(AP) A spokesman at Iowa says basketball coach Fran McCaffery has apologized for not shaking hands following the team’s win over North Dakota Tuesday.
McCaffery walked off the court and waved for his team to follow him to the locker room because he was upset with the chippy play of the Fighting Hawks late in the game.
The spokesman told The Associated Press in an email on Wednesday that, while McCaffery has apologized to head coach Brian Jones and his team, he stands by his concerns.
Previously…
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coach Fran McCaffery walked off the court after the win and waved for his team to follow him to the locker room without shaking hands with North Dakota’s players and coaches.
It was a wild ending to an otherwise vanilla game that the Hawkeyes won 84-73 on Tuesday night.
McCaffery was irritated with what he considered a few unnecessary and chippy plays in the closing moments of a game that Iowa led by 16 points with three minutes to go.
The most prominent play happened when North Dakota’s Corey Baldwin tried for a steal and score with only three seconds left when Nicholas Baer was holding the ball to run out the clock and end the game.
“I wasn’t pleased with how the game ended and the things that happened,” McCaffery said. “I don’t think they teach that kind of stuff, but I was not having it. That’s not the way to play.”
McCaffery didn’t give a direct answer when asked what specific plays bothered him.
“Were you at the game?” he said. “Well, then you should know what I didn’t like.”
North Dakota’s players and coaches lined up for the postgame handshake, then looked surprised that Iowa wasn’t there to meet them. Several Fighting Hawks players threw their hands up in frustration.
“They’re not malicious kids, they’re good kids,” said North Dakota coach Brian Jones, a former assistant at Iowa under Steve Alford. “They’re just trying to compete until the final horn goes off. That’s all.”
