Lisa Bluder, Hawkeyes talk Cyclone Win
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00:00 And we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game.
00:03 They slowed the ball down and did a good job with that.
00:06 But I thought our defense in the second half was really good,
00:09 especially in that fourth quarter
00:11 when they took the lead in out-of-bounds situations,
00:14 getting deflections.
00:17 At halftime, we talked about three-point defense.
00:19 They didn't have a single three in the second half.
00:22 Audie Crooks, she's a great player.
00:26 And she had four field goals at half
00:28 and ended up with four field goals.
00:29 So I thought Sharon Goodman did a really good job on her.
00:33 I thought Sid went in, played great defense for us,
00:36 hit some really important free throws.
00:38 Kate Martin just continues to just do great things for us
00:44 out in the field.
00:45 I mean, she goes two for three from three-point range,
00:48 plays great defense.
00:49 And of course, Kaitlin surpassing the 3,000 mark
00:52 is really special.
00:54 That is a very hard thing to do.
00:56 And to do it this early in her senior season is amazing.
00:59 So huge congratulations to Kaitlin on accomplishing that.
01:04 And just very thankful for her.
01:06 What do you think was different?
01:10 They took the lead, like 55-54, something like that.
01:14 And then you guys really controlled things thereafter.
01:18 I think it was our defensive intensity.
01:20 I mean, we got a couple of turnovers-- forced
01:22 a couple of turnovers at that point.
01:24 We got 13 points off of our turnovers.
01:26 I mean, I really think it was that we did a good job
01:32 with that.
01:34 We spread things out a little bit
01:35 when they went to the smaller lineup.
01:38 And I thought we were able to get to the rim a little bit.
01:41 Kaitlin got to the rim after that.
01:43 Just kind of curious, how much do all you guys
01:45 think just having so much experience,
01:48 being able to help you navigate through the end of the game
01:52 maybe played a part in that?
01:54 I think experience is always a factor, right?
01:56 And we had more experience than they did.
01:58 But I do think that, yeah, it's an important element.
02:02 But we lost 40% of our starting lineup from last year.
02:06 But when you return the best player in the country,
02:08 it sure helps.
02:10 Kaitlin, if you could have probably scripted 3,000,
02:13 maybe you would be a card rock.
02:14 [INAUDIBLE]
02:15 --second-place considering surplus on the bottom
02:17 and the level we're getting to together.
02:20 Yeah, absolutely.
02:21 I think it was a good moment to have this to come.
02:24 And I'm just proud of our group.
02:25 I thought we really battled, obviously.
02:27 Not really a pretty game for us.
02:29 And I thought our second quarter wasn't the greatest.
02:31 And we went into halftime and kind of reset our minds.
02:33 And in the fourth quarter, I thought just our maturity kind
02:36 of shined through.
02:37 Kait and Sid come up with some big steals there.
02:39 Kait cuts her girl for a couple of backdoor layups
02:42 that extend our lead.
02:44 So yeah, I mean, it's always fun coming to Hilton.
02:46 I hadn't won here yet.
02:47 So got to give credit to their fans.
02:49 They were tremendous tonight.
02:51 And they're loud.
02:53 They support women's basketball.
02:55 They make it fun out there as a competitor.
02:57 So yeah, good place for this to come.
02:59 What's that mean to get that first win here?
03:02 Yeah, I mean, whether I'm back in an Iowa uniform next year
03:06 or not, I'm not going to come back and play here ever again.
03:08 So this was my last chance to do this.
03:11 And it feels good.
03:15 I have a lot of respect for Coach Finley and how he runs
03:17 his program and who he is.
03:18 And he's always been super supportive of myself.
03:20 And these rivalry games are fun.
03:22 And we had beat Drake.
03:23 And we had beat UNI.
03:24 And this was the last one we wanted
03:26 to cross off our bucket list to be state champions.
03:28 We take a lot of pride in that every single year.
03:30 And yeah, we just battled.
03:33 That's all it was.
03:34 And it really just showed the maturity
03:35 of our group and our experience.
03:38 At least they probably were hoping
03:39 to get someone else to score baskets.
03:41 [INAUDIBLE]
03:42 But late in the game, Kait gets the best connections,
03:45 defensive and some free throws.
