Iowa senior point guard Lucy Olsen was injured during the Hawkeyes‘ trip to the Cancun Challenge in a freak accident.
Ahead of one of Iowa’s practices at the Cancun Challenge, Olsen tripped off the elevated floor and wound up gashing her knee. That laceration sidelined the 5-foot-10 guard for each of Iowa’s games against Rhode Island and BYU.
Earlier this week, Iowa head women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen updated her star’s injury status. Olsen is probable for tonight’s marquee contest against Tennessee (6-0) from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“It’s more likely than not (Olsen returns) because she’s so tough,” Jensen said Tuesday. “I think we just have to see how it responded (Tuesday) with a lot more reps and see what it looks like (Wednesday). I’m optimistic about it, but I’ll feel even better (Wednesday) when I hear the report that it responded pretty well.”
Olsen met with the media this week, too, and detailed how the injury happened.
“It’s so silly,” Olsen said this week. “We were about to practice, and I tripped off the court because it was a little elevated. And then I fell. And then there was like a tile, and I scraped my knee on it. It just cut it open.”
Olsen is averaging a team-high 17.3 points per game. The Collegeville, Pa., native is also averaging 5.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 68.8% from the charity stripe.
Olsen was the nation’s third-leading scorer a season ago while at Villanova.
In Olsen’s absence, Iowa topped Rhode Island on Thanksgiving Day, 69-62, and BYU the following day, 68-48.
Junior forward Hannah Stuelke combined to score 29 points and grab 12 rebounds in the two wins.
Tipoff versus the Volunteers is set for 6 p.m. with the game to be televised on Fox.
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