South Dakota State spoiled the debut of Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery. The Jackrabbits used a 10-0 run to close the first half and went on to a 79-69 win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawks were without juniot Matt Gatens, who is still recovering from thumb surgery, and they committed 18 turnovers in the game.
McCaffrey says he didn’t “rip everybody’s tonsils out” but did address some things and were direct with some guys who didn’t get some things done. He says he takes the blame for the loss and has to do a better job of making sure people know what they are supposed to do.
Eric May led Iowa with 20 points, Jarryd Cole added 17 and the Hawks return to action on Tuesday night at home against Louisiana-Monroe. McCaffrey says they are not comfortable yet with what they are doing and he has to do a better job of explaining it to them. He says they tried to put the effort in, but the execution was not what it should have been, and it will take some time.