Dec. 19, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Junior Josh Oglesby is available to play when the University of Iowa men’s basketball team takes the floor Sunday in its nonconference finale against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“I am looking forward to getting back on the court with my teammates,” Oglesby said Thursday while meeting with media. “It stinks sitting on the bench and watching them play.”
The guard from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has missed the first 12 games of the season after breaking a bone in his right foot during practice Nov. 6. Oglesby has played in 72 career games as a Hawkeye, averaging 5.4 points in 17.4 minutes.
“It’s getting better,” said Oglesby of his injured right foot. “Defensively, it kind of bugs me, but each day I can feel it getting better and better.”
It has been a process for Oglesby to work his body back on the conditioning front.
“The first week or so when I got back on the court, I was dead,” he said. “Recently I feel like I have been getting in much better shape, but nowhere near where I was before (the injury).”
The Hawkeyes haven’t played since Dec. 13 — an 85-82 loss at Iowa State. Junior Mike Gesell says the team is using the road setback as a learning experience.
“You can’t dwell on a loss like that,” he said. “Iowa State is a very good team, so we have to learn from it and move forward. We have a lot of games left to play, starting Sunday, then we focus on the Big Ten.”
Gesell says the feeling of disappointment lingered following the loss to the Cyclones. He missed two free throws with Iowa trailing 83-82 with 12 seconds remaining.
“I talked to my old high school coach and my parents, but you just have to move on,” he said. “Things like that happen. You just have to step up (to the line) confident and knock them down. I got in the gym and fine-tuned my form, but something (in situations) like that you have to shoot them with confidence.”
Gesell says the team’s focus has been on academics in the midst of finals week and working on improving themselves.
“We’ve worked on a lot of our stuff, fine-tuning what we do,” he said. “We’ve been scrimmaging and working on late-game situations because that’s something you can always improve.”
Sunday’s game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff will begin at 1 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.com with BJ Schaben and Kevin Lehman on the call.