Dec. 4, 2008
Iowa Head Coach Lisa Bluder
On overall emotions of the game:
“I just want to congratulate Duke on a great performance, their defense and intensity, and their physical style really took us out of our game and obviously forced us into a lot of turnovers and that was tough. When we lost Megan (Skouby) in the first half I think people were concerned about her and that was kind of a mental blow when that happened. Luckily she was able to come back in the second half, but by then the damage had been done.”
On what happened to Megan Skouby:
“She just got a fingernail through the left eye and got stitches, but she was able to come back after that.”
On Duke’s defense:
“I think it was preventing us from cutting where we wanted to cut. It disrupted our offense because they were just very physical and wouldn’t let us cut where we wanted to cut and they obviously got their hands on a lot of basketballs. We’re very young, we’ve got three freshman out there for a majority of the time today. I though Kamille Wahlin did a nice job as a freshman point guard in the second half. I know there wasn’t much pressure at that point, but still I thought she did some really nice things. It was nice for us to see Hannah Draxten hit some three pointers, our other freshman that was in there. But right now we’re just not knocking down some open looks and we’ve got some shooters but I just have to believe that better days are ahead.”
On similarities to McCallie’s style:
“I think Jo (Joanne P. McCallie) and I have both changed a little bit since she was in the Big Ten. There are some similarities. I think we both ran some similar quick hits and things like that, but her defensive scheme has changed a little bit since she’s been here, actually quite a bit I think since she’s been here.”
On Iowa’s defense:
“I just think Duke didn’t shoot the ball very well. I don’t know if it had a whole lot to do with us or not, but I thought we did a decent job on our inside game to begin the game, and also did a good job on the boards. I think we did a pretty good job on the rebounds.”
On Duke’s defensive pressure:
“I think it was a factor, especially when you get down by double digits. I think that’s when you really have to have the depth to come back and the energy level to come back, and they do have more depth than we do. We have a couple players out with injuries out right now, and I know they do as well, but obviously their depth is a little stronger than ours.”
Comparing Duke to California:
“I think Duke is more physical than California was. California has much better outside shooters. They have tremendous three point shooters. So I’d say they have more of a balanced inside-outside game than what Duke does. But to me, inmy opinion, Duke was much more physical and much more aggressive on the ball.”