On Tuesday night, former Hawkeye men’s basketball player Roy Devyn Marble took to Twitter to respond to a question he received from a fan. Less than 24 hours after Marble tweeted his answer to the fan’s question, Marble’s post had garnered 533 likes, 147 replies, and 189 retweets.

The inquisitive fan asked Marble why he hasn’t been watching Iowa men’s basketball compete this year.

“I’ll never watch another Iowa game in my life with the amount of disrespect that school has shown me and my family,” Marble tweeted. “Love the fans, but I’m in no way affiliated or connected to the university.”

I’ll never watch another iowa game in my life with the amount of disrespect that school has shown me and my family. Love the fans but I’m in no way affiliated or connected to the university. https://t.co/8ylZg0iK4U

— Devyn Marble (@DevMarble) March 9, 2021

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta responded to the tweet prior to Tuesday’s Iowa men’s basketball conference. Marble’s tweet, Barta said, came in frustration after Sunday’s announcement that Iowa center Luka Garza’s No. 55 would be retired.

Marble played at Iowa from 2010-14, and was drafted by the Orlando Magic with the 56th overall pick in the NBA Draft in 2014. Marble now plays in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, with Astana Basketball Club. Marble’s father is the late Roy Marble, who played basketball at Iowa from 1985-89 under former Hawkeye head coach Tom Davis.

Roy Marble was Iowa’s all-time leading scorer before the 2020-21 season began. Senior center Luka Garza passed Marble’s 2,116-point record that stood for 32 years on Feb. 21. Devyn Marble is seventh on Iowa’s all-time scoring list.

Roy Marble died at the age of 48 in 2015 after a battle with cancer. In 1987, Marble led Iowa to a No. 1 national ranking and an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Roy was honored for his accomplishments in the Black and Gold before Devyn’s senior day game in 2014.

Roy Marble’s No. 23 jersey has not been retired by the University of Iowa.

“We have learned since Sunday that Roy Marble’s family was hurt and feeling disrespected since that day,” Barta said Tuesday.

“I just want to take a moment and share that absolutely, that disrespect was unintentional and to publicly apologize for it. Fran McCaffery and I have also reached out to the family privately and shared those same feelings of apology… and also share with them some of the things that we’re working on and planning for moving forward.”

McCaffery, who coached Devyn Marble, said he has reached out to his former player to apologize, but has yet to hear back.

“I’ve had multiple conversations with [Marble’s] family members,” McCaffery said. “Reached out to Dev, haven’t spoken with him yet, but I reached out to him. I know that Dev knows I love him. I loved his dad, we became really close. In no way were we highlighting Luka to in any way disrespect anybody else, least of all, anybody named Marble. So, I just appreciate what Gary’s doing, and these situations are not typically something I get involved with, but due to my relationship with both Roy and Dev, I did. I felt it was important to do that, and our conversations have been very positive, and they will remain so as we move forward to honor Roy the way that he should be.”

According to The Cedar Rapids Gazette, in 2015, Barta said he did not envision Iowa retiring any more jerseys or numbers in any sports. At the time, he also noted that UI Athletics was working on a “wall of honor concept.”