03:46 Just talk about their ability to step up,
03:48 even though it wasn't the greatest game,
03:50 to step up late and make the impact.
03:53 Yeah, I would never have thought that we
03:55 would have won the game with only two people making threes.
03:58 That really surprises me, to be quite honest.
04:02 But Kait always--
04:04 I count on her to step up for us.
04:06 I mean, we know Kaitlyn gets all the attention as far
04:09 as defensive attention.
04:11 And so people don't understand how good she is
04:14 and how hard she is to guard.
04:16 She's explosive off the dribble.
04:18 She can post you up.
04:19 She rebounds well.
04:20 She can knock down the three.
04:23 In my mind, Kait doesn't get enough credit.
04:26 Hey, Kait.
04:26 Kait.
04:27 Yeah, hi.
04:28 What was said in that late timeout?
04:30 Lisa took the timeout.
04:31 You guys are down 1, 55-54.
04:34 And it seemed like everything calmed down from there.
04:37 Honestly, Coach Bluter just told us
04:39 what defense we were in and what offense we were in.
04:42 We didn't need to overdo it.
04:43 We didn't need some spectacular speech.
04:45 We just needed to take a deep breath.
04:47 We needed to know that we had each other's backs.
04:49 And we needed to just stay calm.
04:51 We've been in situations like this before.
04:53 We've been in hostile environments
04:55 before in previous years.
04:57 I think this was our first true hostile environment this year.
05:00 But I think we just needed to know
05:02 that we had each other's backs.
05:04 And just to stay together in that moment
05:05 wasn't anything crazy.
05:06 But it helped us calm down and get
05:09 ready for the rest of the game.
05:10 Kait, what did you see on those two plays
05:12 where Kaitlyn was able to locate you there on the block?
05:16 I mean, Kaitlyn just draws so much attention.
05:18 All eyes are on her.
05:19 Because she's such a threat from everywhere on the court.
05:22 So my player just took their eyes off of me.
05:25 And it gave me the opportunity to cut back door.
05:27 And Kaitlyn hit me with the pass.
05:28 And I was able to finish.
05:30 Kaitlyn, you stole that inbounds pass, took it to the hole,
05:33 threw the foul, and then made both free throws.
05:36 Did you feel at that moment that sort of crystallized
05:38 the game for you, that you all were
05:39 able to seal the deal after a hard-fought game?
05:43 Yeah, I don't know.
05:43 I don't stop until the game's over.
05:46 So I never feel comfortable until the final whistle blows.
05:50 So we just knew we needed to stay together and keep playing
05:54 until the buzzer sounded.
05:57 Coach, we're-- there's only 15 players in the NCAA division
06:01 that are straight and women's side.
06:03 Two of them actually are Iowans, with Ashley rolling early.
06:07 So you talked about how big it is for Kaitlyn to do this.
06:11 But can you talk about what it means just naturally?
06:14 Because I know a lot of people are watching this game.
06:18 Yeah, I mean, it's special.
06:20 When you have a player that is accomplishing great things,
06:24 you just want to showcase her.
06:26 And ESPN tonight gave us the chance to showcase her.
06:29 I love our team that they all understand how good Kaitlyn is.
06:37 And there's no jealousies.
06:39 There's no letdown from anybody else.
06:43 Our circle is tight.
06:45 And I credit Kaitlyn for that because of the type of teammate
06:50 she is.
06:51 But I also credit the rest of our circle,
06:53 that they understand that when her light shines,
06:56 it shines on all of us.
06:57 It shines on Iowa, the University of Iowa,
06:59 the state of Iowa.
07:01 And we're going to enjoy it while we have it.
07:04 Kaitlyn, did you know--
07:05 did you know in the game, when it came to that three-pointer,
07:10 that Gabby hit you in the third quarter?
07:12 Did you have any idea that that was going to work?
07:14 I had no idea, to be honest with you.
07:16 And I knew, obviously, I had the opportunity
07:18 to do that coming into the night because of it being on ESPN
07:21 and talking to the reporters before.
07:23 But I honestly didn't know I was going
07:24 to eclipse 3,000 points until a few days ago.
07:26 I was watching ESPN.
07:27 I think it was the South Carolina game.
07:29 And Debbie started talking about it.
