New Iowa head coach Ben McCollum is actively shaping the Hawkeyes’ basketball roster this week. Alongside scheduling player visits, McCollum started the week on a high note with Monday’s announcement that Iowa secured its first transfer portal commitment from a player not previously at Drake.
That commitment came from talented guard, as confirmed by his agent.
He is a significant pickup for Ben McCollum for several key reasons. Most notably, he becomes the first player on Iowa’s roster who wasn’t either already with the program last season or previously coached by McCollum—marking an important shift from simply building a foundation to rounding out the team with high-caliber players who are a strong fit for the system.
That system fit is what makes Hausen’s addition especially impactful. The 6’4″ guard began his college career at Villanova before transferring to Kansas State, where he started all 33 games last season. He averaged 10.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in just under 28 minutes per game. But what truly stands out is his shooting: nicknamed the “Amarillo Assassin,” Hausen connected on nearly 39% of his three-point attempts, and he did it on high volume—firing up seven threes per game and making almost three of them.
Over his three-year college career, he’s maintained a 39.1% mark from beyond the arc, making him a proven and consistent perimeter threat.
Originally from Amarillo, Texas, Hausen was a 4-star recruit and ranked as the No. 72 overall player and No. 11 shooting guard in the 2022 class. He left high school as his school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,208 points and was named the Texas Panhandle’s 2021–22 Boys Athlete of the Year.
Hausen is an elite shooter with range out to 30 feet. He has a quick release and should pair incredibly well as a catch and shoot option (he ranks in the 91st percentile nationally in that regard per College Basketball Scouting) for former Drake PG Bennett Stirtz.
While Iowa fans have expressed concerns over Drake’s pace of play under McCollum, a staple of his offensive philosophy is efficiency. He’s noted repeatedly that the pace they played last season was a result of worse shooting than he would like to see, but traditionally his offensive efficiency is driven from shooting around 90% of shots from beyond the arc or close to the hoop – virtually no mid-range jumpers.
Hausen fits that mold to a T. Over the last two season, more than 85% of his shots came from beyond the arc. He’s particularly deadly from the left corner.
Overall, Hausen becomes the sixth transfer to commit to Iowa, joining the five players moving over from Drake with McCollum. As a reminder, those five are: PG Bennett Stirtz, CG Kael Combs, SG Isaia Howard, SF Tavion Banks and PF Cam Manyawu. With PF Cooper Koch electing to stay with the Hawkeyes and Valley big man Trevin Jirak flipping his commitment from UNI, Iowa has a roster of eight scholarship players for 2025-2026.
Clearly, Ben McCollum would like to add another big man. He also indicated last week the team would be looking for 4-5 additional transfer before the Hausen commitment. Iowa reportedly has Utah Valley guard Tanner Toolson on campus on Monday as well. The Hawkeyes have been linked with several other names in the portal recently and also hosted a four-star 2025 guard over the weekend.
While it’s taken some time to get moving, Ben McCollum and his new staff seem to be rounding into form on the recruiting trail.
Leave a Reply