Iowa guard CJ Fredrick entering NCAA transfer portal

In a blow to the Iowa men’s basketball program, starting guard CJ Fredrick is leaving the Hawkeyes.

Via Twitter Monday morning, the Iowa men’s basketball account merely said “Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffery announced Monday that junior guard CJ Fredrick has submitted his name in the NCAA transfer portal.”

Twitter

Fredrick then tweeted this: “After talking with Coach McCaffery and with the statement released this morning, I have entered my name in the transfer portal. I have come to the difficult decision to participate in this process.”

Twitter

Fredrick had spent three years in Iowa’s program. He red-shirted the first year, then started 52 games over the next two seasons, in which Iowa went 42-20. He missed 10 games to injuries.

He averaged 7.5 points for the Hawkeyes in the 2020-21 season after averaging 10.2 points the season before. He made 46.6 percent (83-of-178) of his 3-point tries, which ranks as Iowa’s all-time best in that category.

Fredrick committed just 10 turnovers in 666 minutes in 2020-21, and had a stretch of 13 straight Big Ten games without one.

He is a 6-foot-3 guard from Cincinnati, Ohio. He played high school basketball across the Ohio River at Covington Catholic, which won the state championship in one-class Kentucky.

A big reason he came to Iowa were family ties to Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery, who was an assistant coach at Notre Dame in the 1980s when Fredrick’s uncle, Joe Fredrick, played for Digger Phelps’ Fighting Irish team.

Fredrick would be the second key Hawkeye to enter the portal this offseason. Center Jack Nunge is transferring to Xavier.

Iowa also faces the potential loss of wing Joe Wieskamp, who announced last week he was entering the 2021 NBA draft, but is keeping open the option to return to Iowa for his senior season.

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