Can Iowa men’s basketball rebound from the verge of apathy?

IOWA CITY, Iowa — With each section striped black or gold and Carver-Hawkeye Arena filled almost to capacity, the Iowa men’s basketball team walked to the north hoop and waited for “The Star-Spangled Banner” shortly before tipoff against No. 2-ranked Purdue.

Coach Fran McCaffery stood near the free-throw line and an announcement accompanied by a video quieted the crowd. It opened with quotes from McCaffery’s debut news conference in 2010 and ended with his four children and wife congratulating him for setting the school’s all-time wins record. All five walked out to the floor to embrace McCaffery as athletics director Beth Goetz handed him a ceremonial basketball recognizing his feat.

The largest home crowd of the season responded with a polite standing ovation. There were no words from McCaffery, who acknowledged the cheers. Two hours later, after an 84-70 loss, McCaffery let down his guard a bit.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” McCaffery said. “All of a sudden, my family’s there and you think about a lot of things. It brings back a lot of memories. We moved across the country and it was a big move for the family. I wouldn’t have had any level of success without my wife Margaret and all of our children.”

14 years of Fran McCaffery. #Hawkeyes