Iowa-Wisconsin Notebook: Hawkeyes Honor Kobe
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery was breaking down video on Sunday afternoon when he received a text from his wife, Margaret, telling him former NBA player Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash.
It didn't take long for the news to reach the Iowa players.
"Everything kind of stopped for everyone," McCaffery said. "The players were really affected."
So the Hawkeyes, including McCaffery and his staff, wore the "Kobe" Nike shoes for Monday's 68-62 win over Wisconsin.
Several players wrote messages on their shoes — center Luka Garza wrote "Mamba Mentality" on his shoes, as did guard Connor McCaffery.
"A couple of guys came together, individually planned to wear Kobes," Garza said. "I think we all just came together."
Fran McCaffery, a Philadelphia native, saw Bryant play in high school — he and Bryant actually played for the same AAU coach, Sam Hines. McCaffery, then an assistant at Notre Dame, recruited Bryant, who skipped college and went to the NBA.
"Spoke to him on the phone, went and saw him, took my head coach to go see him in the Palestra when he played against Rip Hamilton, one of the best high school games I ever saw," McCaffery said. "Those of you that were at the game when we played Penn State (earlier this month), that's how loud it was for that high school game."
McCaffery said he understood the impact Bryant had on the Iowa players.
"And then for me I watched Kobe grow up, I watched him in high school, I watched him when he was a kid," McCaffery said. "But these guys it really hit home for them and when they had the idea to wear the Kobes I said, 'I'm on board, I'm going to wear the Kobes as well.'"
A chippy end
The closing seconds featured a flagrant foul on Wisconsin's Brad Davison and a technical foul on Garza.
Davison was called for the flagrant foul after hooking the leg of Connor McCaffery as he went around McCaffery's screen attempt.
"I've seen a little small computer screen clip of it," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said. "Apparently he wrapped his arm around the leg of the screener as he came around it. So, that's how it was explained to me by the official.
"I wasn't given a long explanation of it, other than they had a flagrant foul there they had missed. They went back and looked at it."
Iowa led 62-59 at the time, and Wisconsin had the ball. The Badgers had called a timeout, and then the play was reviewed.
"He grabbed me where ... you don't want to be grabbed at," McCaffery said.
McCaffery hit one of two free throws, then Iowa got the ball. Garza was fouled, and also hit one of two free throws.
Garza was called for a technical foul with two seconds left.
"Luka said something," Fran McCaffery said.
