iowa women's coach
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00:00 that means our focus is really on the academic side of things.
00:03 You know, we've taken a couple of days off
00:07 so that they can focus on that,
00:08 but also starting now to get ready for Cleveland State.
00:13 Cleveland State's won nine, their last nine games in a row.
00:17 We do have one common opponent,
00:19 and that was Bowling Green,
00:22 who they did lose to in the first game of the year.
00:26 They lost their leading scorer four games ago to an injury,
00:31 and that's unfortunate because she was a really good player,
00:35 but they do have a very, very nice point guard,
00:39 and Colby Maples.
00:40 She's a pretty talented player, good penetrator,
00:45 can shoot the three well, really nice facilitator.
00:49 So, you know, they haven't been in a whole lot
00:52 of close games, their margin of victory is 19 points.
00:55 I think that we're gonna have a great crowd,
00:58 obviously, in Wells, and I'm excited to go back to Des Moines
01:02 have the opportunity to play in Wells.
01:03 I've never coached in Wells,
01:05 but I'm really excited for Kaitlin to be able to go
01:07 to Des Moines and play in front of a home crowd.
01:10 - Kyle, go ahead.
01:14 - Yeah, Lisa, I haven't actually had a chance
01:17 to look at Cleveland State yet.
01:18 Are you saying that Destiny Leo
01:20 is going to be out for the game?
01:22 - That is correct, she's out for the year.
01:24 - How much does that change the matchup against them?
01:27 Because I know she was like the Horizon League player
01:29 of the year last year,
01:30 just how much does that change this game?
01:32 - Yeah, it's unfortunate because, you know,
01:34 you wanna play teams when they're at their best.
01:36 But at the same time, I do think that Colby Maples,
01:42 everybody's kind of picked up for her,
01:43 which you would expect to have happen.
01:45 Everybody's numbers have changed quite a bit
01:47 in the last five games with her being out.
01:49 You know, people are looking more for their shots
01:52 than they used to.
01:53 So it does change them a little bit
01:55 compared to what they were at the beginning of the year.
01:57 But yeah, it's one of those unfortunate things
02:01 'cause she was a tremendous player.
02:03 - Susan.
02:07 - Coach, can you just sort of tell us
02:11 how a game like this one in Des Moines is arranged
02:15 and whose idea it was
02:17 and the fact that it's a double header?
02:19 I mean, how did that all come together?
02:22 - Yeah, it was,
02:23 I'm probably not gonna be able to give you
02:27 a complete or straight answer on that
02:29 because I'm not even exactly sure
02:32 who it was that contacted us first of all about this.
02:35 So we had somebody contact us,
02:37 ask us if we were interested in doing a double header
02:39 with the men in a neutral court in Des Moines.
02:41 We said, "Yeah, it sounds interesting."
02:44 Really, that's how it came about.
02:45 I mean, to me, it was fun opportunity
02:49 for us to take Kaitlin back to Des Moines
02:53 in her senior year and to play in Wells Fargo.
02:56 I mean, it's just, to me, it was a win-win.
03:00 And so I'm excited about this opportunity.
03:02 Also, when you play on neutral courts,
03:04 it helps you better in the net ranking
03:07 versus playing on your home court.
03:10 So there's lots of little pieces that came together for it.
03:13 - Jeff.
03:16 - Yeah, with the WNBA lottery Sunday shortly
03:20 after your game, just kind of curious,
03:21 what is your role as far as mentoring, advising Kaitlin,
03:26 all that, as far as, you know,
03:28 should she stay, should she go, all that?
03:31 Just kind of, what's your role in all that?
03:33 And has she kind of,
03:35 has she approached you as a sounding board?
03:38 - I've talked to her about it.
03:41 She hasn't approached me.
03:41 I approached her about it, talked to her about it.
03:45 But I mean, I think that I'm,
03:47 my role is to kind of point out the pros and cons of both.
03:51 And I know that she is really intelligent
03:55 and she's got great parents.
03:56 They're going to help her make the right decision for her.
03:59 And all of us can think we know what the right decision is,
04:02 but ultimately it has to be her decision.
04:04 And, you know, none of us can make that decision.
04:09 Like we all think we can,
04:12 we think we know what's best for her,
04:14 but ultimately it has to be her gut feeling.
04:17 And so I think my role is to point out the opportunities
04:21 that Iowa can provide
04:23 and the benefits of staying for another year.
04:26 And obviously Indiana is going to be doing the same thing.
04:29 - Kyle.
