Things did not go as planned for Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes in their last non-conference game of the season, getting stunned by heavy underdog Eastern Illinois 92-83 on Wednesday night. It was the biggest college basketball upset by point spread in the modern era, per ESPN's David Purdum.

The Hawkeyes were missing Kris Murray and Connor McCaffery with injury, and the pesky Panthers would not go away, consistently making key shots to stun the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“These games always have a different feel to them, the one right before Christmas,” head coach McCaffery said after the game, according to hawkcentral.com. “You hope your guys are really locked in. It seemed like we were at the beginning. We hit some shots early then went cold.”

“We had enough healthy people,” McCaffery continued. “I would’ve thought we would’ve played better today.”

It was just the fourth Power 5 win for the Panthers, with the others coming in 1974, 1987 and 2019, per ESPN. It was just their second win over a Big Ten team, and the first in 35 years.

Iowa shot just 38.9% from the floor, while their opponents shot 60%. The 8-4 Hawkeyes made just 20 of their 32 free throws in the contest.

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McCaffery said his team didn't distribute the ball well in the second half, trying to do too much in one-on-one situations in the final two quarters. “We didn’t have a lot of subs. You try to press and up-tempo the defense
I thought we were a little tired. We could have used Connor’s toughness, his veteran leadership and of course another experienced body.”

With the loss, Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeyes fall from No. 21 to No.38 in the KenPom rankings, which will hurt the team's NCAA Tournament resume come March, per hawkcentral.com.

Iowa's Big Ten opener is set for Dec. 29 against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.