With the Hawkeyes trailing Illinois 69-60 and 13:33 left in the second half of a second round game in the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, Iowa head basketball coach Fran McCaffery received a pair of technical fouls and was ejected.

McCaffery didn't appear all that animated, but it was enough to earn him the double technicals and an early exit to the Iowa locker room.

Big Ten Network reporter Andy Katz said on the TV broadcast that coach McCaffery and official Larry Scirotto had "an intense conversation" in the first half and the double techs "might have been a cumulative effect of him really working the officials over the course of the two halves."

That allowed Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis to sink four free throws and extend Illinois' lead to double figures in a game that determines whether or not the Hawkeyes' season will continue.

Iowa (17-15, 7-13 Big Ten) topped 10th-seeded Ohio State (17-15, 9-11 Big Ten), 77-70, to open its run in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday.