By John Bohnenkamp

Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery will miss Sunday’s game against Minnesota after testing positive for COVID-19, the university announced on Friday.

Assistant coach Billy Taylor, who had the scouting assignment for the game, will be the acting head coach in McCaffery’s absence.

Taylor, who is in his third season as an assistant as Iowa, has plenty of head-coaching experience. He was a head coach at Lehigh from 2002-07 and at Ball State from 2007-13. He was Iowa’s director of basketball operations from 2014-16 before spending three seasons as a head coach at Belmont Abbey, an NCAA Division II school. His career head-coaching record is 214-210.

McCaffery has entered health and safety protocols after the positive test, the university announced.

How long McCaffery will be out remains unclear. Iowa (14-7 overall, 4-6 Big Ten) plays Minnesota (11-8, 2-8) in Sunday’s 3:30 p.m. game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes play at Maryland on Thursday, then return home for a February 13 game against Nebraska.

Photo: Iowa coach Fran McCaffery watches from the sideline during a home game against Penn State this season. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)