Early Iowa-Wisconsin basketball notes

IOWA CITY — Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery worked as an assistant coach at Notre Dame when he recruited Monty Williams to the Fighting Irish.

Williams played from 1989-94 and sits 20th on Notre Dame's scoring charts with 1,371 career points. He played alongside Billy Taylor, who is Iowa's director of basketball operations.

Two weeks ago, McCaffery and Taylor were told of a horrific car accident that killed Williams' wife, 44-year-old Ingrid Williams, in Oklahoma City. It was a difficult moment for both, who were close with Williams and knew his wife.

'I mean, I got off the plane, we went down to play Indiana, and as soon as we landed, one of our former players called and said, 'You're not going to believe what happened,' and he told me,' McCaffery recalled. 'I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach, because I know the kind of person she is. I know the kind of relationship they had, and I know his children.'

Ingrid Williams' funeral was held last week in Oklahoma City, and both McCaffery and Taylor attended. Williams served as New Orleans Pelicans head coach for five years and now is an assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

'It was great to see the outpouring of support and love that we showed his family, we being the entire basketball community,' McCaffery said. 'I mean, I looked, I saw Chris Paul and Tim Duncan sitting two pews over from me, and they played that night in LA. Pop (San Antonio Coach Greg Popovich) was there. I mean, it was such an incredible show of support. You knew the Oklahoma City Thunder people would show up in unity, which they did, but I think it's a reflection of who Monty is, who Ingrid was. I knew her when she was a student at Notre Dame.'

Williams spoke at his wife's funeral and his eulogy of forgiveness and strength became a moving tribute to his wife.

'I think it puts a lot of perspective onto our profession in many ways,' McCaffery said. 'I talked to him after the funeral service, and he said, you know, here's a guy whose got a very successful coaching career going. He had a great playing career, played about 10 years in the league. He said, 'I'm putting the whistle down, I've got to raise my five children.' They ranged from 5 to 17, so he's going to step away from coaching, and I have a ton of respect for him.'

BORDER BATTLE FOR GARD, TOO

Wisconsin interim head coach Greg Gard grew up in tiny Cobb, Wis., which is located abut 55 miles west of Madison and 45 miles north of Dubuque, Iowa. Television stations from both markets fed into his home, and he watched both Iowa and Wisconsin games in the 1970s and 1980s.

'I couldn't get many stations. I didn't have ESPN,' Gard told reporters. 'I could tip the rabbit ears just right on our TV and get KWWL. I actually watched more Iowa games than I did Wisconsin games because I couldn't get Wisconsin on TV. We were closer to the Iowa border. You think living in Iowa County (in Wisconsin) going to Iowa Grant that obviously I'd watch Iowa, but that's just because I could. Like I said, the rabbit ears, I could tip them, in our basement, I could lean them against the wall and pick up Iowa on TV easier than I could get Wisconsin. Iowa was on that in-state TV station probably more readily than Wisconsin.

'I had to watch Wisconsin on late rebroadcasts on WHA. So I couldn't stay up that late. I had to go to bed before 10:30, before Alan Zussman and (Dan Stout).'

There's a reason why Iowa basketball games were more available back then. From the 1978-79 season through 1982-83, Iowa finished at least second in Big Ten play in four of those five seasons and advanced to the NCAA tournament 10 of 11 years from 1978-79 through 1988-89. Wisconsin failed to win at least half of its Big Ten games every year from 1974-75 through 1994-95.

UTHOFF'S FINAL TUSSLE WITH BADGERS

Tonight's battle could become the final chapter of Iowa-Wisconsin featuring Hawkeyes senior Jarrod Uthoff. As most recall, Uthoff was the subject of an intense transfer issue back in 2012.

Uthoff, who ranks second in Big Ten scoring at 18.8 points a game, committed to the Badgers at The Eastern Iowa Airport in 2010 and opted to red-shirt the 2011-12 season. Three weeks after the season, Uthoff wanted to transfer. Former Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan initially restricted Uthoff from speaking with 27 different schools. After conversations with Wisconsin Athletics Director Barry Alvarez, Ryan kept restrictions in place for just Big Ten schools.

Uthoff wanted to play at Iowa, but he wasn't allowed to speak with Coach Fran McCaffery and he had to pay his own way for one year before earning a scholarship. Uthoff became eligible in 2013-14.

'He's turned into a terrific player, we thought, obviously. That's why we recruited him,' said Gard, who replaced Ryan in December. 'He's gone on to have a fantastic career at Iowa and done really well. I'm not surprised. He really showed signs of that the year he red-shirted here.

'He was really good on the scout team a lot of days and knew that, as he continued to mature and develop and continue to work at his game — which he did work at it. He's a hard worker and puts a lot of time in — (a player) that you would expect to have success.'

The situation was difficult for Uthoff, who endured dozens of calls every day from reporters for nearly two months until picking Iowa.

'That's a credit to him for how he's had a handle — I'm sure transferring is not easy,' Gard said. 'Obviously, there was a lot made of that at the time. That's water under the bridge now. Like I said, for Jarrod to do what he's done back in his home state and the season they've had, obviously, he's a big part of it. He deserves credit for that, how he's persevered and continued to work and has really gotten better as his career has gone on.

'Obviously, he'll be in consideration as nominations and voting comes down the stretch in the next couple of weeks for high honors in this league.'

Uthoff said there's no lingering feelings with Wisconsin.

'I didn't play for them,' he said. 'I didn't even step on the court to play for them. So it's not that hard for me.'

IOWA NOTES

— Forward Jarrod Uthoff (19.4 points per game) and guard Peter Jok (18.6) rank second and third, respectively, in points per game in Big Ten play. They trail only Michigan State guard Denzel Valentine (20.7).

— Uthoff and Jok average 35.1 points per game, Iowa's third-highest tandem total since the 1975-76 season. The others include Adam Haluska-Tyler Smith (35.4, 2006-07) and Roy Marble-B. J. Armstrong (39.1, 1988-89).

— The Hawkeyes have won 16 consecutive home games.

— Point guard Mike Gesell is two steals from becoming the fourth Iowa player to reach 1,000 points, 500 assists and 150 steals.

WISCONSIN NOTES

— Wisconsin has won eight of its last nine games and its field-goal percentage has improved from 41.2 to 44.4 over that span.

— The Badgers have won 32 consecutive games when scoring at least 70 points.

— Freshman forward Ethan Happ has a league-best 48 steals in Big Ten play and also paces the conference with eight double-doubles.

— Wisconsin has won five straight in the rivalry and leads the 106-year series 82-79 all-time.

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