Fran McCaffery harped on how important it was for Iowa’s leaders to have an impact on the Indiana game on Thursday. Iowa needed a comeback to beat the Hoosiers.

McCaffery explained how important the leadership was with all the young players on the court on Thursday. It was really useful to have veterans like Filip Rebraca, Kris Murray, and his son Connor McCaffery in the game.

“It’s really important because we had to play a lot of young guys tonight, too. What can you say about Payton Sandfort; he was phenomenal. Josh Dix was phenomenal. And Dasonte was really good in the first half. Ulis was solid as always. I said this to the team, we had probably the best defensive possession of the whole game, and they shoot a shot that barely hits the backboard, it bounces, the kid, he lays it in with half a second to go up six. I think a lot of teams would have quit right there and they did not. That says a lot about our team. But those guys you mentioned, yeah, they’re the heart and soul of the team.”

Iowa will need its veteran players to continue to step as the remainder of its games will against conference foes.

(H/T 247Sports)