Michigan State 90, IPFW 62
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2010
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On Cetera Washington's performance...
I think she does so many things that don't make the stat sheet. Its nice to see when some of those things do pop up for her. The little detailed things she does pays off. She plays with a lot of heart and soul and toughness. I think our team feeds off of her energy. I think she is really capable of being an offensive threat as she proved to us tonight. She brings that defensive side too that we need so much.
On Kelsey Smith's performance...
She did a lot of nice things. She sat out last year and had some growth and some opportunities to see the game through different eyes. There are things she obviously needs to improve on and she needs to get some quality minutes to figure out what this is all about. It is different if you are sitting there in street clothes versus having a uniform on. We are going to need her size and she's a banger in there. She fouled a little too much but maybe that is just a little bit of youth coming out.
On depth of team and balance...
Our goal is to have balance to attack. We have more depth at the guard position than the post. I do like some of the things we can do offensively with people creating shots for other people. We have shooters. We have kids who can post up at the guard positions. I still feel like we are struggling a little bit to get the flow and we turned it over too much tonight.
On fouling...
We have to do a good job of defending without fouling. That was a major disappointment for me tonight. I felt a little frustrated too because we played two exhibition games and had a feel for what I thought the game was going to go. It was hard to figure out what was and wasn't a foul. That is part of the game. You have to be able to overcome that. If we get in foul trouble it better not be in the post position as they say.
On passing...
Its progressing but I was really disappointed in our decision making with some of our turnovers. Things we had not done up until this point. We had people bringing the ball down the floor that know they are not supposed to do. Some of those turnovers were in part to confusion because it wasn't a disciplined approach. I think you can still fast break and be in a disciplined situation. It doesn't prevent you from running hard and having good spacing. Some of our turnovers were bad choices.
On Brittney Thomas...
She didn't play a ton of minutes. She played 20 minutes and I liked how she started. She was aggressive off the bounce. I think that's an area that she has a gift for. We feel like we can post her up a little bit too. She needs to call her own numbers too and I thought early on she did that by creating for herself. It's hard though because we played her at the point a little more than we anticipated early on with Jasmine Thomas coming back from an injury. That dictated her ability to put the ball in the basket.
On the main changes for the next game...
Defending dribble drives, not fouling, defensive rebounding, and handling ball screens.
On the cause of turnovers...
There were people bringing the ball out that shouldn't and our spacing is bad. People don't know where to go or what to do and we need to run that thing correctly. We had twos running to the left and threes to the right so we just had some confusion and lack of discipline. Because of that then our spacing is bad and that makes it easy to turn over. Now some of those turnovers were player control fowls that we need to address as well.
On Annalise Pickrel's performance...
She plays so hard and I think people really appreciate what an athlete she is and how hard she plays. I think part of the reason they were cheering was they didn't agree with the call. I think she brings an energy and excitement to the team. I think she has the ability to make a difference for us especially in transition and she is a very competitive kid. I think the crowd sees someone they appreciate with her work ethic and her rebounding. She has a great energy and is fun to watch.
