Iowa prep Peyton McCollum joins Hawkeye basketball program

Dana Becker

Iowa prep Peyton McCollum joins Hawkeye basketball program image

Peyton McCollum’s high school basketball career took him from Missouri to Iowa. His move to the collegiate level - at least in terms of travel - will not be as far.

McCollum, a recent Waukee Northwest High School graduate, has joined his father, new Iowa head men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum, with the Hawkeyes.

The younger McCollum becomes the 12th new player to join the revamped roster for the former Drake University head men’s basketball coach. That includes fellow former Iowa prep standout Trevin Jirak from West Des Moines Valley, who decommitted from the University of Northern Iowa to sign with Iowa.

As a senior, Peyton McCollum helped lead Waukee Northwest to the Class 4A state championship game, where they lost to Jirak and Valley. He averaged just over 13 points with five assists, almost four rebounds and a steal per game.

McCollum earned numerous all-state honors in Iowa and was an all-district selection in Missouri as a junior when he posted 18.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and almost four assists per game. He scored over 1,000 career points in his first three seasons with Mayville High School before joining the Wolves in his senior year. 

The 44-year-old Ben McCollum owns a career record of 426-95, including four NCAA Div. II tournament appearances while at Northwest Missouri State. He spent the 2024-25 season leading Drake to a regular season and tournament title in the Missouri Valley Conference, along with a win in the NCAA Tournament.

A native of Storm Lake, McCollum has one other son, Tate, and a daughter, Grace Ann.

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Dana Becker

Dana Becker is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He has been a sports writer since 2000, covering high school sports, the Big 12 and more for On SI, The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe-Gazette, Cedar Rapids Gazette and others.