the Cornhuskers, while only committing five themselves. Consequently, Iowa scored 20 points off turnovers, nearly three times more than Nebraska.

As usual, Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz led the Hawkeyes with 20 points and four assists. Stirtz wasn’t afraid to share the wealth, either.

Iowa recorded 18 total assists on its 27 made field goals against the Cornhuskers. While Iowa’s players may not always enjoy McCollum’s outbursts in the moment, they’re able to appreciate their coach’s passion.

“He’s turned me into a great person off the court and a great player on court, too,” Stirtz said of McCollum. “Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it that much. I get emotional. That’s just another topic for after the season that we can look at. Right now just focus on the next game.”

Iowa lost that next game, falling to 3-seed Illinois in the Elite Eight. The loss will only add more gasoline to Ben McCollum’s fiery coaching.