Former Iowa forward Ava Jones diagnosed with cancer amid retirement, car collision recovery

Before the college basketball season began, Iowa lost forward Ava Jones due to a medical retirement. Jones was struck by an impaired driver in July 2022 and was still working on recovery. The incident occurred just a few days after Jones decided to commit to Iowa.

Flash forward to Saturday and more devastating news has come. Jones revealed she recently was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma after getting results from a biopsy. She expressed confidence in the doctors Iowa has provided her with as the fight instantly begins.

“I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma after the results from the biopsy came back,” Jones said Saturday via Instagram. “This is the news no one ever wants to get, but especially after spending the last 2 and a half years working my butt off and recovering from getting hit by a car. My body is very strong and I am confident in the doctors here at Iowa.”

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Former Iowa star Caitlin Clark did respond to the Instagram post, commenting “Praying for you kid.” Clark was on the team last year when Jones would have been a true freshman.

This past summer is when Jones had to announce her retirement from basketball. She did say Iowa was going to honor her scholarship throughout her time as a student.

“It is with great sadness to announce that I am medically retiring from college basketball. My coaches, doctors, teammates and trainers have been amazing since the accident,” Jones said when she retired. “While I will no longer be a member of the women’s basketball program, I will still be on scholarship, receive a world-class education and forever be a Hawkeye. I’d like to thank my family for the never-ending support and I am excited for the next chapter of my life.”

Caitlin Clark confident in direction of Iowa program

Caitlin Clark was back in Iowa City on Sunday to have her jersey retired by the Iowa Hawkeyes. In the meantime, she was treated to an upset win for her Hawkeyes over the USC Trojans.

Following that game, Clark met with the media. There, she shared some of her own thoughts on the program, explaining that she thinks that the program is in an excellent spot moving forward. That’s despite a season where the program has seemingly taken a step back in her absence.

“Asking me the tough questions,” Caitlin Clark said. “No, I think they’re definitely a younger group. The freshman class to me is what’s really exciting. I think they’ve been ones you can tell they’re freshmen, they’re going to be inexperienced at times but you learn through that and you grow through that. Really just proud of this coaching staff.”

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report