Iowa takes McCaffery's message to heart in win

IOWA CITY — It was always coming at one point or another.

The way Fran McCaffery coaches, a certain level of focus and execution is expected. When his team doesn't deliver, he lets them know.

With a young team, sometimes a fire needs to be lit for them. The Iowa players knew it was coming Sunday against UT-Rio Grande Valley. The Hawkeyes had seen a 15-point lead cut to five against a Vaqueros team that had lost its first three games by an average of 16 points. Easy baskets and turnovers were the primary culprit.

With 3:14 to go in the first half, McCaffery let his team have it. From that point on, Iowa outscored UTRGV 60-39, and went on to win, 95-67.

'He really got into us, and I think that really fired us up and gave us more energy,' freshman point guard Jordan Bohannon said. 'He just tried to energize us, especially on the defensive end.

'We'll call it a speech. He just gave us a little talk. We really bought into it and applied it to the court.'

McCaffery had five bench players on the floor during the first half lull that elicited his frustration. There were five turnovers — including on three straight possessions — in that stretch, and he put his starters back in the game.

Wanting to keep guys in who need work is certainly a sensible desire, but McCaffery couldn't let what was happening continue, he said.

'That was disappointing, because you know, it was a combination of things: Defense, ball handling, rebounding, you know, it didn't really come together in that one stretch and they make a run back at us,' McCaffery said. 'You put some guys in, it doesn't go well, and then you feel like you have got to yank him and put the other guys back in, but that's how it works. The other guys had gotten us a big lead. They needed to go back in, and I thought (Nicholas) Baer in the first half, and Pete (Jok), were fabulous, both of them.'

Jok led the Hawkeyes with 27 points, Baer eight points and seven rebounds, and Tyler Cook had 15 points.

But after that substitution, it didn't immediately get better, and the first half as a whole was forgettable for the Hawkeyes, aside from the pair McCaffery pointed out.

But his message — love or hate the way it's put across — was one the players said after the game they needed. Coming off a 91-83 loss to Seton Hall and playing a team in UTRGV that wasn't near the same caliber can be a recipe for disaster for a team that has as few minutes in college hoops as this one does.

The freshmen got their first dose of in-game frustration from their coach, and seemed to respond to it.

Jok said Sunday he liked what he saw in the younger players when they took their medicine. As he's said before and reiterated Sunday, he and his teammates know McCaffery is just trying to make them better.

'They responded well. They knew why coach was upset,' Jok said. 'We're preparing for next week and the rest of the year. Every game is for us to get better and it's a learning experience every time we get on the court.'

After seemingly taking his message to heart, McCaffery said the start of the second half was much better in terms of intensity level and attention to detail. Starts to second halves had not been Iowa's strong suit in the Hawkeyes' first three games.

While the caliber of opponent wasn't as high, Iowa took a 13-point halftime lead and turned it into a 24-point lead before the first media timeout. Baer said after the game he was 'really proud' of that because 'that's just a mental thing, coming out aggressive after the break.'

Iowa getting out to a big lead allowed McCaffery to rest his starters and get the deeper part of his bench extended minutes. Bohannon played 24 minutes, Isaiah Moss (14 points on 5 of 7 shooting) played 18, Brady Ellingson (11 points on 4 of 6 shooting) played 19 and Ryan Kriener saw 13 minutes. Cordell Pemsl only played six minutes dealing with 'a groin issue' and Jok came out for good early in the second half after he banged knees with a UTRGV player.

Iowa also was without Dale Jones, and will be for 8-9 weeks after he suffered a wrist fracture against Seton Hall. McCaffery said he felt 'awful for him,' and all he could do was give Jones a hug when he saw the cast.

'He's had an unbelievably positive attitude,' McCaffery said. 'I thought now he would be as down as he's ever been. He's been good. I've been really impressed with his maturity, helping the other guys, being a leader, really proud of him.'

Iowa next heads to Destin, Fla. to play in the Emerald Coast Classic. First up for the Hawkeyes is No. 7 Virginia at 6 p.m. on Friday.

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