07:30 And I was like, oh, OK.
07:32 But no, it's cool.
07:34 And like you said earlier, it's special
07:36 to be able to do it here.
07:37 I have a lot of family in attendance
07:39 and be able to see that.
07:41 And but it was kind of the same when I broke the Iowa scoring
07:44 record.
07:45 We keep playing.
07:46 We don't celebrate it in a timeout.
07:48 We don't stop the game.
07:49 Like, it's not what it's about.
07:50 As long as we win, you know, probably
07:52 wouldn't be happy with scoring 3,000 points in a loss.
07:55 That wouldn't be great.
07:56 So no, it didn't really cross my mind.
07:58 Kaitlyn, I don't want to say it was an ugly win at all.
08:01 But against Kansas State, you kind of faltered
08:04 down the stretch in this game.
08:06 Totally opposite.
08:07 I mean, was that growth?
08:09 Or was that just a--
08:10 Yeah, I think--
08:11 What did you see out there?
08:11 Yeah, I think it's definitely growth.
08:13 I think myself personally, take out the second quarter,
08:16 and stat line probably looks a little better.
08:18 Our stat line in general probably looks a little better.
08:20 It felt like we struggled to score in the second quarter.
08:22 We only had 13 points.
08:23 I understand we had 14 in the third quarter.
08:25 But they slowed down the game a lot for us.
08:28 Like, slow taking the ball out, slow bringing the ball up,
08:30 running iso sets.
08:31 And it's kind of just what they do.
08:33 You kind of just have to live with that, I think.
08:35 And if I could do it again, I wouldn't
08:37 have slowed the ball up myself as a point guard.
08:39 I thought there was a lot more times in transition
08:40 I could have pushed the ball.
08:42 But yeah, I think it does show our growth.
08:44 You just rise to the challenge.
08:46 They take the lead.
08:48 They turn the lights off in the arena.
08:50 Can't see the basket anymore.
08:52 People are going crazy.
08:53 And our group just continues to talk in the huddle.
08:55 It doesn't faze each other.
08:57 And I think that just speaks to the leaders
08:59 we have on this team, the group that we have.
09:02 And as long as you have each other's backs,
09:06 no challenge is too big or too small.
09:08 And I think our team proved that last year.
09:10 And kind of bringing that into this year is--
09:14 we always know we have to show up for a game.
09:15 People want to beat us.
09:16 And that's what makes it so fun.
09:18 That's why you're a competitor.
09:20 [INAUDIBLE]
09:20 What made you know that Hannah would
09:22 be available for you today?
09:23 And how would you say she played for you today?
09:26 Yeah, I mean, she was limited minutes for us.
09:29 We had to limit her minutes.
09:32 I mean, she did some nice things.
09:33 I don't think she's full right now.
09:36 I think you didn't see her being quite as explosive.
09:39 But sure did like to see her hit that three.
09:41 That was kind of fun.
09:42 She's been working hard on that.
09:44 And I'm really glad that she's confident in coming out
09:48 shooting that.
09:48 Lisa, what does it say about this team?
09:50 I mean, you guys are a team that loves to get up and down
09:51 the floor, score 90, 100 points.
09:53 But you scored 67 tonight.
09:55 It doesn't look the best, but you're
09:57 able to do those things.
09:58 It's a pleased game.
09:59 Yeah, I mean, you're going to play against teams
10:01 that slow the ball down.
10:02 And we don't enjoy playing that way.
10:05 But other people do, and that's fine.
10:06 If that gives them the best opportunity to win,
10:08 they're going to do that.
10:11 What I have to say is it's a credit to us
10:13 that people feel like they have to slow the ball down in order
10:16 to try to have an opportunity to beat us.
10:18 So I think that's a real credit to us.
10:20 Lisa, with Iowa State having such a young team,
10:23 where do you think this Iowa State team can go?
10:26 Oh, I think they're tremendous.
10:28 I mean, again, I think Adi Crooks is absolutely fabulous.
10:32 They've got great young talent.
10:34 So yeah, I mean, they're going to do a great job.
10:36 And they're going to keep getting better and better
10:39 as the year goes on.
10:41 All right, thank you.
10:42 And a happy birthday to Coach J. Got this win for her.
10:47 Thanks, guys.