Fran McCaffery on Maryland loss: 'We did some things that are just unacceptable'

After leading for much of the game, Iowa dropped their eighth of the season at home to Maryland and did so by the final seconds. While it’s already frustrating considering they had it in their grasp, Fran McCaffery was more displeased because of the ways in which his team gave it away.

McCaffery shared his irritation during his postgame press conference after the Hawkeyes lost 69-67 to the Terrapins on Wednesday. He said that the fact of the matter is that Iowa did some things to lose the game that weren’t just inadequate but that were also just downright intolerable.

“You’ve got to be honest with them. You’ve got to understand that we did some things that are just unacceptable. I’ll take the blame for that,” said McCaffery. “We knew they were going to press. They’ve been pressing. We just can’t turn the ball over and then let them score in three seconds.”

“We turned the ball over and we let Jahmir (Young) take the game over,” said McCaffery.

Iowa led by as much as 10 in the game and as much as nine in the second half. That included a seven-point lead with just under six minutes to go inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

However, over the final minutes, Maryland closed the game on a 15-6 run to take it by two.

In that stretch, Iowa had four of their 14 turnovers on the night to let the Terrapins back into it. That included both from Payton Sandfort on the night with one immediately leading to a basket by DeShawn Harris-Smith and the other directly leading to a pair of free throws from Donta Scott.

As McCaffery pointed out, the Hawkeyes also allowed Young, their leader as a fifth-year guard, to go off. He finished the game with 22 points (7-15 FG, 3-4 from three), seven rebounds, and four assists. That includes nine points over that final part of the game as he hit a pair of threes and got down the lane with a second and a half left to lay it in for the win.

With the loss, which was their second straight, Iowa fell to 11-8 and towards the back of the Big Ten at 3-5. Still, while that’s a difficult enough spot, it’s even more discouraging to McCaffery based on how the Hawkeyes lost it.

“They know that. They feel bad about it,” McCaffery said. “We all feel bad about it.”