Iowa basketball coach Fran McCaffery has apologized for getting ejected during last night’s game at Wisconsin. McCaffery received two technical fouls during a tirade with just under 12 minutes remaining in the second half and a two point Hawkeye lead became a three point deficit. The fourth ranked Badgers eventually won the game 75-71.
“The first T I think was expected, no question about that. Really wish I hadn’t gotten the second one,” McCaffery says. He says you have to be able to assess the situation and that is what he tells his players and the second technical put his team in a bad situation.
During Monday’s Big Ten teleconference McCaffery said his ejection was costly for the Hawkeyes. “You’ve got to be man enough to admit that and say ‘I regret that’. You know I don’t want to in any way put them in that position,” McCaffery said of his players. “Additionally, you don’t ever want to do anything to embarrass the university.”
McCaffery says he does not want his actions to cast a negative light on the program, and more importantly not put the team in a position where it makes it harder for them to win. McCaffery says he should have walked away after the initial technical foul was called. “In a perfect world you say your piece, you get banged and you hope that’ll jump start things a little bit,” McCaffery says. He says he was venting and things happened bang-bang.
Iowa returns to action on Wednesday at home against Northwestern.