‘Tremendous team’: Lisa Bluder previews Georgia in the Round of 32
The Iowa Hawkeyes (27-6, 15-3 Big Ten) can punch their ticket to Seattle and into the Sweet 16 with a win over Georgia (22-11, 9-7 SEC).
Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano combined for 48 points and the Hawkeyes limited the Lions to a measly 25.4% field goal shooting, including 18.2% from 3-point range.
“I think valuing the ball will be very important. Shot fakes against a team that is more athletic, bigger, longer than us, but at the same time, I’m not sure they’ve seen a team that has as many shooters as we do on the perimeter. So being able to use that to the best of our ability. It’s hard to play zone when you have four people on the perimeter that can really spread the floor out and shoot it like we do,” Clark said of matching up against Georgia’s zone defense.
What does Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder think of the Bulldogs? Here’s everything coach had to say about Georgia today in preparation of tomorrow’s Round of 32 NCAA Tournament date.
Opening statement
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Opening statement
Obviously glad to be in the field of 32, playing Georgia tomorrow. We know Georgia, tremendous team. Great depth. Zone defense they’re known for. Battles and Warren are excellent players. They’re posts. They have lots of depth at the post. So they’re going to be a real difficult challenge.
Familiarity with Coach Abrahamson, Georgia
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You guys got a chance to play UCF last year when Coach Abrahamson was there, and then they brought some of those same players to Georgia now. What kind of similarities do you see from them offensively and defensively, and how nice was it to kind of see them last year, I guess?
Yeah. I think that was a really blessing to be able to see them last year because with a one-day prep, you don’t have as much time to prepare for an opponent as you usually would during the year. So I think it was a real advantage for us to play against UCF. Now, they have the same advantage against but, though, right? So kind of cancels each other out. I do think they’re a little bit more different to prepare for just because of their zone defense, and so I’m glad that we had that. They’re very similar to last year.
Importance of the glass
(Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
How important is it to defensively rebound against a team that can probably shoot better and score more second-chance points than they did yesterday?
Yeah. Rebounding it’s seven percent of their offense. So it’s really, really important that we box out and don’t let them have too many of those second shots.
Challenge of guarding Georgia
Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK
Offensively they don’t shoot a whole lot from outside. I know they made a few yesterday, but what do you see from them offensively that they can do inside the three-point line that makes them so tough to guard?
I think it’s the double post option they have, having 4 and 5 down there low. We’ve seen a lot more 4-out-1-in-type teams throughout the year. So having just the depth of the post position and having two in there that are really strong, big posts at the same time. I think Battles is also extremely fast getting downhill. She does a great job of penetrating and getting downhill.
Matching up
(Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images)
Do you have to change up the way that you’re going to rotate players tomorrow knowing that they have two post players, just to make sure that you’re able to match up with them when they go bigger or if they decide to go smaller?
You know, we’re not going to be changing up at this point in the season. It’s a bad time in my mind to experiment. So we’re going to just stick with what we’ve been doing.
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