Bennett Stirtz

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior Bennett Stirtz has been named to the five-player preseason All-Big Ten team by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, it was announced by Blue Ribbon.

The Liberty, Mo., native, who is in his first season as Hawkeye, was an All-American by three outlets during the 2024-25 season at Drake and he was also tabbed as the Missouri Valley Conference Larry Bird Player of the Year and Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year.

Stirtz led the MVC in scoring (19.2), steals (2.21) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.86), while ranking second in assists (5.7). He also led the NCAA in minutes played, averaging 39:22 per game.

Stirtz is joined on the five-player all-Big Ten team by Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg and UCLA’s Donovan Dent.

The Hawkeyes, who welcome 12 newcomers to the 14-player roster under first-year head coach Ben McCollum, were picked to finish seventh in the 18-team league in the Blue Ribbon Forecast.