Nov. 12, 2011
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COACH BLUDER: This is a very good opening win for us. Harvard is an excellent team. I thought they shot the ball well, I thought they were very physical. They transitioned well. We weren’t really ready for their transition and they did a really nice job of pushing the ball. I’m happy with our team. We’re down 14 points with nine and a half minutes to go in the first half, we get that to within three points going into halftime. I thought that was critical for us. Second half I thought we crashed better, we did not box out well this game. We have to do a better job boxing out. We shot the ball well and had almost five people in double figures. I love to have that type of balance.
Q. Second half, seemed to come out more aggressive.
COACH BLUDER: I think we got the ball inside for some higher percentage shots, got them into a little bit of foul trouble inside. Got to the free throw line a lot. Got 27 free throws. That was nice. We drew five fouls real quick in the start of that second half. I think Sam Logic did a nice job on Clark. Clark had 15 at half. I know she ended up with 28. We really held her to 15 the first 10 minutes of that second half. I think Sam and then Melissa Dixon came in and did a nice job defensively on her as well. Again, Kelly and Jaime shot the ball very well again today though.
Q. Were you getting frustrated with the defense?
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, I thought, again, their transition surprised us. It surprised me because when I watched film on them last year, I didn’t feel they were that good of a transition offensive team. They did a great job of pushing the ball. I think that caught us off guard a little bit. That’s probably my fault, not getting them ready for that type of transition. Also the first half they were really beating us on drives to the middle. We tried to really focus in the second half forcing the baseline, forcing the baseline. Didn’t do it all the time, but I thought we were better at it the second half.
Q. Two early fouls on Kamille, but you weathered the storm.
COACH BLUDER: That’s pretty nice. Kathryn came in as a freshman. That’s a tough situation. First half, here you are put into the mix right away. She did a good job with that. We had Sam Logic at a point for a little bit, as well. We were able to get Kamille back in the first half. We didn’t sit her down with two fouls. I trust her. I think she’s smart as a senior that she can play in some of those types of situations.
Q. Coach, with the quick turnaround tomorrow, just what are you looking for?
COACH BLUDER: More than the quick turnaround, it’s not having a day or two to prepare for UNLV. We just have a one hour scouting report, practice time, to get ready for them. That’s a little bit harder this time of the year than later. Freshmen know your terminology; know how to handle different types of screens a little bit easier. Fatigue doesn’t bother me. Both teams played today. Both teams have fatigue issues. That’s not an issue. It’s more an issue of us being able to prepare our team so they know how to handle some offensive situations tomorrow.
Q. Did you get the minutes out of Samantha Logic than you thought tonight?
COACH BLUDER: What did Sam have?
Q. 30.
COACH BLUDER: That’s pretty good. She had three steals. I think Sam played hard. 30 minutes for a freshman first time out, nice job with that. I thought she did a great job of defending Clark to begin the second half. I really think she took Clark out of her offense to begin the second half.
Q. Did you sense any slow start from her? It took a little bit before she took a shot, made a basket.
COACH BLUDER: I don’t want kids to come out and force a shot when they haven’t shot the ball. We want to take what’s there. We’re a good shooting team, but I think it’s because we’re smart and we know a good shot from a bad shot, not forcing a shot. If a kid doesn’t take a shot for a few minutes, maybe I need to run some specials to get them the ball. That’s again my call. If we’re just running the course of our offense, I don’t want them to feel the panic of I haven’t shot the ball yet, I haven’t scored yet. That’s when problems happen. You just have to keep running the offense and all of a sudden you’re going to have that layup, all of a sudden you’re going to have that wide open three.
Q. Trisha held out?
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, just tweaked her knee a little bit in practice this week, so she didn’t practice a couple of days completely. She’ll be fine. And maybe even one more day, maybe by tomorrow even.
Q. Can you talk about Kathryn stepping into that role.
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, she knew the situation in practice this week. She knew that she was going to be our backup point guard. So she had a couple of days to prepare. It’s not like she didn’t have any time to prepare for it. But you’re a freshman point guard, that’s a tough scenario, especially going against Brogan Berry, who is a senior point guard, All Ivy League kid. That’s pretty good.