Michigan State 55, Milwaukee 48
12/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2010
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
Opening Statement...
I'd like to give Milwaukee credit. I thought their kids came with a lot of fire and we were very flat. I was worried about that after last week. I felt like we were very unfocused in almost every area. We can learn from it and we need to get better. We have one tough game on the road at Western (Michigan).
On the problem with their energy level...
If I knew the answer to that I would have fixed it on the sidelines. I felt like we didn't shoot the ball well. I thought we were just not here physically and mentally. They talked like they were but they didn't physically do. We learn from our mistakes. Porsche played well and I thought that was a bright spot. The free-throw line is a good indicator if you are focused or not and we missed 11 free-throws.
On concerns from practice...
I was really concerned about it. We had a one day prep for them (Milwaukee). I didn't think we did a very good job there. I felt shoot around today was just "yeah whatever" mentality. It is not how you can play at this level. When you have a ranking or come up with a big win you expect them to play a great game against you. You don't think it is going to be different on Friday? They have been marketing that game all year long. It is a black-out over there and we have to wear white. It is not going to get any easier. We have some games ahead of us that are going to test our character. I didn't like what I saw today but we were able to sneak away with the win and we can learn a lesson. It is up to the team to figure it out.
On turnovers...
It was just poor decision making and fumbling the ball. I just think it was lack of focus. I think we are a team that is capable of taking care of the ball. We were not sharp. A lot of our turnovers were our own doing. We need to focus. Those are unnecessary and we need to clean those up.
On playing zone...
We thought we would see their 1-3-1 which they started in. We were ready. We worked on it. We have seen a lot of 2-3 this year. I was hoping we would see more of the 2-3 than the 1-3-1 which is kind of what happened. I just don't think we were very sharp or aggressive. We passed up a lot of shots. People were wide open and would not take it to dribble in to turn it over. We have to take a look at the tape and learn from it. I think we are a very good zone offense team we just didn't show it.