Fight for Iowa Podcast - Bennett Stirtz
episode
Fight for Iowa – The Official Podcast of Iowa Athletics
9 min
2 speakers
3 chapters
transcribed 2 months ago
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On the Hawkeyes Sports Network from Learfield, this is the Fight for Iowa podcast. Here's the voice of the Hawkeyes, Gary Dolphin.
Oklahoma City looks a lot like Iowa City these days, or at least the NBA's Thunder roster does. Pro basketball is in the midst of its rookie schedule in Las Vegas. The Thunder feature first-year players and former Hawkeyes Bennett Sturtz, Peyton Sanford, and Josh Dix. In Tuesday's loss to the Denver Nuggets, Sturtz knocked down 22 points, hitting eight of 16 shots and handed out six assists. By far his best performance through three games. He's averaging 17 points and three assists. Peyton Sanford added 19 and a week ago threw in 25 with four threes against the Atlanta Hawks. The 6'7 Sanford has had both shoulders surgically repaired. and it certainly helped his performance at both ends of the floor.
Dix, who spent his first three years as a Hawkeye before finishing up at Creighton, dropped in 14 on Tuesday.
How did Bennett Sturtz's NBA Summer League breakout get introduced?
It's a crowded guard court for Oklahoma City, starting with all-world, all-pro Shea Gilgis Alexander and Jalen Williams, A.J. Mitchell, and second-round draft pick Otega Owe of Kentucky. Less than a month ago, Sturtz was in Brooklyn's Barclays Center at the NBA Draft and learned one minute before he was picked by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 16th overall selection that Oklahoma City would trade up for him. He got his thunder cap adjusted and flew to Oklahoma City to meet front office workers, coaches, and teammates. There were more press conferences, and then it was off to Salt Lake City for four days of practices before starting summer league play. It's been frenzied, but Sturtz has processed everything to this point, and he loves where he's at.
it doesn't feel like I had a long break, but it did. So it was kind of weird feeling and never played in, um, just atmospheres like this. So, um, but you have two other Hawkeyes, uh, with me. So that's been super fun, uh, hanging out with them.
You got Peyton Sanford, who's kind of in limbo right now, but Oklahoma city, I know really likes him. Another great former Hawkeye shooter, Josh Dix. We know about Josh. He spent a couple of years in Iowa city, uh, I I'm guessing it's fun, uh, hooking up with guys, even if you didn't play with them directly guys that wore the same uniform.
Yeah, it's super fun. And we, we all have respect for each other. And then it's like first game, uh, through a pass Peyton and he, he hit a threes and shocking. Yeah. After that, he's like, man, I should have played, wish we would have played together. I was so, um, wish we could have, but it's been super fun so far.
Bennett, you're coming into an incredible program just from a competition standpoint at your position. I mean, the depth at guard is historic for the Thunder, starting with Shea Gilgis-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Those two averaged almost 50 points a game this past season. Now, I know compete is your middle name. The battles you'll have in practice with teammates going forward will serve to make you better, and I know you embrace that.
Yeah, I think first off it comes with just meeting the guys and creating respect from them with how I work and always wanting to learn from them because they've been through a bunch of NBA finals runs, long NBA seasons. So just picking their brains about that and trying to learn as much as I can about just everything in the NBA on the court, off the court. And then I know my job is to make Shea's game and just make it overall easier for him when we're both out there at the same time. So I'm just trying to learn what he wants from me and what the coaching staff wants from me.
Let me read from your selection scouting report on draft day. pieces of it anyway. Sturtz uses bullseye passes, excels at pump fakes, has shooting touch off the dribble from NBA range, will be that floor general if he adjusts to the physicality of the league. Now, I know you're not into reading your own press clippings, but this is from NBA scouts. Rave reviews as they should be. How do you bottle that?
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