Tate Sage continues developing a key role in Iowa men’s basketball’s offense

IOWA CITY — It wasn’t about effort, or a lack there of. Sometimes, there are games where it doesn’t click the entire night.

Iowa men’s basketball head coach Ben McCollum knows that can happen. It’s a matter of making sure those rough-around-the-edges performances still translate into wins.

“That's important, to be able to win consistently,” McCollum said Tuesday night. “You have to win games when it's just not clicking. It wasn't clicking for us tonight.”

The Hawkeyes’ 68-62 win over Rutgers wasn’t pretty. McCollum said he saw effort from his team, but there wasn’t great concentration and execution on the court.

But even with guard Bennett Stirtz’s 13 second-half points, the Hawkeye who helped keep Iowa away from a second-straight home loss was freshman guard Tate Sage. After McCollum called the rookie “fearless” earlier this season, Sage has seen a steady increase in playing time and a larger on-court role.

The 6-foot-7 guard recorded a career-high 17 points against the Scarlet Knights, knocking down four triples and dishing out two assists. Stirtz ended the game with a team-high 20 points.

“He was huge,” guard Isaia Howard said. “He shot the ball really well. We’ve seen that in practice a lot, and in a couple games. But for him to see more than a couple go in during a game, it was really good for his confidence.”

Iowa’s offense has primarily run through Stirtz throughout the season. The former Drake point guard has averaged 18.3 points per game so far, leading the Hawkeyes as one of two players to average double figures this season (guard/forward Tavion Banks being the other).

McCollum said that eventually, because Sage and Stirtz were clicking in the second half, that Iowa just ran the same set up repeatedly against Rutgers. It worked.

“No moments too big for him,” McCollum said of Sage. “He just kind of comes in and just let’s the moment be the moment. Who would have thought he would be at this level in the Big Ten? I thought he would play for us in the Big Ten. I wasn't sure if he'd play this year, but he's playing.”

Sage hasn’t played coming off the bench since he was in high school, he said, and even then it was for a Senior Night. He said it hasn’t minded becoming a spark player, and having the chance to generate consistent playing time so early in his career.

Sage was originally committed to Drake with McCollum, and flipped to Iowa to follow his head coach. He said he never regretted his decision, and now that Sage has become an emerging force in the throws of Big Ten play.

“I’ve won in the past, and I believe I’m a winner so knowing I can go out there and be myself is huge,” he said.

As for the fearless mentality? Sage’s response is simple.

“Why fear another man?” he said. “What can he do that I can't?"

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