Fredrick Out With Stress Reaction In Left Foot

Iowa guard misses game at Nebraska.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Iowa guard CJ Fredrick is out indefinitely with a stress reaction in his left foot.

Fredrick, a redshirt freshman, was in a walking boot, watching from the sidelines as the Hawkeyes warmed up before Tuesday's 76-70 loss to Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

It may be that way for a while, and the Hawkeyes are going to have to learn to play even more short-handed.

Iowa was just 4-of-33 in 3-point attempts against the Huskers. Fredrick has made 50 percent (23-of-46) 3-point shots this season, and his presence was missed.

"CJ’s been playing great," guard Connor McCaffery said. "Even without CJ, we had a great chance to win. CJ obviously would have helped tremendously. But we can’t use that as an excuse. We’re still in the same position. We need to be able to play without CJ, because we don’t know what’s going on. We hope that he gets better as soon as he can."

"It's going to be an adjustment," guard Joe Toussaint said.

Fredrick's absence leaves Iowa with just eight scholarship players. Guard Jordan Bohannon (hip) and forward Jack Nunge (knee) are out for the season. Freshman forward Patrick McCaffery has played just two games this season as he deals with health issues related to his 2014 treatment for thyroid cancer.

The Hawkeyes also just completed a stretch of eight of 10 games away from home, a journey of more than 8,000 miles and three time zones.

"You just can't let it (wear you down)," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "Everybody has injury. Everybody has sickness. Everybody has tough stretches where there is a lot of road games and a lot of travel.

"We have other guys. We have to play better than we played tonight. Give credit and respect to our opponent. But we didn't play as well as we have been playing. I'm not going to put that all on the fact that CJ Fredrick wasn't out on the floor. Because we had somebody. It wasn't like we were playing 4-on-5. Somebody else was playing. We've got to play better."

Fredrick started Saturday's 89-86 loss against Penn State, missing all four of his first-half shots before sitting out the second half with the injury.

Fredrick started 13 of Iowa's first 14 games this season. He missed the Dec. 3 game at Syracuse with a quadriceps injury.

Fredrick is averaging 10.3 points. He is second on the team with 38 assists.

McCaffery said he would be cautious on bringing Fredrick back.

"I don't know that I can expect anything," McCaffery said. "The only thing I can expect is what the trainers and doctors tell me. Is he cleared to play, is he not cleared to play. I would not put him out there under any risk. At some point, if we have to shut him down, we'll shut him down. Right now, it's still day-to-day. Until they tell me otherwise, that's how we'll go."