Spartans' physical D ruffles Hawkeyes' feathers

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State's dogged defensive play rubbed Iowa players and Coach Fran McCaffery the wrong way Tuesday night.

The fouls were called virtually the same with the No. 6-ranked Spartans whistled for 17 and Iowa 16. But Michigan State's overly physical defense that produced few foul calls aggravated McCaffery.

McCaffery blew his top and earned a technical foul with 10:55 left in the game. The outcome clearly was decided with Iowa's deficit hovering at 28 points. But McCaffery chose to make a point when he launched into a tirade directed at the officials and his players. McCaffery slammed a chair in disgust, prompting the national sports blog “The Big Lead” to compare him with Indiana's former combustible coach Bob Knight.

When asked what he said to earn the technical - his fifth of the season - McCaffery replied, “Didn't you hear me? I yelled loud enough. I thought maybe you heard me.”

McCaffery chose not to respond when a reporter asked how Michigan State's physical defense affected Iowa's offense, saying “I don't know if I can honestly answer that question.” But McCaffery told his players afterward not to allow another team to bully his Hawkeyes (10-8, 2-3 Big Ten) on the court again. And he wasn't talking just about Michigan State's 95-61 pasting, either.

“As coach said in the locker room, Ohio State did the same thing to us early on, and in the Ohio State game we didn't fight back,” Iowa freshman forward Aaron White said. “This game was the same way. They had their hands all over us on the defensive end, and the least we could have done was done the same thing on our defensive end.

“If the refs are going to let them do it on their side, then we should do it on our side the exact same way. We just need to fight better.

There were several no-calls that could have led to McCaffery's technical. Senior Matt Gatens drove for a layup, was bumped hard in mid-air and missed the shot, yet not foul was called. Michigan State's Austin Thornton tossed Iowa's Andrew Brommer to the floor when Brommer was in position for an offensive rebound. Perhaps most confounding was a loose-ball sequence when Thornton basically rode Iowa sophomore Devyn Marble like a horse, yet nothing was called.

"They're kind of known for that,” Gatens said. “Big, physical guys inside and outside. We tried to prepare for it as much as we could, but when you take it out there it's tough. It's a learning process.”

“You've just got to be physical with them back and let the refs know what they're doing to you and be polite,” Marble said. “At the same time you've got to be physical back and let them know that you're not going to let them do that to you. I think Matt did that with (guard) Brandon Wood in the second half, which alerted the rest of them that we probably need to clean this up a little more.”