Dec. 20, 2011
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Bluder Press Conference Transcript
COACH BLUDER: It feels a lot better than it did a couple of days ago in that locker room. And they deserved it. They worked hard for this win today. They came out with great intensity.
I thought our defense was very good to start the first half, and that defense led to some high percentage scores for us. Out of those 13 turnovers we had 11 points in the first half. We obviously shot the ball pretty well tonight. You know, Sam, I thought, had a really nice game, not only hitting her shots but she had four passes, four assists excuse me, and zero turnovers and some of those passes were pretty nice.
So it was just a nice, all around game I think for our team, and sometimes it’s hard to maintain that intensity into the second half when you have a significant lead, and we did a decent job of that.
Jaime and Sam, Coach challenged you after the game last weekend, to really improve on defense what did you as a team talk about and accomplish tonight?
Jaime Printy: I think we did a good job playing defense and playing together and definitely getting out in those passing lanes. We worked on it a lot in practice, and just talked about being more intense defensively and letting it lead to offense, and I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight.
Samantha Logic: I think that we had a lot better denial defense which really disrupts an offense. So I think working on it in practice with more intensity brought it to the game.
Did you change anything or was it all just intensity?
COACH BLUDER: It was really just a lot of intensity. We kind of have a game plan going into our games. We don’t really tweak our offenses really. We run an offense, and you know, really, I just think the defensive intensity was really, really strong tonight. And I think that just gave us a lot of confidence on the offensive end, too.
How did you feel giving up over 90 points and the 3 pointers the other night?
Jaime Printy: Not very good. Especially watching on film you could see that, you know, we shouldn’t have done that. The thing is we learned from the last game and we came out in this game a lot better.
What did you learn that you brought out to this game?
Jaime Printy: Just we need to be more intense and come out ready to play defense; and if someone helps you, you have to help them. Playing more as a team and getting out in denial and all of that good stuff.
After 12 games, what is the biggest thing that you learned about how you’re supposed to play?
Samantha Logic: I think just being able to bounce back from anything. We had a couple of tough losses and people having tough games, just bouncing back, because tough losses, it’s hard to come back from. There’s so many games in the season that you have to be able to do it.
A game like, this your team showed they can play really good defense and play the perimeter tight. Is it just trying to find consistency or how can you maintain this through the season?
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, I think it is. We are a team that has kind of been in good one area and not so good in other areas, and we just don’t have that consistent behavior across the board, and hopefully this is going to get us on a roll, the consistency on the defensive end.
Drake came in as the 14th best three point shooting team in America, and you know, tonight we held them to 18 percent. So I think we showed ourselves that we can do it and sometimes that’s the most important person to prove it to.
You have one more game before the Big Ten starts; what do you want to see out of your team?
COACH BLUDER: Mississippi Valley State comes in Thursday night. It should be a fun environment because it’s women’s/men’s doubleheader and there’s a lot of activities going on promotionally for that game. I know that our team will be ready to go.
We just have one day to prepare for them, so not a lot of time. So it’s more maybe working on ourselves continuing to work on ourselves, making ourselves better and maybe a little less worried about Mississippi Valley State.
A perimeter change or something you’re working with right now.
COACH BLUDER: Well, we changed that a couple of games ago, and we think it’s the right way to go, and nothing is ever written in stone, but we definitely like what we are seeing. I really give credit to Kamille. She’s been the starting point guard for the last two and a half years for our basketball team and her first year she played off guard when Kristy Smith was the point guard for our team.
So it’s not like she’s not used to it and Kamille doesn’t really care where she plays as long as we win. And I think Kamille pushes the ball, I think she runs the floor well and I think Sam pushes the ball well. So I think it puts them in really both of their strengths, and maybe I should have made that decision a long time ago.
Does that feel better, having the ball in your hands a lot more?
Samantha Logic: You don’t really expect anything coming into college being a freshman, although I’m bless to be starting even. So I think whatever they wanted me to do, I was ready to attempt to do it, and just keep working at it.
Is there a timetable on Virginia?
COACH BLUDER: Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, because Virginia is out with a concussion. And we do not know when she’ll be back. I’m hearing one to two weeks is a possibility. Because she has sustained concussions in high school before, it’s going to be a slower recovery. And she couldn’t even come to the game tonight, or they are not allowing her to come to practice, either.
It’s a tough situation for her, because she could have gotten some good minutes tonight. And she needed the repetitions and she needed the practice time. So it’s an unfortunate situation for Virginia sustaining that concussion.
When did she get that in practice?
COACH BLUDER: It was in practice. It was actually last week, and they didn’t diagnose it until Monday.