Michigan State 72, North Carolina 66
12/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On the physical nature of the game...
"I do think it was a physical game from the start. I think in the first half one of the officials said to my assistant that it was a hockey game out there and they needed to clean it up. It was pretty intense out there with both sides. I was proud of how we responded to that. That team is really strong on the boards and I think early on that we got every defensive board and I think that set the tone for our ability to handle pressure and trapping."
On how they handled the press...
"I think we had a couple of bad spurts there. A lot of our turnover calls were travel calls. You don't want to turn it over ever but when you turn it over on travels; you at least get a chance to set your defense. The ones that we didn't want were the ones that led to touchdowns. They had some transition baskets but they were all off of misses. Twenty-seven turnovers is too many but we forced 24 on them. They make you play faster than you're used to and add that to how physical they play it's harder to hang onto the ball. I think whatever they did to us we did back to them so it ended in a wash."
On the team winning the hustle plays...
"We talked about that. Especially when you're playing a team with that quickness, speed and length that really attacks, you have to get every loose ball, every kicked ball, you have to keep it alive, dive on balls, just the little things. We emphasized that in this game. A lot of memories came back from the Duke situation, in terms of just the pressure and everyone needing to handle it. We've been through it right here on this floor and know that we can manage that."
On how big of a win this is for the team...
"Certainly it's big win, they're the number four team in the country but it's not where you start it's where you finish. The preseason rankings are just a number and things come to fruition down the stretch. But it's a good victory, that's a very very good basketball team with a storied program so we know that it's a good win for us but we have to move on to the next one and the next one is the first Big Ten game of the season and that's probably more important that what happened tonight. We have to refocus, get back on track and get away from non-conference thinking and get a little more aggressive with where we want to finish in the Big Ten and that starts on Sunday. "
On Cetera Washington being an x-factor...
"She was really spectacular. We had a talk Tuesday after practice and I was half-heartedly teasing her pointing out her rebounding situation per minute played because she has so much to give. She loves to defend and she loves to rebound and I thought she was playing a little more timid than she needed to. That's where she scores; on hustle baskets, offensive rebounds, put-backs and a post move here or there. That's just her game and she loves to defend. I thought what you saw tonight is where she finished the season last year and we need that. We asked Cetera to step up and perform and she did tonight."
