Fredrick Ready To Return To Lineup
There was never any pressure to hurry his return, CJ Fredrick said, and the Iowa redshirt freshman guard appreciates that.
Fredrick, who has missed the last three games with a sprained right ankle, will be back for the Hawkeyes’ game against Penn State on Saturday, and could be in the starting lineup.
“It was hard for me,” Fredrick said of having to sit. “But it was a process. I had to get better for the last stretch (of the season).”
Fredrick said that was the message that coach Fran McCaffery had given him, that he didn’t want Fredrick back until he was “100 percent” because he knew the Hawkeyes would need him for the closing games of the regular season and the postseason.
“I had to do what was right for me,” Fredrick said.
Fredrick averages 10.7 points per game, and is second on the team with 44 three-pointers.
Fredrick hurt his ankle early in the second half of Iowa’s 89-77 loss at Indiana on Feb. 13. He missed the Hawkeyes’ wins over Minnesota and Ohio State and last Tuesday’s loss at Michigan State.
McCaffery said after the win over Ohio State he thought Fredrick would have been available for the game, but he wasn’t ready.
Fredrick said he had felt better before that game, but the day after practicing was the problem.
“I woke up the next morning, couldn’t even walk,” he said.
Fredrick felt better this week.
“I started feeling 100 percent yesterday,” he said on Friday. “I felt good. I was able to cut like I usually do. The way I play, there’s a lot of movement without the ball.
“I was running off screens, playing defense, running through screens. And I had no issues. I wasn’t sore after, that was the big key.”
“He looks pretty good,” McCaffery said. “He's been able to do pretty much everything the last couple days.”
Asked if Fredrick would start on Saturday, McCaffery said, “Probably.”
Fredrick missed two games in January with a stress reaction in his left foot.
This injury, he said, was “a pretty good one. Pretty bad. … I’ve been in a lot of pain before, (but) I was in some serious pain.”
Fredrick said he originally thought he had broken his foot.
“Heard some cracks, but that was the ligaments being stretched,” he said.
Fredrick sat out last season as a redshirt, but he wasn’t immune from injuries then, breaking a rib when he drew a charge from forward Tyler Cook in practice.
“That was my fault,” he said, smiling.
The injuries this season have been frustrating, Fredrick said.
“It’s been tough for me,” he said. “The stress reaction was tough on me, this was definitely tough on me. I don’t like to miss games.”
