Abrupt end of the college basketball road for Iowa Hawkeyes’ Jordan Bohannon

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jordan Bohannon’s Iowa basketball career was all about numbers, big numbers.

Yet, he said, it wasn’t at all.

“I can't even put into words what … Coach (Fran McCaffery) has meant to me. There's not a lot of people in the country that believed in me out of high school,” Bohannon said after his Hawkeyes swan song, a 67-63 upset loss to Richmond Thursday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

All but one of the 68 teams involved end this tourney with a defeat, but Iowa’s came quickly and left Bohannon in tears as he spoke at a postgame press conference.

“I faced a lot of adversity coming back, you know, a couple of hip surgeries, dealt with a lot of injuries,” he said. “And I can honestly say this last year, I put my heart and soul into this team, and I just — hopefully I left this jersey in a better place than where I found it. That's all I wanted to do when I came here.

“I didn't care about my individual statistics, nothing like that. I just wanted to make Coach proud. I just wanted to make my family proud and this whole entire state.”

But those statistics will keep Bohannon alive in Iowa basketball long after others have worn his No. 3 over the years to come. His NCAA-record 179 games. His Big Ten-record 455 3-pointers. His Iowa-record 704 assists. His 2,033 points, making him one of just three Hawkeyes to eclipse 2,000.

Bohannon banked in a bomb with 1.1 seconds left for the winning points in Iowa’s Big Ten semifinal win over Indiana in Indianapolis last Saturday. Five days later, he hung his head on the court as Richmond’s Spiders were the ones doing the celebrating.

“It says a lot about him, the way he responded to the question,” McCaffery said. “‘I don't care about numbers.’ But you think about the numbers, and they're absolutely staggering.

“Two thousand points. More 3s made than anybody else that ever played in the Big Ten, more assists than anybody that ever played at Iowa. That's somebody that takes great pride in wearing that jersey, which is what he said, but his leadership, his mental toughness, it epitomizes what a true competitor is, and he came here to make a difference.

“Before his hip surgeries, he played a whole season in terrible pain, never asked to come out. (I) didn't even know half the things that were bothering him. He just showed up every day at practice and played in the games and gave me everything he had, and then double hip surgery is not easy, and we've had two guys that have had to go through it.”

The other is Connor McCaffery, who has another season of basketball eligibility left if he wants it.

“I think he’ll take a little bit of time to think it through,” Fran McCaffery said. “Obviously, I’d love to have him back.

“He’s a winner. So much love and respect for him in that locker room. So we’ll see.”

Not coming back, barring a stunning decision on his part, is Iowa sophomore forward Keegan Murray. He probably will be an NBA lottery pick-to-be this spring. He finished this season with a ton of first-team All-America honors and a program single-season-record 822 points.

“I think for us it's really just on to next year,” Murray said. “Go through the offseason again, get better.”

Murray, however, will almost surely be doing his improving professionally.

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