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Iowa Basketball: Hawkeyes fail to shake hands with North Dakota following heated game
Iowa basketball did not shake hands with North Dakota following what was a physical 40-minute game.
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was visibly upset following a series of events which took place in the final seconds of his team’s victory over the University of North Dakota.
UND’s Quinton Hooker would foul Iowa’s Peter Jok at half court, trying to strip the ball away. North Dakota’s ensuing possession would end with Nicholas Baer intercepting a pass in the post with just five seconds to go. Instead of pushing the ball up the court, or avoiding defenders until time ran out, Baer opted to hang onto the ball and stand still while most of the other players appeared to head towards their benches and allow the game to run out.
But North Dakota’s Corey Baldwin wasn’t happy simply letting this one get away. He stripped the ball from Baer and passed it to Drick Bernstine near the basket. There were no defenders in the area as the Iowa players had left their assignments thinking the game was over.
The basket would not count, because the clock expired, but the play was enough to cause McCaffery to immediately head for the locker room and emphatically gesture for his players to do the same.
North Dakota, down 11, tried to beat the buzzer.
Fran McCaffery wasn't a fan, so he had Iowa walk off the court. https://t.co/PLkItzgxq0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 21, 2016
“I wasn’t pleased with how the game ended,” McCaffery said after the game. “That’s not the way to play.”
With his team leading by 11 points on their home court, it is easy to see why he was upset. However, instead of retaliating by disrespecting the UND players and coaching staff, McCaffery should have instructed his players to show good sportsmanship, ignore the bitter play at the end of the game, shake hands with the opposing team (while ignoring any comments or confrontations which may have spilled out), and then get to the locker room to celebrate the win.
“We want to come here and play well,” UND head coach Brian Jones said of the end of the game via ESPN. “It’s just the heat of the moment.”
He also acknowledged that “there were some things down the stretch that both teams could have cleaned up.” Regardless, his team still stood up near the press table expecting to shake hands with their opponents before leaving the court.
While UND lost the game, Jones out-coached McCaffery following the game. Even if this is not an NCAA tournament showdown, or one with large conference implications, players are expected to compete for a full 40 minutes regardless of the score. UND’s Baldwin couldn’t allow his team to take a loss laying down, and he should be applauded for it. After all, it is entirely realistic that a head coach would be angry at his players for allowing the clock to run out in a game in which they were losing by an insurmountable lead.
Jones, and his assistant Jeff Horner know the Iowa program well and should have earned a bit more respect despite the way the game ended. Jones spent five years as an assistant coach under McCaffery, and Horner played under the two coaches, leaving as the program’s all-time leader in assists.
McCaffery would later admit to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman that he regretted his decision to leave the court.
“I feel bad about it. I have a lot of respect for Brian Jones,” he said. “Jeff Horner is one of the best players ever to play here. I shouldn’t have done it. I wish I shook hands.”
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