IOWA QUOTEBOOK: Palestra Game Will Be Special For McCaffery

Coach grew up in Philadelphia, and played in legendary arena.

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Fran McCaffery is a Philadelphia native.

He grew up going to basketball games at the Palestra, played there when he went to school at Penn, and has coached there.

So, the Jan. 4 Big Ten game against Penn State at the legendary basketball arena is special for a lot of reasons.

“Probably the biggest thing is not that I’m coaching, I’ve coached there many times,” McCaffery said on Wednesday at the Big Ten basketball media day. “It’s that my boys get to play there.

Connor McCaffery is a third-year sophomore guard for the Hawkeyes, while Patrick McCaffery is a freshman forward.

“Growing up, I didn’t think I would get a chance to play there, and I got to play there and practice there, that was our facility,” Fran McCaffery said of his days at Penn. “My picture is in the hallway.”

McCaffery recalled his days of going there to watch games.

“Essentially, with my brother, and my mom and dad, we grew up there,” he said. “Every weekend, that’s what we did. We would go to high school games on Friday night, Palestra games on Saturday night, and then you could go to high school games on Sunday. That was our weekend. That was our social life. We went to games.

“The great thing about that was, those games were doubleheaders. You would get there around 5:30 and you left about 11:30. You saw an inter-city series game, maybe Villanova and St. Joe’s, and then Penn-South Carolina, see somebody from out of town.”

NUNGE’S IMPROVEMENT: Sophomore Jack Nunge, who sat out last season as a redshirt, has impressed McCaffery this offseason, especially as a passer.

McCaffery recalled a play when Nunge came up with a turnover and immediately got the ball ahead to Joe Wieskamp on a fast break.

“Jack’s got (passing) feel,” McCaffery said. “His feet didn’t even hit the ground (after coming up with the turnover) and (the ball) was gone. That’s like John Stockton (stuff).”

Nunge, a 6-foot-10 forward, played in 33 games, starting 14, as a freshman in the 2017-18 season.

“We were just trying to get him on the floor,” McCaffery said. “He had length.”

Nunge used the time off to get stronger.

“He’s 250 (pounds) now. He just looks different,” McCaffery said. “He can really shoot the ball, but he can go down there and muscle you and score.”

OFFSEASON ANALYSIS: McCaffery paused to think when asked if anyone had surprised him with their play during the offseason.

“Patrick’s been really good,” McCaffery said of his some. “I shouldn’t be surprised, but he’s been really good.

“(Luka) Garza, Nunge, (Joe) Wieskamp, (Ryan) Kriener, I have an expectation that they will be good, and they have been.”

McCaffery likes what he has seen out of freshman guard Joe Toussaint and graduate transfer Bakari Evelyn, who will be among the likely fill-ins with senior guard Jordan Bohannon can’t play this season as he comes off offseason hip surgery.

“They’ve been great players. Effective,” McCaffery said. “Joe’s just figuring it out. That will take some time.”

Evelyn battled injuries last season at Valparaiso.

“He was not himself,” McCaffery said. “When he’s healthy, he’s good.”