Iowa’s First Road Game Looms After Latest Win

Originally posted on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI | By Lane Mills | Last updated Nov 15, 2025 1:00 PM ET

The Iowa Hawkeyes, in their first season under head coach Ben McCollum, have been granted the rare benefit of opening the schedule with five straight duels at home. Not only that, but each is a non-conference matchup in which the black and gold are favored, and they’ve already won three in a row to kick things off.

A Stretch of Ease

Opening the year against the Robert Morris Colonials, the Hawkeyes came out swinging in a tone-setting 101-69 victory. Next came the Western Illinois Leathernecks and the Xavier Musketeers who, in equal parts and fashion, fell short to Iowa by 19 points a piece. No visiting opponent has yet managed to challenge the home team on any impactful level, and in Iowa’s next two games, that appears to remain the case.

Against Southeast Missouri State and Chicago State, respectively — two out-of-conference opponents predicted to meet the same fate as the Hawkeyes' previous three — Iowa’s path to a 5-0 record seems to be paved right before them. After the latter of those “gimme” games, though, the Hawkeyes will hit the road for the first time this season to take on a Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponent, in what will almost certainly be their first sizable challenge thus far.

Gritty Conference Basketball

Enter: The Ole Miss Rebels. Also undefeated and hailing from what was, at least last year, the runaway most competitive conference in college basketball, the Rebels will undoubtedly be a different sort of spike in competition than anything Iowa has endured thus far.

4-0 through four games of their own (their most telling win being a narrow one at home over the Memphis Tigers), Ole Miss' schedule is equally clean prior to their date with the Hawkeyes, setting the stage for a clash between two undefeated teams a little over a week from now.

The team, led by notoriously hard-nosed HC Chris Beard, more often than not stop opponents with defensive veracity and, when the game is being played at their pace, score in their own way. For Iowa to get the upper hand, they'll have to speed things up, force the Rebels to make mistakes and, more than likely, overcome the 80-point mark.

Ole Miss has scored within the 80's in each of their four wins, and haven't allowed another team to match them there. The Hawkeyes, given their own success, are certainly capable of doing so. The duel will be a good litmus test for what McCollum's inaugural roster is capable of and just how warranted the black and gold faithful's growing excitement around the team is.

This article first appeared on Iowa Hawkeyes on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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