Iowa's Lisa Bluder shrugs off 'bar fight' comment despite Dawn Staley's frustration

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The South Carolina women's basketball team had a historic season, going undefeated until a loss to Iowa in the Final Four.

Dawn Staley, South Carolina's longtime head coach, expressed frustration about the way her team's style of play was characterized leading up to the semifinal game.

Staley took particular issue with a comment Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder made earlier in the week describing rebounding against the Gamecocks as "going to a bar fight."

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Head coach Lisa Bluder of the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first quarter against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the 2023 NCAA Tournament Final Four at American Airlines Center March 31, 2023, in Dallas, Texas. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Iowa pulled off a major upset on Friday by defeating the top-seeded Gamecocks, 77-73. Iowa star player Caitlin Clark led the way for the Hawkeyes with 41 points. 

On Saturday, Bluder claimed she was not aware of Staley's postgame remarks. She shrugged off the South Carolina coach's issue with the description of the Gamecocks' physical style of play.

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"If you know me, I speak tongue in cheek a lot, and I was saying an analogy of you've got to rebound like you're in a bar fight," Bluder said. "That's all. It doesn't say who's fighting, right? But that's fine. I've never been in a bar fight, by the way."

Lisa Bluder, head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, celebrates their win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament's Final Four at American Airlines Center March 31, 2023, in Dallas,