Dec. 21, 2013
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Editor’s Note: The following first appeared in the University of Iowa’s Hawk Talk Daily, an e-newsletter that offers a daily look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, delivered free each morning to thousands of fans of the Hawkeyes worldwide.
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa junior Samantha Logic will do whatever it takes to be on the floor leading the Hawkeye women’s basketball team, and she has the battle wounds to prove it.
“It’s unbelievable, she amazes me all the time,” said UI head coach Lisa Bluder. “She loses a tooth against Dayton, splits her head open and has eight stitches against Syracuse and can’t wait to get back on the court, and against Iowa State, she splits her head open again.”
Logic got her stitches removed from her initial blow leading up to the Iowa-Iowa State showdown. She couldn’t catch a break, as with six minutes remaining in the first half, she got knocked around during a loose ball tie up to re-open the wound.
“I hit it just enough, but it didn’t hurt,” she said. “Theairra told me ‘Sam, you’re bleeding again.’ I was like ‘This has got to stop.'”
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“She is incredible as far as being able to handle those environments and come back, be focused and not be thinking about her tooth or eye, but about the game at hand. That is another level of mental toughness rather than physical toughness.”
UI head coach Lisa Bluder
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Logic exited the floor inside Hilton Coliseum and went back to the locker room to get the eight stitches for a second time. This time she had to gut out the procedure, as the Novocain didn’t take.
“He put some in, and it felt the same at the beginning, but it didn’t work as well,” she said. “You have to have it done. It didn’t hurt that bad and it didn’t hurt to reopen (the wound). I could have gotten drilled again.”
Bluder says it speaks volumes to Logic’s leadership and toughness for her to be willing to do whatever is necessary to lead her team.
“She could have elected to wait (for the Novocain), but she doesn’t,” said Bluder. “She takes it so she can be back with her team. I don’t think I could have done that… I know I couldn’t because I am a wimp. I can’t even imagine how badly that hurt.”
The physical toughness Logic has displayed is off the charts, but Bluder may even be more impressed with her ability to put the injuries in the back of her mind and return to the court, business as usual.
“She is incredible as far as being able to handle those environments and come back, be focused and not be thinking about her tooth or eye, but about the game at hand,” said Bluder. “That is another level of mental toughness rather than physical toughness.”
It isn’t too often that a point guard is the player to display edginess like Logic, and it’s something Bluder says is contagious to the team.
“Sam has that edge, and she isn’t going to back down to anybody, any time,” said Bluder. “You want somebody like that leading the way, and usually it isn’t your point guard in that role. Any time your point guard is like that, it helps so much because everybody feeds off that position.”
Even with the battle wounds as proof, Logic says she likes to “think” she’s tough.
“You don’t want to think you’re soft,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to think that. You play through whatever you can, be smart, and when you can play, I want to play. (I’ll do) whatever it takes.”
She’s not kidding.
The Hawkeyes return to action today, hosting Drake at 4 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.