Post-Game Quotes: Miami (Ohio)
11/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant
On Anna Morrissey's performance...
First and foremost it starts with her ability to run the team, so it lets Tori (Jankoska) and Aerial (Powers) do their thing. That's where it starts, and anything out of that has been a bonus. To me, she's always been a really, really good shooter and someone that has never really looked for a shot because she's never had to and she's never played a lot of minutes. To watch her play at ease, and log the minutes that she logs and run the team at the same time and taking what the defense gives her has been enjoyable to watch. It's going to be important for us, for me, my teams have been all scoring. I think early on we had two scorers and nobody else. We've really been working on that though, in practice we've been putting them in certain situations where only Anna could score or only Becca (Mills) could score in this ten minute segment. I think it's paying off, because you see them being more aggressive. You're right, I think you hit the nail on the head; someone that can run the show, get us to where we have to but then also the bonus of being able to score 10, 12 or 15 points.
On Morrissey allowing Tori Jankoska to be more relaxed...
This is the first time Tori (Jankoska) has really had to play it full-time. Her and Klarissa (Bell) sort of shared that role last year, and it's different when you have somebody else that can do it. Really we settled into Klarissa running (the point) to keep Tori in attack/scoring mode. But Tori is in way better shape; she understands the system and plays with a lot of swagger and confidence. Her being able to play the one or the two for us is a positive thing. Certainly we recruited her to be a swing guy, an off-guard so we want to keep her there if we can. It has changed her perspective, offensively, a little bit; it's made her a better, more complete player on the offensive end because she has to distribute, she has to run the show. So she knows how hard that is and can elevate her game. Instead of being just a scorer, she can create a lot more, set people up and it's really changed and added to our game in a positive way.
On Morrissey's career...
It's interesting how that all transpired. The one thing you really appreciate, first and foremost, as a coach is people who genuinely appreciate and are grateful for their opportunity just to be a Spartan or to be part of something. She came in with the same attitude every single day; she's never had a distraction, she's never been a problem, she's always been a positive part of our team. To have other players play in front of her, quite honestly, that were recruited in front of her, to watch her just stay the course, and just wait, I would say it's never the opportunity; it's what you do when you get the opportunity, and she's one of those kids. I think it's easy so many times now a days, kids want more minutes, and they want to start and they want this and they want that, and to watch Anna, literally, for three years be a practice player, go back and forth from being on our scout team, to building in a little bit with us to now running the team, is sort of maybe a check yourself thing for everybody just to stay the course. There's program kids, and there's some kids that walk in here like Aerial or Tori and just dominate from the get go. And there's program kids that just stay the course, keep working, keep getting better every single day. When you get your chance, be ready and prepared, and do the best you can and she's one of those kids.
On Kennedy Johnson's performance...
She did a lot better tonight I think. Really it's carried over in practice, to be honest. She's one of those kids that tend to stand around a little bit, not work as hard, and it's just sort of in her nature. There are some kids you have to pull back, like a Cara Miller or a Tori, Aerial, you gotta sit them down. There are other kids you have to kick in the behind to get them going, and certainly Kennedy has been one of those kids for us. You gotta kinda give her a push and a shove and stay on her all the time but I think it's really, really paying off for her. She's much more physical, she's more determined, she works harder, and tonight was a really good example of some of those things in practice carrying over into a game. It's easy as a coach to put kids in the game when they're doing it in practice, and they're showing it in practice. The reason why she wasn't playing early was that she wasn't really doing that in practice. I'm a believer in if you prepare a certain way; you're going to play a certain way. When she wasn't doing that, it was hard to put her in the game. Now that she's preparing in a different mentality, she came in and did some positive things for us, and we're going to need her.
On cutting down turnovers and having more trips to the free throw line in the second half...
We talked about that. Those were kind of the two focuses at half time. The fact that they shot 10 free throws to our none, which means that we were trigger-happy a little bit, not doing a good job of attacking north and south and putting ourselves in positions to go to the free throw line. I thought most of our turnovers came in transition, so we were trying to be a little too fancy. We were trying to make great plays verses kind of reading and going through your progressions and seeing what's available. You really have to credit he kids for that. You can say, `stop turning the ball over and get to the free throw line', and you can make a few adjustments, but for the most part, they really have to be the ones to make the better decisions. It was the same offense and the same break we were running in the first half and the second half, I think they were just more conscienscious of what they were doing. From a free throw perspective, I thought we did a good job of driving, getting the ball inside a little bit more. I thought Jasmine Lumpkin came a little bit to life in the second half off the bounce and getting to the foul line.
On Becca Mills performance today as a step in the right direction...
I think so. Jasmine Hines wasn't feeling very well today and I just got the report. She was fine earlier, I don't know what happened, but came in for the game and said she had an upset stomach or something. I tried to limit her minutes, if I could, and she only played 13. It gave Becca more of a chance to play, and she hadn't been playing well, to be honest, so it was nice to let her play through that. I thought she was much more determined and focused, especially rebounding wise, which is something we need her to do. And sitting Jasmine a little bit allowed her to play through some of that, and gave decent runs on the court too.
