Fran McCaffery
The Iowa Hawkeyes blew out Davidson 83-52 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Seattle. The 31-point win is the largest margin of victory by a Hawkeye team in the tournament, surpassing the 29-point margin over Penn State in the 1955 Sweet 16.
“I want to say that I’m not sure we can play much better than we played in this game. I’m really proud of our team, their focus. I have tremendous respect for Bob McKillop, known him a long time,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “…I thought defensively, I don’t know whether you can play much better than we played in this game. We were able to get our transition game going early, our execution at half court was also very good, whether we were in motion or in sets.”
Aaron White
Senior Aaron White scored 26 points in the win. White was asked about his big night. “Looking at the roster size before the game I knew I had a size advantage to whoever I was guarding. I got to give credit to my teammates also Coach McCaffery for running a lot of stuff for me to get me in position to score,” White says. “But there’s a stretch there where I was just feeling confident, feeling good with my shot, with my hook shot and I was finishing around the basket. So, but most of the credit goes to my teammates and the coach for running stuff for me.”
Two other Hawkeyes were in double figures, as Mike Gesell scored 15 and Peter Jok added 12. The Hawkeyes held Davidson to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor, while they shot nearly 51 percent.
The Hawkeyes move to 22-11 on the season and will play in the second round Sunday.