From Texas Panhandle via Philly and K-State, Brendan Hausen gives Iowa a shooter

IOWA CITY — Some city buses make fewer stops than today’s college basketball players. Or at least take straighter routes.

The Iowa men’s roster — quickly cobbled together after Ben McCollum became the head coach in March — has five players who are at their third college. Point guard Bennett Stirtz followed McCollum from Northwest Missouri State to Drake to Iowa.

Tavion Banks went from Northwest Florida State to Drake to Iowa. Kael Combs and Cam Manyawu have bounced from Wyoming to Drake to Iowa.

Then there’s senior guard Brendan Hausen. He left his Amarillo, Texas home to play for two years at Villanova in Philadelphia, then was at Kansas State last season. Hauser reentered the transfer portal after last season, and McCollum needed a shooter.

“I wouldn’t say (three schools) was the plan I had,” Hausen said after Iowa’s practice Thursday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “It’s definitely not been easy on my family. And moving three times in four years takes a lot out of you mentally. But this is what I signed up for and this is my job.”

Hausen isn’t a known commodity, not a project. He has played 99 games for teams in major conferences. He started all 33 games for K-State last season, averaging 10.9 points and making 90 3-pointers. He was third in the 16-team Big 12 in made threes per game.

All but 30 of Hausen’s 208 career field goals are 3-pointers, and he’s made 39.1 percent of them.

So why Iowa, now?

“I think it was the obvious reason,” Hausen said. “Coach Mack, the culture he’s built. It doesn’t matter where he’s been. You look at his resume. He wins, wins at a high level.

“He told me nothing but the truth, and that’s what I wanted to hear. That it wasn’t going to be easy, that we were going to be held accountable. We’re going to be pushed every day. He’s going to push me to be my best and ultimately try to get me to reach my goals.”

Hausen was no hidden secret as a player for the Amarillo High Sandies. He was a four-star recruit, signed to Villanova by coach Jay Wright, who won two national-championships there. Hausen made 43 percent of his 3-pointers as a freshman, and made 61 threes as a sophomore.

His comfort range as a shooter, he said, is “Usually out to the logo.”

McCollum doesn’t look for specialists, though. You play for him, you defend. You set screens, and you move without the ball.

“Guys that have come in (to McCollum’s programs) and really shoot the ball, they expand their game,” said Hausen. “He’s got really good point guards, which I need to be around.”

This go-round in the transfer portal, Hausen took no campus visits.

“I just kind of knew,” he said.

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