NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OREGON VS IOWA

March 22, 2021

Fran McCaffery

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Iowa Hawkeyes

Postgame Media Conference

Oregon 95, Iowa 80

FRAN MCCAFFERY: I just want to begin by congratulating Dana and Oregon for a well-played game. We congratulate them as they move forward. I want to say how proud I am of our guys for the way they fought today and the way they fought all year long.

I also just want to say that if anybody is wondering why I didn't go back with Connor and CJ, neither of them are healthy, and I didn't want to put them back in there. That's why I left them out the whole second half. They've been gutting it all out year, both of them, with injuries, and really proud of them both. We'll get them healthy in the off-season.

Q. Fran, what can you say about the legacy Luka Garza has left behind? He comes out today and puts up nearly half your points. He was the ultimate competitor up until the last moment of taking him out.

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Yeah, the only thing I can say is I have been truly blessed to have had the opportunity to have Luka be on our basketball team for the last four years. His leadership, his work ethic, his determination, his example for the young players, his consistency of effort and performance -- we may never see another one like him. Certainly we've had some great ones that have worn the black and gold, and he's right there at the top with his production, and like I said, his consistency.

I think that's the legacy that he will leave, and that's why I think everybody in Hawkeye Nation just so appreciates who he is.

I think that's the message that I have. I just told him I just appreciate so much who he is more so than what he's done. It's been an honor.

Q. Fran, obviously you haven't seen a team like that all year I wouldn't think. How difficult were they to match up with on the perimeter?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Yeah, anybody can bring it. Anybody can go. Everybody makes threes. They spread you out. It's a hard team to cover in so many different ways.

They stretch your defense. We tried man, zone, we tried pressing them, had moderate success with all three, not enough in any one.

Q. Can you just paint a picture of what the emotions are like in the locker room, not only for the players but for yourself?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Yeah, it was incredibly emotional, as it always is when your season comes to an end. This team and every other team this year has had to experience something totally and completely unique in the history of college basketball. And I've said this before but I'll say it again, how proud I am of their commitment to one another and their sacrifice to get here.

It's been an incredible journey with this group of young men. A lot of people telling each other how much they love them. I certainly did. And how proud I am of them. But also we had two seniors that literally rewrote the record book at the University of Iowa, which is quite a statement.

I talked for a while, was real emotional. It's always emotional for everybody, in particular for me when I think about specifically Patrick's journey. Seven years ago he had surgery for a cancerous tumor, and the other night I put him in on his birthday, and he was terrific in both games here. So that's emotional.

You always feel a little bit empty when your team loses and you're eliminated, but I tried to stress the incredible amount of positive things that happened, the great things we accomplished this year, the great things we have accomplished as a unit over the last two years, and I wanted them to know how much I appreciate them, how proud I am of them and how much I love them.

Q. This question kind of piggybacks off what you were just talking about. Once you have some time to look back on this season and reflect, how do you want to remember everything that took place this season?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Obviously for me, it'll be incredibly positive, how we persevered. We've had a number of injuries, we lost four out of five at one point, but we just kept grinding and we stayed together. And that's what you -- as a coach, that's what you want your players to strive to do. And I was really impressed with how they did that, accomplished a lot of great things, and celebrated two of the best players ever to wear that jersey.

Q. I know as well as anybody that now is not really a time for looking ahead, but what's the state of your program right now?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: I think we have a really good core of young guys who experienced what it's like to have winning people in your program and how to prepare and how to compete, so I'm really excited for the future.

Q. You mentioned it before just a little bit about all the things that the team has gone through, really many of the teams around the country. Does that add to the pain at all of -- the players have put maybe even more into getting to this point than in a normal season. Does that maybe make the pain a little sharper when you maybe fall short of where you wanted to go?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Yeah, obviously this has been an experience none of us have ever dealt with before. It's been difficult from the beginning, the uncertainty as to whether we would come back and play, whether we'd have a season, whether we'd play only conference games, would there be a tournament, would there be a Big Ten Tournament. Just so proud of all the folks that made that happen, but most importantly the players themselves, all of whom, not just the ones in our program, made so many sacrifices to get here.

So I think the important thing is to appreciate what you've done, and that's what we're going to do.

Q. Could you elaborate on -- it's not an excuse, obviously, but elaborate on the injuries to Connor and CJ and Joe going down there, too, how hurt were these guys playing down the stretch?

FRAN MCCAFFERY: Well, I was really impressed with Wiesy's ability to come back. He tweaked it. It's the same one he hurt in the Wisconsin game, so he went to the back and kind of ran it off and met with our doctor and our trainer, and they felt like he could go.

CJ is in pain. Now, he gutted through it for the better part of the games when he came back, and he was really good in some of them, but he hasn't been himself half the season. I'm just so proud of that kid for how he fought through and how he helped our team, particularly on the defensive end. I remember his defensive performance on Duane Washington against Ohio State when we won there. He just sacrificed and did what he had to do to help us win.

Connor has torn labrums in both hips, so he will have surgery forthcoming, actually two surgeries. They do one, then they do the other one. He's been struggling all year long with that but has consistently given us quality minutes and veteran leadership, and that was important for this team. So we'll get those guys healthy and well in the summer.