The Iowa basketball team is certainly dealing with quite a few walking wounded as they head to Nebraska on Tuesday night for their next Big Ten Conference contest. Fran McCaffery spoke to the media on Monday to give us an update on the health of guards C.J. Fredrick and Connor McCaffery, what he has seen from the Cornhuskers so far this season and more.

Q: How is C.J. Fredrick doing and is he going to be able to play Tuesday night?

McCAFFERY: I’m not sure yet.

Q: Was Fredrick hurt going into the game or did he do something during the game?

McCAFFERY: He seemed to be fine before the game. I don’t know if there was something going on before the game that got aggravated or not.

Q: What have you seen from Toussaint since he’s become a starter?

McCAFFERY: I have been impressed by his approach. Any time you move into the starting lineup you want to perform well. He had a rough first game, which was not an easy environment and I was impressed by his professionalism and how he handled that. He took care of business in the next game and then went into a hostile environment against a ranked opponent and performed incredibly well.

Q: New coaching staff and a totally different roster for Nebraska. What have you seen from them this season?

McCAFFERY: They have speed and quickness and they play hard. They execute as you would expect. I have been impressed with their team. In particular how they have evolved. You throw a bunch of guys together at the beginning of the year there are going to be some ups and downs. As they have come into the league they have performed very well and their guys are stepping up. We know it’s a tough environment over there and know what to expect.

Q: Did Connor McCaffery have an illness going into the game? Also with Patrick McCaffery and what is his status?

McCAFFERY: Yeah, Connor was sick on Saturday. With Patrick, we are trying to get his body right. He plays in practice some time and works with our nutritionist, trainers, and doctors to try to figure out how to stabilize his body and maintain strength and stamina and feel better, essentially. There’s no change there.

Connor was sick on Saturday morning. He gutted it out. He was really sick yesterday and did not practice.

Q: Cam Mack has been a leader for Nebraska. Is there any player that you have faced that reminds you of him?

McCAFFERY: He’s been impressive to me. He has tremendous speed and kind of an attack guy. He gives it up easy and can score and make three’s. He makes plays and he plays defense. He has some size too. I think he is typical of the high end guys in our league at that position. He has a lot of the qualities that you need to be successful in this league. Fred had to scramble a little bit when he got there and he has performed well there and he’s someone we have to pay attention to on the scouting report.

Q: What is Connor dealing with? A cold or the flu or something else?

McCAFFERY: He was throwing up all day yesterday.

Q: When you were talking about Patrick earlier, is it kind of hard to keep him out of the gym because he’s the type of kid that seems to like to be in there all the time.

McCAFFERY: I think it’s just different. We are managing it in a different way. We are trying to figure out how he can perform consistently. He can have good days and bad days and days when he is ineffective. He is trying to adjust and adapt to this level physically with his eating and strength and conditioning as he manages his health situation, which is obviously most critical because he takes medicine for that. We have to maintain certain levels and when he doesn’t do that, then it’s a problem and it impacts the rest of his body and how it functions. It’s hard for him and fortunately we have a lot of people addressing it and helping him through it. I think he will be better for it next year.

Q: Ryan Kriener kind of banged his knee in the game and came back into the game after leaving it for a bit. Is he ok? Would he start if Fredrick can’t go?

McCAFFERY: Probably he would start. He is doing pretty well. I was really concerned about him when I went out on the floor. He was hurting and he’s a tough kid. Once we figured out it wasn’t anything serious he wanted to go back in. He looks ok and there’s a good chance he would start.

Q: What was practice like for you yesterday with so many guys out?

McCAFFERY: We did a little video. A little walk through. A lot of shooting, but nothing really physical.

Q: At what point do you just shake your head with all the health issues? Do you talk to the team about it at any point or do you even have to do that?

McCAFFERY: I think that’s how you have to handle it. Just keep moving forward. It’s obviously something they are all aware of, but we will deal with it one day at a time because it also means there’s an opportunity for someone else to step up. It will change how we prepare and how we play in the games and some of our walk-on’s have to stay ready. Also Austin Ash has also been out. He might be getting some playing time, but he is recovering from mono.

Q: What has made it so difficult to play at Nebraska even when it feels like they might not have the greatest teams?

McCAFFERY: They have had some pretty good teams in recent years. I think it was unfair to say that about them last year when you have James Palmer, Roby, and Watson, there was a reason why they were ranked before last season. Those three are as good as anyone in the country at their positions. They have been good the last couple of years. Even before that, we had some good games over there. One year we played extremely well against a really good team. It was just one of those games. It’s just another great road venue in our league with a great fanbase and good players.

Q: Is Riley Till available and what can you get out of him?

McCAFFERY: He is and I really wanted to play him on Saturday. Kriener was playing so well and I left him out there as long as possible and he gave us rebounds. I don’t think I rested Garza or Wieskamp in the second half and that puts a lot of pressure on those two guys. Riley will be a big factor as we move forward.

Q: With Fredrick, does it seem like a one game thing if he can’t go tomorrow or are you worried it could be longer term?

McCAFFERY: I think we will know a lot more about it in the next day or so. Not sure yet. I’m not ducking the question, but we are looking at a variety of things with him and we want to make sure with him before we run him back out there again. He was not ready to go in the second half. A lot of times your trainer will say, well he could maybe go and it won’t be any worse and if he’s playing well your run them back out there. When the trainer says he can’t go, then you shut him down and next man up. That’s kind of how it was and kind of how it is right now until we are told otherwise.

Q: Is it an ankle sprain with Fredrick?

McCAFFERY: No, it’s something else.