After recording a new career-high 20 points against Ohio State, Iowa head women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen has confirmed that freshman guard Addie Deal will be in the Hawkeyes‘ starting lineup against USC (11-9, 3-6 Big Ten) in Los Angeles on Thursday night. The news comes on the heels of Iowa announcing that Taylor McCabe had suffered a career-ending ACL tear.
Over the past four contests, Deal has blossomed into the star that many Hawkeye fans hoped to see in her freshman season by averaging 12.0 points, 2.3 assists, and 2.0 rebounds per game on 55.9% shooting from the field and 50% from 3-point territory during that stretch.
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“Addie has always been a confident kid and a confident player,” Jensen said. “I think she understood at the beginning, the game is a little bigger, faster, stronger. I think she kind of loosened that pressure and really succumbed to the process of that — which was easy for her to do — and just let that sequence develop knowing I had the confidence in her,” Jensen said.
A five-star signee, Jensen always knew this type of recent play from Deal was coming.
“I always knew what she was capable of doing, but I think she’s really been welcoming. She’s a hard worker, a good-IQ player. She’s always eager and wants to be on the floor and wants to do well. So that’s never been a challenge or an issue.
“Sometimes the patience it takes to go through the workouts, the extra work, the pre-practice — and she does a lot of shooting on her own — she just learned and was always ready to take that next step. Regardless of Taylor’s injury, she was steady and showing everything in those steps of growth,” Jensen said.
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Iowa sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow is expected to see an increased workload as well.
“There’s a new forming that has to take place when you lose a key player. Now expectations and pressures are different. You’ve got to navigate it a little differently, but Addie’s mentality will be fine. We just have to find a different way to rotate. Addie will be ready to rock and her mental approach has always been so, so strong,” Jensen said.
It creates quite the atmosphere for Deal’s first career start. A native of Irvine, Calif., Deal’s first start for the Hawkeyes comes close to home and should mean plenty of friends and family will be in attendance.
Thursday night’s contest against the Trojans from the Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. and will be streamed exclusively on Peacock.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women’s basketball confirms Addie Deal will start vs. USC
