“Always been a little weaker”: Differing from Stephen Curry and Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s Lucy Olsen talks about making her own identity

After three years with the Villanova Wildcats, Lucy Olsen made the move to Iowa to play her final college season with the Hawkeyes. She is expected to fill the void left by former star Caitlin Clark.

However, Olsen's playing style is quite different from Clark's, as she focuses more on her midrange. Meanwhile, Clark, like Stephen Curry, prefers shooting from the 3-point range. Olsen was asked about this during a chat with the media on Thursday.

"I'm not really sure how it started," Olsen said. "I think 'cause I have always been a little weaker than everyone. When I would try to get to the basket, I would get stopped but I was able to use my length to shoot over people.

"So, I think that's how it started and then I was like, 'Okay the shots are open all the time. I don't know why people don't take it, so I'm just going to try to get really good at it.'"

(From 01:24)

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Iowa coach Jan Jensen shares her thoughts on Lucy Olsen joining the roster

Iowa's new coach, Jan Jensen, spoke highly of Lucy Olsen during the Big Ten Media Day on Oct. 2. Jensen highlighted Olsen's mid-range game, sharing how it will help Iowa in the upcoming season.

“Lucy Olsen plays the mid-range game about as well as I’ve seen it played,” Jensen said. “She’s crafty. She’s fun to watch because she can kind of come out of a screening action where you think she’s stopped. She reminds you of a running back that’s small and hard to tackle.”

The Hawkeyes desperately needed someone to fill the role of a leading scorer, and Olsen was the perfect answer. During her junior season, the guard averaged 23.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.9 steals.

“I feel fortunate that we got Lucy, because to this point, we’ve utilized the portal [as] need-based,” Jensen said. “It’s not always to get better and go recruit the portal, try to enhance your roster. We like to develop our roster and try to get them good enough to be competitive early.”

Lucy Olsen is not the only important player on the Hawkeyes roster, as they have much more experienced players like Sydney Affolter, Kylie Feuerbach and Hannah Stuelke.