Iowa Hawkeyes Forward Receives Brutal Injury News

Iowa Hawkeyes basketball seems likely to have lost another player for the season.

Evan Massey | Feb 12, 2025

Iowa Hawkeyes forward Cooper Koch (8) dribbles down court against Rider Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. / Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Iowa Hawkeyes

The Iowa Hawkeyes have not had a good 2024-25 college basketball season. Despite hopes of being a tournament team, their chances of making that become a reality are all but gone.

At this point in the season, Iowa holds a 13-10 record. Their biggest win of the season was an 85-60 win over the Indiana Hoosiers. Outside of that, there hasn't been a statement win and Indiana has not been good this season either.

Recently, it was reported that standout forward Owen Freeman would miss the rest of the season due to an injury. Now, another player is expected to be out.

As shared by Tyler Tachman of the Des Moines Register, head coach Fran McCaffery has noted that freshman forward Cooper Koch will likely miss the rest of the year too.

"I think that's where we're at," McCaffery said. "But that's kind of a long process. So I won't get into the specifics of it. But I think it's safe to say that his condition is such that he probably won't be playing this year. And would probably look to pursue (a medical redshirt)."

Nothing has been shared about what Koch is dealing with that could cause him to miss the rest of the year.

Throughout the course of the season, Koch played in just 10 games. He averaged 4.6 points per game to go along with 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists.

In addition, he shot 48.4 percent from the floor and knocked down 42.9 percent from the three-point line.

Obviously, this isn't a huge blow for this year's team. Koch did not have a large role, as he only averaged 13.6 minutes per game. However, it is a blow to their depth.

Koch pursuing a medical redshirt would be a wise decision. He has shown quite a bit of potential with his shooting, which could become very important down the road.

All of that being said, Koch is likely done for the year and the Hawkeyes will have to wait for next season to see more of what he can do.

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Published Feb 12, 2025

EVAN MASSEY

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers college football, the NFL and NBA. He has contributed to the On SI network since July 2021. He has also written for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.