Hawkeyes depth steps in during men’s basketball road trip

IOWA CITY — Tavion Banks has become the can-do guy for Iowa men’s basketball, willing to fling his body to prevent a turnover or find a crucial bucket in crunch time.

He’s been most impressed with his improvement from the 3-point line. However, showing off that improvement could be halted.

The Hawkeyes senior has become one of Iowa’s leading scorers this season, scoring 10.8 points per game and recording 21 steals. Despite teammate guard Bennett Stirtz leading the way statistically, averaging 19.2 points per game and 36 minutes per game, Banks has shot 53-percent from the floor.

Except he only played 11 minutes against Oregon Sunday night. Following the game, Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said Banks is dealing with an injury — though the head coach kept it undisclosed — and it’s one with no clear-cut timetable.

McCollum said he hopes to have Banks available against Washington on Wednesday night.

“He’s got something going on. So hopefully he'll be ready to go on Wednesday,” McCollum said in a postgame interview with the Des Moines Register in Eugene. “It happened last year once, and it kind of went away. It took him a few days to about a week or two.”

Even if Banks is unavailable for Wednesday’s clash with the Huskies, the Hawkeyes have players who’ve stepped up for the senior. The last time Banks wasn’t in the starting lineup, forward Alvaro Folgueiras filled that starting role against then-No. 16 Illinois on Jan. 11.

Against Oregon, Folgueiras scored 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. It was his 10th time this season scoring in double figures, where he finished second for the Hawkeyes behind Stirtz’s 32 points.

“He's come a long ways,” McCollum said in his Hawkeye Radio Network postgame interview. “Just from executing ... things like how to win at this level, because there's so many nuances, not just playing well.”

McCollum also mentioned players like Trevin Jirak and Brendan Hausen — who scored 11 points against the Ducks in just under 16 minutes of playing time — have performed well in practices, and the head coach has shown desire to include them in game plans.

Though games don’t always allow McCollum to play a few additional reserves, both played in Eugene.

And of course, there’s always Stirtz.

The guard’s 32 points were a career-high Sunday night, scoring 21 in the second half. He’s been the go-to guy for Iowa, capturing the attention of many NBA scouts in the process.

“I was seeing a lot of different coverages,” Stirtz said on Hawkeye Radio Network on Sunday night. “I was just taking what the defense was giving me, and the shots were going in when I was shooting them.”

Stirtz’s performance also put him over 2,000 career points Sunday night, cementing himself as the Co-Big Ten Player of the Week.

Though losing one of Iowa’s top scorers against Washington wouldn’t be ideal, the Hawkeyes have proved they can adjust this season. McCollum has reached to his bench for a spark a few times this season, and Wednesday’s 10 p.m. clash could be the same thing.

And whenever Banks is available again, his newly improved 3-point shooting can be back on display for Hawkeye fans once again.

“We’re pretty confident,” Stirtz said on how the Hawkeyes feel ahead of the Huskies. “But it’s kind of a humble confidence, because we’ve got a tough team in Washington on Wednesday.”

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