Iowa's Fran McCaffery says Zach McCabe 'doing a lot of good things' despite scoring slump

IOWA CITY - Zach McCabe is in the midst of a scoring slump, but his output doesn't concern Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery.

McCabe, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Sioux City, has missed both shots from the field in Iowa's last two games and his only points have come from the free-throw line. He averages 6.0 points a game but that's down from 6.5 after a five-point effort against Michigan State.

"Nothing he's doing is wrong," McCaffery said. "They're guarding him differently. They're up into him because they know he can shoot.

"I think he's doing a lot of good things. He's putting it on the deck.'

Against Indiana, he was hit three times on three possessions for fouls when Hoosier ball-handlers intentionally drove into him. With Iowa trailing by one in the second half against Wisconsin, McCabe grabbed an offensive rebound and missed an open layup under the basket.

"I felt bad for him he had a bunny close and he missed it," McCaffery said. "He rushed it. He's done that a few times."

But McCabe still has value on the court, even if he's not scoring. He plays multiple positions and grabbed five rebounds against Wisconsin.

"I think Zach has been a real, real solid player," McCaffery said. " I think his point production is really more of a function of how people are paying attention to him when he comes in moreso than anything he's doing wrong."