Joshua Jefferson Injury Status Reportedly Revealed for Iowa State vs. Kentucky

All-American Joshua Jefferson is reportedly unlikely to play for Iowa State's second-round NCAA tournament game against Kentucky, per Pete Thamel of ESPN:

Jefferson suffered an ankle injury just three minutes into his first-round win over Tennessee State.

Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger discussed standout forward's status after the game on Friday:

"I don't know what his status will be at this point, so we'll check on him after the game and we'll see," Otzelberger told CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein following the victory. "I know he's a fierce competitor. If there's any way he can be out there, we know he will."

Otzelberger later revealed that Jefferson was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle.

"He has a sprained left ankle, we had an X-ray and the X-ray was negative," Otzelberger said, per Eugene Rapay of the Des Moines Register. "So we'll continue to reevaluate over the next day or two and just see where things are when we get to Sunday and we figure out what time we play."

Jefferson left the game early in the first half after landing awkwardly on a layup and didn't return, as the All-American was later using crutches and wearing a boot on his left ankle (h/t ESPN).

He finished with two points and one rebound before exiting.

Jefferson's absence moving forward is be a tough blow to a Cyclones squad that has relied on his all-around impact throughout their 2025-26 campaign.

He averaged 16.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.0 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from behind the arc heading into Friday's action.

Iowa State was still able to wrap up a blowout win over Tennessee State largely due to Killyan Toure's scoring prowess, as he finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Toure also racked up 11 rebounds and six assists.