Auburn defeated Iowa 83-75 in a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament Thursday in front of a heavily partisan Tiger crowd at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena.

Iowa trailed by 17 points with 10:50 left and by 15 with 9:20 remaining. The Hawkeyes made a run and got within 66-62 at the 4:20 mark. Auburn was led by clutch free throws from Wendell Green and Johni Broome held off the Hawkeyes to advance.

Fran McCaffrey spoke to reporters after the contest. Here’s what they said.

FRAN McCAFFERY, Iowa coach

How did you feel about playing a road game?

I look at it like this, kind of similar to what Connor said. In a perfect world, we would rather play someone else. The focus path is looking at the schedule that we have and the toughness of our conference; we want to be in it. That is when you take the mindset of playing anyone, anywhere—this kind of situation, like Duke in the garden and TCU and Clemson down in Florida. So we are used to playing really good teams in hostile environments. So this cannot be an excuse, nor will we make it one. We were right there, and you have to give credit to that.”

On poor first-half shooting.

“We did not shoot well in the first half, and neither did they. We outrebounded them, and the press was marginally effective. I thought our running game was good, and they do have quick guards. What happens in a league, in my opinion, is irrelevant.”

On Auburn’s speed.

“I think we see a fair amount of quickness in our league. I think leagues get too generalized. We have different lineups. One’s better offensively than the other, but we didn’t shoot well in the first half, and neither did they, but we need to come back in the second half. I thought we did well but couldn’t get our shots up. I don’t know if speed is a factor.”

Obviously, Alabama’s known as a football state nationally. What was your impression today of the atmosphere, the crowds?

COACH MCCAFFERY: I think it was what I would have expected it to be. I mean, you look at how those two teams draw at home. You’ve got a great program in town right here. UAB. So there’s a lot of really good basketball being played in this state. And I would say these folks are sports fans. They love both.

That was a major home-court advantage for a lower-seeded team. Did that seem fair to you all?

CONNOR MCCAFFERY: Playing in the Big Ten, we’re used to playing on the road, playing in hostile environments. So I think, for us — I mean, obviously, like if we had our choice, we would have preferred to be a little bit more neutral. But that’s not why we lost at all.

We’re used to that. And that’s something — we won at

Rutgers. We won at IU. And those places are 100 times louder than it was in here today. So I think it’s just part of the game.

PAYTON SANDFORT: It is what it is. You play to get to the tournament. Control what you can and play the game as you can. Unfortunately, we didn’t play up to our capabilities. That’s what happened.

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group