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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 4, 2016

Lisa Bluder

Iowa City, Iowa

Northern Iowa - 39, Iowa - 88

COACH BLUDER: I think it was our best all-around performance of the year as far as just being able to start the game under control. I thought we took control of the game early, both offensively and defensively. That was really nice to see. After kind of digging ourselves a hole in the last couple of games we were able to come out and take control. We talked about that with our team, and I thought they responded really well to that.

Obviously, Megan's 17 rebounds in 22 minutes is quite an impressive performance. Ally shot the ball extremely well. But it's nice to see other people getting into the offense tonight -- Bre and Makenzie and Chase. It was really good to get those other people involved. We only had two people in double figures, but look at all the people we had at 7 points and 9 points. Again, that's the balance that we're looking for with our team. So it was nice to see tonight.

Q. How much have you worked on three-point shooting these past few days. Against Notre Dame, you said after the game somebody's got to step up to make threes. I think you were 11 of 15 today.
COACH BLUDER: Honestly, we work on them every day. It's not like we did anything more getting ready for these games. We always work on three-point shooting a lot. That was the frustrating part of it because I knew that we had good three-point shooters. We stat it in practice. We know what they're capable of doing.

So it's just a matter of time, and hopefully that well is open now, and they'll keep gushing out because it helps us a lot.

Q. Defensively, it seemed like everything they did was contested. Nothing was easy for them. Is it just a matter of closing out?
COACH BLUDER: That was one of our keys. They come in here 10th best in the country at three-pointers taken, 14th best in the country at three-pointers made. And so we wanted to get out and contest. We said every shot has to be contested. Every three has to be contested. So I thought they did a really good job of doing that.

Q. Coach, you talk about the in-state games. You know how much UNI, this would mean to them. Did you see a result like this coming?
COACH BLUDER: No, I didn't. You know, you always want your team to play well, but the margin of victory surprises me a little bit.

Q. The defense continues to just impress with this team. This is the lowest Northern Iowa has never scored against you guys, and it's the largest margin of victory for you guys.
COACH BLUDER: I didn't know that, Matt. Those are good things. I'm glad to hear that, but, yeah, we are working hard on our defense. Our three-point defense has been good all year, though. So hopefully, we can maintain that for Iowa State, which we know we're going to have to do.

Q. You talked earlier about how Bre Cera was able to make earlier shots. What does it mean for your team if she's able to become an offensive weapon and hit some open threes and open twos?
COACH BLUDER: You're harder to guard when everybody's a weapon. Definitely having her as an offensive weapon makes us a better team.

Q. Coach, I think the biggest margin between UNI and Iowa was '78/'79. Were you at UNI in '78/'79, or was that before you?
COACH BLUDER: I was not there yet. Wait, was I? No, I was in high school still. Sorry. I thought you meant a score to begin with. Got it.

Q. I guess flowing from this game into the next rivalry game, what do you take away from this into Iowa State? They're obviously two different teams.
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, Iowa State had a great game yesterday. They lost in overtime to No. 6 Mississippi State. We know they're playing better than they were at the beginning of the year when they only beat Northern Iowa by eight in Hilton. Good basketball team. Great three-point shooters. Great point guard. Inside player Meredith Burkhall's done a good job.

So we know we're going to get their best shot. It's just an emotional game, both teams. It's highly emotional for both teams. It's going to be a great game, and hopefully we'll have a good Hawkeye crowd here on Wednesday night.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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