Michigan State 76, Purdue 57
2/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On Brittney Thomas' scoring performance...
We felt like getting Brittney to the post area. She can really score down there. There were a couple times where she scored over their big man. It forces Brittney's hand a little bit, to be a scorer, and we need her to be if she is going to be out there for 30-40 minutes a game. She is so good defensively we have to do a better job of finding ways to make her shoot the basketball. It is hard to defer if you are only two feet from the basket. You have to put the ball up in the air and I thought she was really big for us. She did that at Iowa.
On starting the halves off strong...
That is always important, I think defensively too. If any team comes out at half time and starts to get things going, and gets their confidence going, that can be detrimental. I you have to credit our captains and our leaders that have played a lot of minutes. They have done a really good job of showing this is how you do it.
On forcing Purdue turnovers...
That was big for us. I think Brittney (Thomas) and Cetera (Washington) both fit what I am all about and that is the defensive end. They love to defend. We put a defensive clip tape together for Brittney and had her watch it. In her last few games I don't think she has been as strong a defender as we need her to be. I think it was just a footwork thing. It really challenged her to square up more. As the season has gone on she has opened up her stance a little bit and gotten out of her stance. Tonight she proved that when she is in a stance and squares people off she can do a good job.
On the team dynamic...
It is as simple as "as your seniors go, so goes your team. They are great leaders and great players. I think their chemistry and their leadership is without an ego. An example is Madison Williams who blew her knee out who says the most inspirational player she has ever been around is Kalisha Keane and she has never played a tick on the clock with her. You hear Taylor Alton say the same thing about Kalisha Keane who plays her spot and Taylor never really had the opportunity her first two years and she still looks up to her. That says a lot about Kalisha's character and it's the same with Cetera Washington and Brittney Thomas. They are very approachable and they don't have huge egos. They play for each other and do a pretty good job of playing with each other too.
Purdue Head Coach Sharon Versyp
Opening statement...
We have a lot of respect for the talent that Michigan State has. We had to come in and have only played one time on their court. They are a very physical basketball team, and we really did some good things. We didn't knock down some open shots like they did, and that is the difference. Sometimes that happens when you are at home or on the road, I guess. It was the turnovers that cost us the game today. We held them to only 10 offensive boards, which was a huge feat because they are one of the best teams in the country in that area. I was very pleased with our player's efforts today.
On the expectations coming into this game...
Well, they are all guards, they can all shoot outside and they can all post-up down low, so they don't really have a true post player. It is very hard to defend and match-up when you are playing a team that has some bigs. So you try to score down low but defending them becomes very difficult. And because they are active, because they are guard-like, they are very good defensively. They are not slow-footed, they have great quick hands, and they have size. So, that is where a lot of the turnovers were, they got a lot of deflections because they use their size to utilize that.
On the defensive pressure that Michigan State showed...
I thought the defense on Brittany (Rayburn); I thought they did a good job on her. Courtney (Moses), she is just struggling on the road as a freshman, bottom line. Her and Dee Dee (Williams) being point guards as freshman, as I told them last night they are not freshman anymore, they have to step up, they can't just play great at home, they have to be able to help their team. They will continue, I think we all made great strides today. Everybody just looks at the loss and I don't. I picked out about four different things that I saw that were very good and that we can take from this. They are a great basketball team, and a better team beat us today, you have to say that.
On the positive things that you can utilize moving forward...
First of all, we continue to fight, I got after them and they responded. We held them to 10 offensive boards, which was a huge key. We continue to battle when things were going a certain way. In the physicality, we handled ourselves in a professional and classy manner. That is what I love the most about this team of mine. The important thing is we played hard; we played hard for 40 minutes. Then you can leave and figure out that we grew a lot. And we will continue to build; we have three away games and two home games left.
