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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 19, 2015

Lisa Bluder

Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa - 96 Western Illinois - 81

COACH BLUDER: Tough game. We had a big lead, and let it go. But we had a lot of great performances, too.

First of all, congrats to JD on a great game. He did a great job with his team. I know they're going to win a lot of games this year, and so congratulations Western Illinois. They played a great game.

We don't hit a three the whole second half. We're 0-11 until we have to have it at crunch time. I credit Alexa because she gave up the three in order to give it to Whitney, and Whitney buried it when we had to have it. That's stepping up. That's a great leadership for us out there by Whitney, but great decision by Alexa not to force the three when that was our first look. I credit her for doing that.

We gave up too many threes in the second half. We gave up too many threes, but we have 60 paint points. I was telling the players, just go back to the well, if something's working. Just keep going back to the well and we got away from that in the third quarter.

Megan, again, had a great game. One rebound away from a double-double. Both of our posts shot the ball extremely well. Chase has a career high, Alexa has a career high, and Megan has a career high in points.

So a lot of good stuff but, definitely our defense has got to improve.

Q. After outscoring Western Illinois 20-10 in the first, what adjustments did they make that caught you off guard?
COACH BLUDER: Obviously, they heated up from the three-point range. They shot 53 percent from the three-point range in the second half. We gave up too many Euro threes, where they dribble leave hand off and we didn't get over the top of that.

We gave up too many soft threes, we were just standing there and did not close out hard on three-point shooters. That baffles me a little bit. But again, it's something to work on.

Q. You talked about not taking forced shots on Tuesday. Did you feel the team was doing that today at all?
COACH BLUDER: I don't know that it was we took forced shots, but we weren't making shots. We have to have makers, not takers, and anybody can take a shot. You can walk in the gym and take one.

We have to make shots and we weren't. So when you're not making shots, you've got to do something else to contribute. For example, Kali Peschel, she doesn't score until overtime with a basket, but she has 11 rebounds for us. She has two offensive rebounds and she leads us in rebounds, so she found another way to contribute and that's what you have to do when it's not scoring.

Contribute defense, contribute rebounds, and maybe pass up that open three, because you're not feeling it, in order to get a better higher-percentage shot. Then once you get that high-percentage shot, you get your groove back, then you can step up and take them.

Q. Did you put emphasis on post touches in overtime or how much emphasis did you put on that?
COACH BLUDER: We were trying all game, actually, and that's why I think we got away from that in the third quarter. We were taking tough shots. We weren't making those threes and so then we got to go back to the inside game.

Again, especially, when we do have the height advantage and when our posts are doing so well, why go away from that? We'll save the other stuff for another game, when they're taking away our inside game. But they weren't able to take away our inside game, so why not keep going.

Q. Before your first road game this weekend, is a game like this, not that you want it to be close, but just an eye-opening game a little bit, something that can help you for this weekend?
COACH BLUDER: It's just reminder, we're going to get everybody's best shot. We are going to have to ready to play from the get-go up at the McLeod Center. It's a terrific environment. I know there will be a lot of Black and Gold there and we're thrilled about that. But it's a tough place to play.

We're going to have to get off to a better start than we did because this is a big game for us. This is an in-state rivalry game and our first road game, so I think this is a very important game for us.

Q. How much are you still looking for the right mix, rotation, minutes, is it something you're still searching for?
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, it really is. After every game we evaluate what our best lineups were, production-wise, both offense and defensively. We're not finding the right one right now.

But we will. Again, it's early and this is a work in progress. So, we'll get there, but we're still kind of tweaking things on the lineups, absolutely.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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