Woodbury responds to Dakich’s critique

MADISON, Wis. - Whether Iowa's Adam Woodbury inadvertently or intentionally gouged the eyes of two Wisconsin basketball players, the junior's actions sparked a major incident Tuesday night.

Woodbury, a 7-foot-1 center, poked Wisconsin power forward Nigel Hayes' eyes in the first half and followed by doing the same to Badgers center Frank Kaminsky in the second. Before Kaminsky's poke, Woodbury tapped the Wisconsin junior on the head.

Wednesday, Woodbury said neither incident was intentional.

'I try to play hard and tough every time I take the court,” Woodbury said. 'In no way did I go out there with the intention to hurt someone, that's not who I am.”

ESPN broadcaster Dan Dakich took Woodbury to task during the telecast. Dakich's commentary started with Wisconsin leading 65-36 and 7:10 left to play in the game.

'If I was Bo Ryan, I would send that video in to the Big Ten office and ask that Woodbury get suspended,” Dakich said. 'There's no rhyme or reason for that. That's complete garbage. When you do that, you're doing it on purpose to a completely defenseless player.

'It's gutless as well and he's doing it on purpose. You can say he's not and you can get mad at me all you want, but he's doing it on purpose, it needs to stop and the Big Ten office needs to discipline the kid.

'Woodbury, for some reason, Woodbury thinks that that kind of thing is toughness. That's as cowardly as you can be to hit a guy from behind or to poke a guy in the face and quite frankly Fran McCaffery and his staff have got to stop this.”

Only 40 seconds later, Woodbury was called for a pushing the back of Wisconsin post Duje Dukan's head with his elbow concurrently with Iowa guard Peter Jok's jumper. The basket counted, but Dukan was awarded free throws after the foul.

'Coaches are notorious for making excuses for players and there's no excuse for what this guy is doing out here,” Dakich said after Woodbury's foul.

'It's just ridiculous and he just tries to play it off. Hey, if you're going to cheap shot somebody at least have the guts to show up and say, ‘Hey, I hit you.' To me it's up the coaching staff to get rid of that stuff.”

Afterward, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery was incensed with Dakich's remarks. McCaffery was asked by The Gazette for comment and didn't hold back.

'There's absolutely no way Adam Woodbury did that on purpose,” McCaffery said. 'Dan Dakich is completely out of line. He crossed the line. He is out of line. He's not right, it was an accident. Adam Woodbury would never, ever, ever do that. EVER do that.”

Dakich later responded to McCaffery's criticism on Twitter and wrote 'Out of line” ... please.”

Woodbury disagreed with Dakich's assessment.

'I might be a lot of things, but I am not a coward and I was not deliberately trying to poke anyone in the eye,” Woodbury said.

'My hand was up in their space because they are really good shooters; I was trying to disrupt their timing. It was inadvertent and I apologize for the commotion it has caused. I have great respect for Wisconsin and its players. I've moved on from this and have begun preparation for Purdue on Saturday.”

Dakich, a former Indiana player, assistant and interim basketball coach, hosts a three-hour radio show every day in Indianapolis. He invited McCaffery to join the show today, but Iowa's coach declined.

Wisconsin won the game 82-50.

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