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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 31, 2016

Lisa Bluder

Iowa City, Iowa

Nebraska - 72, Iowa - 75

LISA BLUDER: It feels good to get our first Big-10 win. We made it as hard as possible to end this game.

At the start of the game I thought our energy was really good. I thought that the team really came ready to play today. I thought we created some great offense with our defense in the first quarter. But I think we had four people in double figures today. We lowered our turnovers today so that was good to see.

But, obviously, we had some issues at the free throw line. And, ironically, we had the people we wanted there. So those things happen sometimes. Thankfully, we had built up enough lead that we can handle it. But we know we can't do that in close contests.

Q. A different substitution pattern today. What went into that decision?
LISA BLUDER: We have been slowly moving away from the platoon. If you look back at our last several games and the Illinois game, it was only the first quarter and that was it.

In November we had 11 games in about four weeks. We were playing three games a week and that's a lot of minutes. So, I think it was more important during that time. Now, we're getting into a little bit more a traditional, two game a week, Big-10 schedule and we just want the people on the floor that were on the floor.

Q. Did you think that you guys attacked the zone a little better than you have against Illinois and Drake?
LISA BLUDER: I think a little better. I think we still have some work to do. We will continue to work on it, but I think it was better.

Q. Coley, is that the most that she's played all year 24 minutes?
LISA BLUDER: I think it was. A lot of that was a defensive decision. I think Chase matches up very well with Jess Shepard. I think she has the agility to match up with her and the size to match up with her. So when we didn't have Chase on the floor, we were undersized and that really went into our decision going into this game. We knew we were going to play Chase a lot more in this game because of that.

Q. You're up 50-49 and Makenzie Meyer scores six points in a quarter there. You had a several possession lead from there until right at the end. Can you speak to how that little spark helped you?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, you're testing my memory right now. I'm sorry.

Q. She made a three and two drives to the basket and got fouled.
LISA BLUDER: Oh, you guys remember? I really guarantee you I was there, but I have a lot of faith in Makenzie. I think that she's going to be a great player for us. She has so much capability. Right now she's not shooting the three as well as she's capable of, but when she made that one, I was like, oh, thank goodness. Because she is such a good three-point shooter, and I do have faith in her all the time doing it. So that was good to see.

But we have been putting Makenzie a little bit at the three position and she's now having to learn the one, the two, and the three, and that's a lot for a freshman. So I really admire her, credit her, for really undertaking that too.

Q. What do you guys think happened in the last couple minutes there?
LISA BLUDER: That was a weird situation. It can happen, obviously. But we missed six free throws in the last minute, we missed a lay up in the last minute, and thankfully, we had a big enough lead that we could sustain that.

But it's unusual, because, honestly, Chase and Tania are at the top. We have a free throw ladder that we call it in practice every day, and we shoot these free throws, and those are our two best free throw shooters. So, we really felt confident with getting the ball to those guys. You're going to miss some and that happens. But I have faith in them going up there. Again, if I had to do it again, I would put the ball back in their hands again. I do believe that. Then we missed the box-out on the free throw and then it resulted in a four-point possession for them. Which, again, it doesn't happen that often, Megan is so good down there boxing out for us, it's pretty unusual, actually.

Q. It's almost easy to overlook her stats just because the numbers are so gaudy every day, but 22 points, nine rebounds, just another Megan Gustafson day.
LISA BLUDER: I know. I looked at it like, why didn't you just get one more rebound again? You start kind of start expecting that out of her, that double/double and shooting 60 percent and better and yeah, you look, well, 9-12, hmm. That's amazing. Those are amazing numbers. And, honestly, Megan is a workhorse. She's an amazing kid and she works hard like that every single day.

Q. What was your approach defensively, when you know that they got a scorer like Shepard who can go in or out?
LISA BLUDER: She's a tough matchup. We went to a lot more zone than we had been playing because of that. There was a point where I think she was the only player in double figures at halftime and we needed to clog up that point. Our zone was pretty good today. So, I'm glad that we were able to go to that and kind of clog up the middle just a little bit more.

Q. Are you concerned about the three-point shooting? I mean, overall, it was still not back to what you guys expect.
LISA BLUDER: It's not up to our Iowa standards, really. We shoot a lot in practice, I really believe we have to have that mix of 3-pointers and inside game, because if you don't, they're just going to completely sag on Megan. But we certainly want to be making more than 25 percent or, what was it today? 28 percent. We took less today than we did against Illinois. I think that's good. I think we did a better job of trying to get the ball into the paint against the zone. And I don't mean just with passing to Megan, but even like using dribble drive and that sort of thing, getting the ball into the paint. So I thought that was better. But, yeah, we need to shoot better from three-point range. And we just have to be more disciplined. In the second half, if we're not making them, okay, let's work the ball, let's work it a little bit longer. And those are things we learn. Those are things that are very coachable moments.

Q. Is the platoon system done then? Are you going to go to more of a traditional substitution pattern?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I would say that it is. Yeah.

Q. With the discipline thing though, do you have to kind of remind yourself sometimes that this is a very young team and a lot of these girls are in their first game, second game in the Big-10?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, eight freshmen and sophomores on this team, we are a very young team. So it's going to be a work in progress all year. We know that. And we're going to have to live through some of those type of things, but also make them coachable moments and, hopefully, by the end of the year, we won't be doing those type of things.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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