04:32 - Yeah, Lisa, just kind of looking back
04:35 at your Big Ten opener against Wisconsin,
04:37 you know, how important is it to go out on the road
04:40 and get to just one and own Big Ten play?
04:41 You get a little bit of a break now,
04:42 two non-conference games,
04:43 the Christmas break,
04:45 but you go into that next conference game
04:46 knowing that you're one and oh.
04:48 - Yeah, I think it just sets the tone for the year for us.
04:51 As far as Big Ten play,
04:52 you don't want to dig yourself out of a hole.
04:55 And certainly Wisconsin is a team that on paper
04:58 we should have beaten and we did.
05:01 And so you don't want to have any of those kinds of upsets
05:04 early in the year either.
05:05 So I think it's good momentum for us,
05:08 but yeah, it's kind of weird now to shift the focus
05:10 back to non-conference
05:12 and then back into conference after the Christmas break.
05:16 So I'm glad we're one and oh,
05:19 but really we should have been one.
05:21 We should be one and oh.
05:23 - Susan.
05:24 - As far as getting ready for the Big Ten,
05:29 is there anything you would like to see your team do
05:33 in preparation for, you know,
05:36 the Minnesota game and there on?
05:41 What would you like to have happen
05:44 to have them ready to go through the gauntlet
05:47 that is the Big Ten season?
05:49 - Yeah, I think-- - Are they there?
05:52 - Last part again, Susan?
05:54 - I mean, are they there?
05:55 - Oh no, we're never there.
05:57 You know, as a coach, you're never there.
05:59 You always want to improve.
06:01 And I think that's what we've really worked on
06:03 in practice yesterday is that
06:06 let's get better at our execution.
06:09 You know, let's, instead of preparing for the Big Ten,
06:12 we know it is, like you said, a gauntlet.
06:14 It's a lot of different styles,
06:17 a lot of hostile environments that we're going to be playing
06:21 in, a lot of really talented players.
06:24 But how can we make ourselves better right now
06:26 going into Big Ten play?
06:29 And to me, it's really about execution.
06:31 It's about being disciplined at running our offense.
06:34 It's about being disciplined in talking
06:37 and boxing out every time and crashing every time
06:39 and running our offense.
06:41 So to me, those are the things that we have to get better at
06:43 and we will continue to work on.
06:45 - Kyle.
06:49 - Yeah, Lisa, you got Hannah Stolke back
06:52 at a full capacity against Wisconsin.
06:54 She put up 21 points.
06:56 Where do you think she is in terms of getting back to 100%?
06:59 Is she almost there?
07:01 And then in terms of just getting her back in the lineup,
07:03 it's probably a secondary score behind Kaitlyn.
07:05 How big is that for you guys to have her just back
07:08 in a scoring capacity?
07:09 - Yeah, I think she's close to being back to normal.
07:14 You know, you didn't see her rebounding numbers
07:17 against Wisconsin, which you saw her scoring numbers,
07:21 but she missed some easy ones that she should make.
07:23 And so when you miss time, it just takes a while
07:27 to get back, not only physically, mentally, timing-wise,
07:31 just get your aggressiveness back.
07:33 And I think that's what we still need to see out of her
07:36 is the aggressiveness on the boards
07:38 because she's spectacular on the boards.
07:40 And I think we're a better rebounding team
07:43 than we were last year, and partly because of Hannah.
07:45 So I wanna get that back from her.
07:47 Obviously, the way she runs the court is amazing.
07:51 And so, I don't foresee a lineup change
07:56 for this game coming up, but certainly having her
08:01 coming off the bench and providing that unbelievable play
08:06 in that different kind of post look off the bench
08:08 is valuable.
08:09 - Susan.
08:12 - Speaking of Hannah, I wonder if you could sort of describe
08:16 she looks completely different
08:18 as a defensive player this year.
08:20 Can you describe what advances she's made
08:24 in that part of her game?
08:25 - Yeah, I'm not really sure, Susan.
08:29 I can't remember what, you know, defensively
08:33 she looked like next last year.
08:35 Yeah, I just feel like, again, that year of growth
08:41 is so important in all the elements of their game,
08:44 whether it's offense, defense, whether it's just confidence.
08:47 I just think that she understands the value
08:50 of playing defense.
08:51 Sometimes when they come in as a freshman,
08:53 they don't understand that, yeah, you gotta play defense
08:56 if you wanna be on the court.
08:58 I think you see her mobility and the inside position
09:02 really helping us, like, you know, her ability
09:06 to move around players and get deflections.
09:11 I think you see that.
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