The Hawkeyes made it through the entire 2020 without any Covid issues within the program, but unfortunately, they were hindered by in early this season with the cancelation of three games, including in-state Drake and a trip to Cancun to play Seton Hall and USC. Today, Coach Lisa Bluder, as well as Monika Czinano and Caitlin Clark met with the media for the first time since their win over Southern back on November 17th.

They will travel to Duke for a Big Ten/ACC Challenge matchup tomorrow and full roster will make the trip and be available to play.

Lisa Bluder

“You worry as a coach about being a little rusty. When you haven’t played for a couple of weeks and they’ve (Duke) had more opportunities to grow and get better, that’s what makes us nervous, but you can look at it the other way and say well we should have really good legs and be really fresh.”

On what was allowed practice wise over the last two weeks

“The people that were capable of practicing practiced…We added a few things. We were able to put in a few things that we really wanted to stress with our basketball team. There are definitely some benefits to having that time (extended practice)…I think we used the time wisely.”

On the emotions of hearing that they had to cancel three games

“It was really a feeling of helplessness. You can’t do anything about it. We tell our team all the time, control the controlables and this was one that we didn’t have any control over…Disappointment. These players work hard, and we were prepared for the Drake game and then we had all the scouts ready for Cancun and of course your team is excited to go to Cancun and play and stay in a nice resort for a week.”

On the first full team practice yesterday

“I felt an excitement, just being everybody together again…I definitely felt an excitement to get back on the court.”

On a veteran group going through the Covid season last year and how it helped this time around

“I have confidence in our players maturity, their professionalism, as far as ok let’s get back to work. What I’m worried about is the timing…certain passes and the timing of cuts, but I think they’ll be back to business instantly.”

Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano

On the two-week pause

Monika – “It was a very helpless feeling…It sucked watching basketball on the TV and not being able to play, but at least we are all fresh and ready to go. I think we are all excited to get back in the normal flow of things.”

Caitlin - “I think the hardest part was watching all the games because there were so many good games. Lot of top 10 matchups and knowing that we were supposed to have some good games against some Power 5 teams…We’re glad it happened now rather than in March or another time where we have to cancel games in the Big Ten season.”

On being back to a full team practice yesterday

Monika- “It was so much fun. I felt like I hadn’t seen people in so long. It also felt really nice to have all of our pieces back and everything flowing. You try to make it work with a limited number and it does, but you can tell it’s not what it needs to be.”

On being a veteran team that has gone through this type of thing last year

Caitlin – “I think if this would have to us at this time last year it would have been a whole different story. Especially, with a whole new team essentially. People who hadn’t worked together…I think we handled it really well. Obviously, not much time to mess around, we travel to Duke tomorrow.”