Fran McCaffery praises Kris Murray after double-double vs. Minnesota

PeterWarrenPhoto2by:Peter Warren•02/12/23•

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Kris Murray’s first half against Minnesota was not his best performance, but Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery wasn’t worried. He wanted to keep getting him the ball in the second half.

The result was a much better second half and a monster stat line for Murray, who finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Now, he did do it while taking 27 shots and hitting only 12 of them. But McCaffery didn’t mind the volume because thew quality of shots were high.

It all worked out in the end as the Hawkeyes won the game, 68-58.

“We kept going to him,” McCaffery said on the FS1 broadcast. “He took 14 shots in the first half and they were all good shots. We were going to him and uncharacteristically some were falling out. We had the lob and he missed it and had a couple other plays he missed. To his credit, he just kept coming. We’re gonna keep running stuff for and we’re gonna keep isolating him and putting him in situations where he can score. He scored the first bucket of the second half. I thought that was good for him. He’s good player.”

Fran McCaffery gives assessment on what team needs to improve

With Kris Murray leading the charge, Fran McCaffery has a team that can compete again for the Big Ten title. But he discussed what the team needs to do better to get to that point.

“I think when you look at the first half, we made one three,” McCaffery said. “We were one for 10 in another game in the first half. You got to be able to win when you’re not making threes. We made some threes coming down the stretch that was huge. But you’ve got to be able to defend and rebound and score if the three ball’s not falling. We have a multitude three point shooters and we’re comfortable with that. But today we didn’t shoot as many, take the ball to the basket. I think you got to do that and you’ve got to be able to defend. There’s too many good players in this league, too many good coaches running really good stuff. It really comes down to your ability to be connected defensively.”