Jan Jensen hopeful to get Syd Affolter some minutes in Wednesday's season opener
Iowa women’s basketball head coach Jan Jensen delivered some encouraging news during Monday’s press conference regarding senior forward Syd Affolter. After receiving a minor knee procedure in September, Jensen says Affolter is ahead of schedule and is hopeful to get her some minutes in the Hawkeyes season opener against Northern Illinois on Wednesday.
“We’re going to work her in slowly. Hopefully we can get a few more reps in practice today, and a few more tomorrow and it’d be wonderful if she could see minutes on Wednesday,” said Jensen. “We’re so thankful that she’s ahead of schedule, and that’s not surprising. I don’t know if I’ve really coached anyone as tough, she’s probably in a Megan Gustafson category.”
Affolter appeared in 39 games last season, including 12 starts, averaging 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. After Molly Davis went down with an injury in the regular season finale, Affolter stepped up, scoring in double figures in seven of the Hawkeyes nine postseason games.
“It’s been going well, but it’s been hard sitting out,” said Affolter. “I just want to be back out there with my girls, but I know it’s a very long season. It’s only been about six weeks, so I’ve just got to play it by ear and see how my knee feels.”
“They said around six to eight weeks, but I knew that I would probably try to push that because I’m stubborn…There’s a lot of games to be played and I don’t want to push it too early for it to not be completely 100% in January.”
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With upcoming non-conference games against Virginia Tech, Drake and Kansas in November, Jensen says the coaching staff will try to be cautious with how quickly they ramp up the load of minutes for Affolter.
“I think it depends on the game flows and how her knee’s responding,” said Jensen. “There’s one thing about running in a pool and doing defensive slides versus running up and down the floor, stopping, starting, driving.”
“Syd is tough and as long as she feels like she can handle it, she’ll go, but I think it would be wise for us to load manage if possible.”
