Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery Reveals Events Leading to Ejection

With Iowa down by nine in the second half against Illinois, Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery was ejected from the game.

What started as a relatively calm interaction quickly escalated into more. McCaffery stood near the Hawkeye bench with his hands in his pockets, said something to the referee and was given a technical foul. Seconds later, McCaffery received his second technical after yelling an expletive at the referee, causing the ejection with 13:13 remaining in the second round contest of the Big Ten Tournament.

In his postgame press conference, McCaffery revealed what he said that led to getting tossed from the game.

"I think I might have pointed out the foul discrepancy," McCaffery said. "I think I said it was five-to-one. I didn't think that was that egregious."

Illinois attempted 30 free throws in the game, while Iowa had 10. Four of Illinois' makes came from McCaffery's double technical, which freshman Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis shot.

As several Hawkeye seniors left the floor for the last time, they embraced the assistant coaches and other Iowa staffers with McCaffery in the locker room. That included Payton Sandfort, who McCaffery described as one of the best leaders he'd ever been around. McCaffery expressed how he wished he was there for his players in that moment, but defended his actions.

"I would want to be there, but I'm always going to advocate for my guys," McCaffery said. "That's my job, and I'm the only one who can do it. So I did it, and we had some very emotional moments in the locker room."

With the Hawkeyes' loss to Illinois, Iowa ends its season at 17-16 overall in what may be Fran McCaffery's final year at the helm.

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