Head Coach Suzy Merchant Quotes
1/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant
On getting a win after the last two weeks...
I have been doing this a long time, and I've never seen a two-week stretch of the things we've had to endure as a team. It was like punch after punch of things like injuries and the flu and the departure of Jasmine (Lumpkin). All that negative stuff was hard. This team stayed in every fight; it's not like we've been getting blown out or embarrassed. I don't care who we play. The fight was there; it was just a matter of one play. You can look at every game, and it's been a one-possession game down the stretch and we just haven't been able to finish. It felt good to finish and get to a place where we were in the fight and won the game instead of being in the fight and it could have gone our way. It does feel good. You have to give these kids a lot of credit with what's been going on.
On Tori Jankoska yelling to the stadium that Aerial Powers' injury was "just a cramp"...
Yeah, thank God. I don't know, at this point I just think the worse, quite honestly. I saw a lot of things things flash through my eyes a little bit. It was kind of funny when (Jankoska) said that, and then (Powers) came over and said `I didn't mean to scare you, Coach.' I'm like, `you scared the...the heck out of me.' It is what it is. We haven't been the luckiest team with the injury bug. We have four or five kids on the bench that could be starting and playing lots of minutes.
On adding (former MSU volleyball player) Kelsey Kuipers, and the expectations of her...
It's unfair to ask anything of her as a practice player. We just need another body. When that whole thing happened with the flu, I panicked a little bit and called (head volleyball coach) Cathy George and asked her if she had somebody just for a body. I can't anticipate all these injuries and issues. I mean this was even when we had (Lumpkin). I didn't know she was going to transfer and leave, that was just out of the blue. I wasn't doing it for that reason, I just needed another player in case something happened. Then, of course, Cara Miller gets hurt and goes down in the Northwestern game. We still have the flu. We end that Indiana game with five people and (Powers) playing the center position. Even if we just get a body, if we need to put someone out there for a short period of time, (we could). I don't know if you know that kid, she's got great energy. She's such a nice kid. She's very engaged in what's going on, she wants to help the team, but we put her mostly on the scout team. We needed a little insurance policy if we got in foul trouble or if someone got hurt.
On Kennedy Johnson's more aggressive play...
She just needs to play. She needs to play at a high-level in terms of her competitiveness. I think she can tend to kind of go in and out as most freshmen do. There's no question she going to have to play for us, and play some minutes. I thought the last two games she's helped us; there's no question. She's helped us make a run and make a comeback and play well at Northwestern. I thought tonight she did some good things. There's some areas where she could get better; take care of the ball and rebound. She has to be a better defensive rebounder for us because she can be.
On the team's "fight" getting them through this rough patch...
It's a tough league. We didn't win at some of the places we've played. With the exception of Indiana, our kids fought. If you watch that Northwestern game, with three kids gravely ill with the flu, it's a four-point game, it could go either way, and they're busting their butts to get through it. We've never quit in any game that we've had, and there's a lot of fight in this team. We had to kick up a notch defensively. We had to do a couple things better, but they've never lost their fight. I say that, and I mean that because I believe it whole-heartedly. That team has never quit, not in one game. We've been down 20 (points) and come back and made it a one possession game or made it a five or six point game. I've seen a lot of heart and a lot of fight in this team. You saw it tonight. I really felt like people put a fork in us. I don't care if we have walk-ons playing; I don't care. That's just the way it is, but the expectations are still there, and those kids are fighting. I appreciate that. It's going to make us better for sure in the future.
