An Iowa men’s basketball fan apparently found the Hawkeyes’ 80-60 loss at Northwestern Sunday to be a bit hard to watch. (Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press)
EVANSTON, Ill. — Iowa’s Patrick McCaffery, perhaps the least-likely member of his basketball family to get a technical foul, was assessed one Sunday night.
One could be snarky and say he should have followed his father’s lead, and gotten a second one to get ejected from what was the Hawkeyes’ 80-60 loss to Northwestern at a loud and full Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery, apparently irked at a 10-second call not being whistled against the Wildcats with 7:26 left, got technicals 1 and 2 in rapid order to earn an automatic ejection.
His team was down 61-46 at the time. The horse was out of the barn by that point. In fact, it was probably halfway to O’Hare Airport.
This was Northwestern’s night, a common occurrence here in men’s basketball this winter. The Wildcats, 11-5 in the Big Ten and 20-7 overall, snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes by snapping them early and often. That came after beating Purdue and Indiana here last week.
The Wildcats raced to a 14-5 lead behind four 3-pointers, which was one more than Iowa made in 24 tries. The hosts’ ball movement was sharp, their defense terrific. Their energy sated a student section that had a big old time for the two hours of ballgame and the 90 minutes they sat in their seats waiting for it to start.
Iowa, 9-7 in the conference and 17-10 overall, never scored more than four straight points until late in the game when the issue was decided.
“A lot of times in situations like that, everybody makes excuses,” Fran McCaffery said after the game. “We didn’t do this, we didn’t do that, the refs didn’t do this. The bottom line is you’ve got to give credit to your opponent.
“We didn’t get it in sync, we didn’t. Our transition, our half-court offense, nothing was flowing correctly. You can’t blame anybody. You just have to be better. You have to learn and grow from that, and be better, and credit your opponent for how well they played.
“They played really well. They’ve been playing really well. One of the best teams in our league. Give credit to Chris (Collins). I’ve said before, he’ll be the Coach of the Year in our league.”
And, senior guard Boo Buie should be a first-team All-Big Ten honoree. He had 23 points and eight assists, and played to the fans in the game’s final moments after playing so well for them.
Buie had lots of help. Starting guard Chase Audige endured foul problems all game, so guards Ty Berry and Brooks Barnhizer picked up the slack with a combined 28 points. That was more than any two Hawkeyes totaled.
Kris Murray’s 3-point play pulled Iowa within 47-40 with 13:47 left, but Barnhizer answered immediately with a 3-point basket. The Wildcats never again led by single-digits.
Murray led Iowa with 14 points, but was 0-of-6 from 3-point distance. The Hawkeyes are 16-of-72 (22.2 percent) from deep over their last four road games.
A win here would have put the Hawkeyes in a second-place tie with Northwestern and left them in good shape for a top-four finish and a double-bye in the Big Ten tourney.
Now, Iowa is tied for fourth with three other teams, and is one of six conference teams with seven losses in league play. The Hawkeyes next play Wisconsin Wednesday night in Madison.
Oh, about those technical fouls.
“I can’t talk about it,” Fran McCaffery said.
“Mr. (Iowa athletic director Gary) Barta says I can’t talk to you,” Patrick McCaffery told reporters as he left the Iowa dressing room, clearly hinting that went against his desire.
Margaret McCaffery, the coach’s wife and Patrick’s mother, told Iowa reporters in a hallway that she wanted to discuss the refs.
“No, no, no,” Fran said.
“Off the record,” she said.
Fran dramatized leaping into action, pretending to hold back his spouse while he made no effort to stifle a smile.
Sometimes you play a clunker at the same time the other team is on its game, and all you can do is let it go.
“Flush it, just get better at Wisconsin,” Murray said.
The season continues.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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