Head Coach Suzy Merchant Quotes
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2014
The three things that I talk to any point guard about are that you have to have a commanding presence over your team, you have to have one-on-one accountability defensively and you have to have ball security. If you do those three things, you can play (the position). For me, that's all I've been talking to her about. Take care of the ball, stay in front of your man so you don't need a lot of help, let's make sure we're working really hard defensively, and have a commanding presence. The commanding presence is really hard for her, because she's a very quiet person and it's not in her character to direct and be loud. That's part of what she's working on, and it's come a long way, for sure. I felt like we were going to need her today because I knew they were going to press and trap and do all that stuff. I knew it was going to be a game too. Every time we've played them it's been very close games. You start out the season and people don't know what their roles are, you're a little bit helter-skelter. Watching our men play is kind of the same thing. People come at you when it's a "Super Bowl" situation, Eastern Michigan it's their Super Bowl to play at Michigan State. They bring their best game and we had to answer that. I thought we did a good job and we could obviously be better in a lot of areas, but it's a good way to start against a really good team that won 18 games (last year) and was in the post season and plays a lot of different ways.
On how the team handled the full-court press from EMU...
Not very well, but I knew we were going to struggle with it. We don't have anybody right now that really wants that role in a commanding presence. It was good, in my opinion, to watch Anna and Tori Jankoska kind of pass up on opportunities to break a press so that they're teachable moments. You have to be able to dribble the ball and take it to the pressure, reverse and attack it that way. What they really wanted to do was get one pass and then throw it to a post player. For us, we just have to work a little bit on attacking the pressure; take it into the teeth, reverse it and attack it off of that. I probably haven't done as good a job as I should have in those situations to prepare us that way. We worked on the press, we knew they were going to press, but we maybe just didn't handle it as well as we could have.
On not calling timeouts early in the game...
I thought I called them when I needed to. I didn't think it was that apparent. Now against Toledo in our closed scrimmage I thought I would play through runs to see if they could gain a little bit of togetherness, toughness, leadership, that kind of thing, to understand what was going on. I do feel like it was a group effort. I thought I called timeouts when I should have; I didn't think there was anything too excessive there, that we went too long with it. I thought we made some poor decisions, sometimes even after timeouts. Becca Mills turned it over and she wasn't supposed to be taking the ball out of bounds after a timeout. Things like that, those kids have to process a little better when they're fatigued. We don't have a lot of depth, so we have kids playing multiple positions, which is a good thing, but it can be a bad thing too because we move them around so much. They struggle sometimes with where exactly we're playing them. Aerial Powers starts at the four and can be a two or a three at the same time. (Mills) is a five that can be a four, (Jankoska) is a one that can be a two, and Jasmine Lumpkin is a three that can be a four. We're playing multiple kids in numerous positions that can lead a little bit early, at this point in the game, at this point in the season, to a little bit of confusion.
On how to prepare for Notre Dame and freshman forward Brianna Turner...
(Oklahoma City Thunder forward) Kevin Durant, you mean? Brianna Turner, she's a special talent. Honestly we spent all our time focusing on Eastern Michigan, because every time we play them it's been a war. I knew it was going to be that way, and I was really concerned about Eastern Michigan and handling some of the things that they do to us defensively, as well as offensively. Honestly, I haven't even looked at one ounce of film on Notre Dame, and I've always been like that as a coach; I don't start thinking about the next one until this one is over. I don't know how we're going to handle her, I don't even know where she's playing at, if she's playing the top spot or at point guard. She's Kevin Durant; she can play wherever she wants. She's a special talent and there's a reason she's at Notre Dame and was the best player in the country; everybody wanted her. We'll have our hands full with all of them.
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The three things that I talk to any point guard about are that you have to have a commanding presence over your team, you have to have one-on-one accountability defensively and you have to have ball security. If you do those three things, you can play (the position). For me, that's all I've been talking to her about. Take care of the ball, stay in front of your man so you don't need a lot of help, let's make sure we're working really hard defensively, and have a commanding presence. The commanding presence is really hard for her, because she's a very quiet person and it's not in her character to direct and be loud. That's part of what she's working on, and it's come a long way, for sure. I felt like we were going to need her today because I knew they were going to press and trap and do all that stuff. I knew it was going to be a game too. Every time we've played them it's been very close games. You start out the season and people don't know what their roles are, you're a little bit helter-skelter. Watching our men play is kind of the same thing. People come at you when it's a "Super Bowl" situation, Eastern Michigan it's their Super Bowl to play at Michigan State. They bring their best game and we had to answer that. I thought we did a good job and we could obviously be better in a lot of areas, but it's a good way to start against a really good team that won 18 games (last year) and was in the post season and plays a lot of different ways.
On how the team handled the full-court press from EMU...
Not very well, but I knew we were going to struggle with it. We don't have anybody right now that really wants that role in a commanding presence. It was good, in my opinion, to watch Anna and Tori Jankoska kind of pass up on opportunities to break a press so that they're teachable moments. You have to be able to dribble the ball and take it to the pressure, reverse and attack it that way. What they really wanted to do was get one pass and then throw it to a post player. For us, we just have to work a little bit on attacking the pressure; take it into the teeth, reverse it and attack it off of that. I probably haven't done as good a job as I should have in those situations to prepare us that way. We worked on the press, we knew they were going to press, but we maybe just didn't handle it as well as we could have.
On not calling timeouts early in the game...
I thought I called them when I needed to. I didn't think it was that apparent. Now against Toledo in our closed scrimmage I thought I would play through runs to see if they could gain a little bit of togetherness, toughness, leadership, that kind of thing, to understand what was going on. I do feel like it was a group effort. I thought I called timeouts when I should have; I didn't think there was anything too excessive there, that we went too long with it. I thought we made some poor decisions, sometimes even after timeouts. Becca Mills turned it over and she wasn't supposed to be taking the ball out of bounds after a timeout. Things like that, those kids have to process a little better when they're fatigued. We don't have a lot of depth, so we have kids playing multiple positions, which is a good thing, but it can be a bad thing too because we move them around so much. They struggle sometimes with where exactly we're playing them. Aerial Powers starts at the four and can be a two or a three at the same time. (Mills) is a five that can be a four, (Jankoska) is a one that can be a two, and Jasmine Lumpkin is a three that can be a four. We're playing multiple kids in numerous positions that can lead a little bit early, at this point in the game, at this point in the season, to a little bit of confusion.
On how to prepare for Notre Dame and freshman forward Brianna Turner...
(Oklahoma City Thunder forward) Kevin Durant, you mean? Brianna Turner, she's a special talent. Honestly we spent all our time focusing on Eastern Michigan, because every time we play them it's been a war. I knew it was going to be that way, and I was really concerned about Eastern Michigan and handling some of the things that they do to us defensively, as well as offensively. Honestly, I haven't even looked at one ounce of film on Notre Dame, and I've always been like that as a coach; I don't start thinking about the next one until this one is over. I don't know how we're going to handle her, I don't even know where she's playing at, if she's playing the top spot or at point guard. She's Kevin Durant; she can play wherever she wants. She's a special talent and there's a reason she's at Notre Dame and was the best player in the country; everybody wanted her. We'll have our hands full with all of them.
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