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Iowa basketball sharpshooter CJ Fredrick misses Ohio State game as leg injury lingers

Mark Emmert
Hawk Central

IOWA CITY, Ia. — The CJ Fredrick watch will continue to be a game-by-game experience for the Iowa men's basketball team.

Fredrick missed his second game of the season Thursday as the No. 8 Hawkeyes fell 89-85 to No. 7 Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa has lost both games that Fredrick hasn't played because of what is being called a lower-leg injury. Fredrick has started two other games in that stretch, but has had to shut things down at halftime on both occasions.

"CJ is legitimately still day-to-day," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said after Thursday's game. "We pretty much knew (Wednesday) he wasn't going to go (Thursday), but even left that open to see how he felt (Thursday), and he wasn't ready to go."

Iowa next plays Sunday at Indiana.

Iowa guard CJ Fredrick tested his lower leg injury by defending Indiana's Rob Phinisee in the first half of a Jan. 21 home game. Fredrick played only 13 minutes in that one, and has missed two of three games since. The sophomore leads the team in 3-point percentage.

Fredrick, the team's starting shooting guard, is averaging 8.7 points per game and has made 50% of his 3-point shots to lead the team in accuracy. He was on the sideline, but not in uniform, Thursday and didn't even go through warmups with the team.

In Fredrick's absence, freshman Keegan Murray has been starting at power forward, moving Connor McCaffery to the backcourt.

Earlier:The decade-old encounter that helped steer CJ Fredrick to Fran McCaffery and Iowa basketball

Fredrick suffered the injury late in Iowa's win at Northwestern on Jan. 17. He started the next game, at home vs. Indiana, but was clearly laboring and played only 13 scoreless minutes. 

Fredrick sat out Iowa's loss at Illinois on Friday, but tried to go again Tuesday against Michigan State. Again, he was not in peak condition and finished with two points in 11 minutes.

Last season, Fredrick missed six games with two different injuries to his foot or ankle. The Hawkeyes went 4-2 in those contests. He also had offseason surgery on his right foot, sidelining him for six weeks.

Mark Emmert covers the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Register. Reach him at memmert@registermedia.com or 319-339-7367. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkEmmert.