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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 4, 2016

Lisa Bluder

Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa 69, Rutgers 65

COACH BLUDER: Well, I think this was a great win for us. We beat a really good basketball team today. I feel very good coming out with this win. I thought our team played a great game today. We had four people in double figures.

We coughed the ball up in the first half. At halftime we got our composure. We only had five turnovers the second half. First half, we out-rebounded the ball. We out-rebounded Rutgers for the game.

Really I'm really proud of this team, the effort they made, that we have four people in double figures, that good balance.

Q. So there were no adjustments at halftime, just better execution?
COACH BLUDER: It was better execution. Taking care of the basketball. We just talked about using ball fakes, meeting your passes, just being a little bit more calm on offense.

Rutgers, their style of defense kind of gets you revved up. It gets you a little bit hyper. It forces you to make some rushed passes or passes that are not the ones you do every day.

I just thought we were a much calmer presence the second half. We got to the free-throw line early in the third quarter. That made a big difference getting to the free throw line.

Q. Were there plays in the last five minutes that you thought really swung things for you guys?
COACH BLUDER: You know, we weren't really running any quick hits in the last five minutes. We were just really running our offense.

I thought defensively our zone was doing a good job, except for maybe boxing out at times. I thought our zone did a good job of taking time off the clock, really using some of that.

I thought our clock management was pretty good the last couple of minutes. I would have liked to have gotten a shot off instead of the 30-second clock violation. We controlled the tempo in the last couple minutes of the game.

Q. You've talked about the new rule with the free-throw shooting, it wouldn't pay off for you. It seemed like it did in the third quarter.
COACH BLUDER: Right. You know, we would have been going to the free-throw line with seven, so it's only two earlier. But it's four opportunities, it's four free throw opportunities.

Ironically we didn't shoot the ball as well from the free-throw line as we usually do. We shot the ball from every place else except the free-throw line, but we got there enough.

Q. Coach, what have you seen from Lex as a difference this year compared to the first two years?
COACH BLUDER: Just a lot more confident. She must have really worked hard this summer. I'm sure she did because it's paying off right now. She's very confident shooting the ball. She kind of has that role that Melissa Dixon did for us last year, stepping up and shooting threes. She's done a great job for us.

I think there's also a little bit of a mental change as far as her leadership, her composure on the floor, those types of things.

Q. How happy are you right now starting 2-0 in the conference?
COACH BLUDER: We're very happy. 2-0 in the conference, can't get any better than that. Going to Michigan. I had a lot of people that played a lot of minutes tonight. We're going to have to be very careful in our two days of prep. Michigan is at home watching this game, having the day off. We have a little bit of a disadvantage there. We just have to be smart with our practice time tomorrow.

I also just want to say I thought Megan played really well. As a freshman coming in, she battled in there. I'm really, really proud of the effort that both Chase and Megan are giving us inside.

Q. Have you ever seen a countdown like that before?
COACH BLUDER: Every time they did it, we shot it and scored. It wasn't that bad.

Q. Coach, for you to welcome Coach Stringer back, what was it like having her back here?
COACH BLUDER: She was here before. They brought her back about a dozen years ago for our tournament. It's not the first time she's been back to Carver.

Vivian means so much to our basketball program. She's somebody who put this basketball program on the map. She's somebody I consider a friend and a mentor. I appreciate her efforts with this program.

I just want to continue to make her proud of this program because I know she still loves this place.

Q. She says she doesn't like to come back here. Probably kind of you going back to Drake.
COACH BLUDER: It's hard. She's got a lot of memories from being here. It's got to be a little bit easier, now it's 21 years ago that she was here. Hopefully that time and that distance will help with that.

I'm sure it's still hard for her.

Q. Did you get a chance to talk to her before the game?
COACH BLUDER: No, because she came out during the warmup, during the introductions, I mean. I had a hard time finding her.

That's fine. We talk all the time. Anytime we're at meetings and stuff, Vivian is kind of the person I end up being around because we have so much in common. Our basketball program has been around for 40 years. The two of us have held this job for 28 of those 40 years. That's a lot of Iowa basketball.

There's no other person that knows what I'm going through than Vivian. It's kind of nice for me to have that person that kind of knows what it's like to be here.

Q. Coach, coming into this year, did you talk to Lex about, Here is what we need from you this season?
COACH BLUDER: I think Lex knew there was an opportunity for her. I believe when we sat down in our meeting at the end of the year last year and talked about it, she knew there was a great opportunity. It was going to be how she mentally and physically prepared over the summer, who was going to have that opportunity.

She's done it. She's done a great job for us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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