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Jan Jensen 'optimistic' that Lucy Olsen will play on Saturday against Tennessee

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•12/03/24•

HuesmannKyle

Iowa guard Lucy Olsen makes a layup against Washington State. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)
Iowa guard Lucy Olsen makes a layup against Washington State. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)

After suffering a serious cut on her knee that required stiches, it appears the freak accident that occurred in Cancun will only keep Iowa point guard Lucy Olsen out for two games. Head coach Jan Jensen provided an update on her starting point guard Tuesday, saying it is ‘more likely than not’ that Olsen will be able to play on Saturday against Tennessee at the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn.

“It’s more likely than not because she’s so tough…She’s practicing, but she’s not quite back to herself yet. I hope it feels a lot better in a couple of days,” said Jensen during Tuesday’s press conference. “We just have to see how it responds today to a lot more reps and see what it looks like tomorrow. She’s a really tough kid. I’m optimistic about it, but I’ll feel even better tomorrow when I hear the report that it responded pretty well.”

Prior to last Wednesday’s practice at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, Olsen jogged off the court, tripped and hit her knee on a tile just off of the playing surface. Jan Jensen said the unexpected accident had nothing to do with the safety of the host site.

“The was like it is in Carver, it’s raised, so there’s the edge of it and it’s in banquet hall, think of any wedding venue you’ve been in…She stepped off, but the doorway was about four to five feet (away) and there was tile that led to that. It was misshapen a little bit, but to hit it perfectly, I don’t think you could have practiced falling to hit it like that. It wasn’t anything that was unsafe, and it really could have happened anywhere.”

“I didn’t know how bad it was going to be,” said Olsen. (Initially) there wasn’t blood, and it didn’t hurt. I was in the bathroom, I looked down at my knee and I was like, oh shoot, this doesn’t look good. Right then, I was like, I need help.”

Olsen received several stiches on her knee and missed both of the Hawkeyes games at the Cancun Challenge. They won both games, and now, Lucy is focused on getting ready for Saturday’s game against Tennessee, but she pleased to see her team step up with her absent from the lineup.

“We’re taking it day-by-day, so we’ll see where it goes, but hopefully everything keeps going well,” said Olsen. “It was unfortunate that I couldn’t play, but it was cool to see other people step up and we got two tough wins that weren’t easy.”

The Hawkeyes matchup against the Tennessee Lady Vols is set to tipoff at 6:00pm CT on Saturday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

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