By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Ben McCollum has already won quite a few games in his first season as Iowa’s men’s basketball coach, but he hadn’t gotten that win, that brick in what he is wanting to build with the Hawkeyes in the long term.

Long after he had high-fived his way out of the storm of celebration that filled the Carver-Hawkeye Arena court after the 57-52 victory over No. 9 Nebraska on Tuesday night, McCollum knew he had gotten that win.

“This is kind of what it can be,” McCollum said. “You know, obviously, we’ve said it. Every single time we have something positive like this happen, we always make sure that everybody knows this is what it can be. It can be this every night, and it can be fun like this.”

It was a win that was artful in its own way — another masterful performance by Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, a defensive effort that swallowed the Huskers, and just enough shots on a night when so many didn’t fall.

It was two years to the day when a Hawkeye team last beat a ranked opponent — February 17, 2024, against No. 20 Wisconsin.

This was why McCollum was brought in as the new head coach, to win like this, to beat this kind of team.

A lot of the crowd of 11,483 rushing the court was the moment that capped the night.

“We’ve been working for wins like this,” said forward Cooper Koch, the only scholarship player from last season’s team to return to the Hawkeyes. “This is why I came back to Iowa — to get wins like this, and it’s going to keep the fan base coming back, and it’s what we needed.”

“This means a lot to our fans,” said Stirtz, who scored 25 points, including 10 of the last 14 as the Hawkeyes finished off the win. “A lot, and they really needed this, and they deserved it. So they’ve been with us through it all the whole season, so we want to win it for them.”

Iowa (19-7 overall, 9-6 Big Ten) was coming off back-to-back losses last week, including a 78-57 defeat to Purdue in front of the first sellout crowd of the season on Saturday.

This time, the arena wasn’t quite as packed, but it could be loud.

“They’re starting to trend,” McCollum said of the support. “No matter what happens, it’s starting to trend. We got our butts kicked versus Purdue, they came out. They came out again. And it’s not because we’re winning games, it’s because they can connect with our guys and they play the right way. And that’s what we want it to be about, not just winning and losing games.”

To beat a top-10 team after two losses, though, also impressed McCollum.

“I think I’m just proud that our guys flipped it (after) two games of just ‘not us,’” McCollum said.

The Hawkeyes won despite not having a field goal over the final 4:59. They were 7 of 28 from the field in the second half, including 3 of 13 in 3-pointers.

“It didn’t go our way a lot — our offense was completely inept, but we just battled and hung on and got enough stops to be able to get the win,” McCollum said.

Nebraska (22-4, 11-4) was 9 of 23 from the field in the second half, 2 of 12 in 3-pointers, and missed eight of their last 11 shots, going through an 11-½ minute stretch with just one field goal.

There was nothing creative the Hawkeyes did on defense, McCollum said.

“We barely did anything in scout,” McCollum said. “We just did our concepts. I’m like, ‘Just play and make decisions for yourself out there. Stop relying on us and go compete.’ And I thought they did a great job of that.”

“They really got underneath us,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Their physicality overwhelmed us.”

“Very physical,” Koch, the only other Hawkeye in double figures with 10 points, said of the game. “Super physical. Nebraska is a great team, and they pride themselves on it. So again, I keep saying it, but we embraced the challenge, and we kind of wanted to take it to them.”

Only two Huskers scored in double figures, and one of them was one of the Hawkeyes who didn’t come back after McCollum was hired.

Pryce Sandfort led Nebraska with 13 points, more than four points under his season average. Sandfort was booed every time he touched the ball, and he was also on the receiving end of a profanity-laced taunt that echoed through the arena throughout the game.

“I’m proud of him for how he handled everything in a tough environment and a tough game to have to come back and play,” Hoiberg said.

The reception he got was enough that McCollum made sure to point out how much Sandfort’s family — including his brother Payton, a four-year Hawkeye who is the lone player in program history to record a triple-double — meant to the program.

“The Sandfort family means a lot to us, Pryce included, even though he left, obviously, but it was because of a coaching change, so it’s totally understandable,” McCollum said. “He played great. He’s having a great season. The Sandfort family, all of them, are very, very welcome here and we certainly appreciate everything that they’ve done.”

Stirtz was the one who took on the challenge of guarding Sandfort.

“‘Who do you want to guard?’ ‘I’d like to guard Pryce, Coach.’ ‘OK, go ahead,’” McCollum said, his version of the conversation of how the decision was made on who to guard Sandfort. “That’s about it. 

“And I asked him halfway through the game, I said, ‘Are you tired? Because he’s running around a lot.’ He goes, ‘No, I’m good.’ OK, well, you’ve shot 22 times, made a lot of plays, but you’re going to guard the guy that was one of the best movers in Big Ten basketball. Sure. Go ahead.”

Then Stirtz took over on offense. His jumper with 5:38 left gave Iowa a 47-45 lead, then he added a step-back 3-pointer 40 seconds later that would be the Hawkeyes’ final field goal of the game.

“The kid’s an animal,” Hoiberg said. “I think he’s as good as anybody in the country. The kid’s absolutely phenomenal.”

The Hawkeyes had delivered a win, that win.

McCollum, who grew up an Iowa fan, was asked if this reminded him of some of those wins when he was a kid.

“I’ve seen the crowds and all that stuff,” he said. “But to see it from that lens, it was just, it got loud. I mean, they were chanting, the defense was awesome. It was cool. But this is what it can be like. It can be fun. It’s fun for everybody.”

Photo: Iowa’s Cooper Koch (left), Alvaro Folgueiras (center) and Bennett Stirtz react during Tuesday’s win over Nebraska. (Photo courtesy of Iowa Athletic Communications)