By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Brendan Hausen matched a season high with 19 minutes in Iowa’s 91-51 win over Western Michigan on Sunday.

Hausen, a senior who transferred from Kansas State last spring to play for the Hawkeyes in Ben McCollum’s first season as coach, was expected to be a key part of Iowa’s rotation this season. But he is averaging just 10.8 minutes per game, having played in all but one of the Hawkeyes’ games.

“I mean, I’ve got a role on this team,” he said after the game. “I feel like we’re a very elite team, great team, and it’s my duty to uphold that role. And so whatever the team needs, I’m here for. And if that’s four minutes, if that’s no minutes, if that’s being the best cheerleader on the bench, getting guys ready to play, then that’s what I’m ready to do. I just want to win at the end of the day.”

It’s an attitude McCollum likes about Hausen.

“These are tricky situations,” McCollum said after last Saturday’s 83-64 win over Maryland, the lone game in which Hausen didn’t play. “Brendan, if he’s not our best teammate, he’s one of them. I mean, he’s an elite teammate. There’s no pout in him, and he could easily pout right now, and he’s not. He fights in practice every day. He fought in the Michigan State game (when Hausen had seven points in seven minutes). He coaches on the bench, the guys, all those different things.

“I do think he’s going to win us a game, or a couple games at some point coming up. It’s just a matter of time.”

McCollum echoed those comments after Sunday’s game.

“He’s a really good leader, a shockingly good leader,” McCollum said. “And I don’t say that in surprise, but I don’t think people realize how much he helps our program at a high level. I mean games and understanding what’s going on, staying engaged, and that’s not easy to do. I think it says a lot about his character. He’s exactly what we want from our program, from an Iowa Hawkeye. He’s exactly that. And obviously he can play too, and he played well tonight.”

That was something McCollum expected from Hausen since he recruited him to come to Iowa.

“He’s a hard worker and tough and all that stuff, but it’s just … he’s a really good leader off the floor, on the floor in the locker room when people aren’t watching,” McCollum said. “That’s when he’s really good, from my understanding, because sometimes I’m not watching.” 

Hausen was one of three Hawkeyes to score 13 points in Sunday’s win. He was 4 of 8 from the field, 4 of 7 in 3-pointers.

Hausen came to Iowa with the reputation of being a 3-point shooter. He led Kansas State in all 3-point categories last season — total (90), attempts (232), percentage (38.8) and 3-pointers/game (2.73). Hausen has made 208 field goals in his career, with all but 30 of those coming from behind the arc.

McCollum understands if a player is frustrated about not getting enough minutes.

“The hardest part about my job is deciding playing time, because these kids work hard,” McCollum said.

McCollum said he remembered when he was a player at Northwest Missouri State after playing at North Iowa Area Community College.

“I think I was all-conference in junior college, and felt like I was a good junior college player,” he said. “I went to Northwest Missouri State for my first couple games. I didn’t play a second. That was hard. I mean, it’s an ego check really quick. And then you learn that your value doesn’t just come from the game of basketball. So there’s a lot of lessons in there.

“Translate that to me as a coach. I’m very sensitive to that because of what happened to me and because of how that impacted … that was hard. Now, did I get beat out? Yeah, I got beat out. And my head coach — to this day, I still think I was better than those guys — but my head coach didn’t think I was, and he’s like my mentor and he thought so, and they won 29 games, so he’s probably right, but I’m pretty sensitive to those sort of things.”

Sunday’s playing time was something Hausen enjoyed, for a lot of reasons.

“Well, I mean, it feels good any time the ball goes in and guys are finding me,” he said. “Obviously, that feels good. But the main thing is, we won, we got another win in the win column, and we’re gonna get on to the next game and continue to do this thing. So that’s the main thing.”

Photo: Iowa’s Brendan Hausen carries the Acrisure Classic championship trophy after the Hawkeyes’ win over Grand Canyon last month. (Greg Fiore/Icon Sportswire)