Fran McCaffery lost his composure on Sunday night and it may have cost Iowa a huge road win. McCaffery was hit with two technical fouls with just under 12 minutes remaining, the second after bumping an official and a two point Hawkeye lead turned into a three point deficit in a 75-71 loss at fourth ranked Wisconsin.
“Obviously I was in a disagreement and went after the T and it was well deserved, I deserved the T,” McCaffery said in the postgame show. “The second one, I didn’t want the second one, so I feel bad, I apologize to my team for that. Unfortunately it was called.”
McCaffery was proud of the way his team responded following his tirade. “They were upset at a lot of things, how we were playing. They were upset over me be upset…there was still time to make a difference and to their credit they did and I was proud of them,” McCaffery said.
The Hawks dominated the opening half and led by 11 at the break. Devyn Marble led the Hawks with 27 points. They were outscored 33-14 to start the second half.
Marble says they softened defensively in the second half, and says they did pick it up a little after McCaffery got the technical fouls, but says they have to sustain it the entire game.
Ben Brust had all 19 of his points in the second half as the Badgers improved to 15-0. Marble says while the Hawks played well in the opening half it takes a 40 minute effort to beat one of the best teams in the country on their court.