Post Game Quotes: Northeastern
12/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MSU head coach Suzy Merchant
Opening Statement:
I was proud of the fact that we came off exam week and after not playing for eight or nine days that we were able to kind of get the cobwebs off and everybody played. We did some good things and there's still some things we got to get better at. It was nice to see us have the opportunity to share the ball, rebound the way we did, and kind of get a 'feel-good' game going into Notre Dame.
On playing different types of competition and how that helps in the future…
I think we're getting there. I think, you know, I wish we were healthy. That's part of our problem, you know, Branndais (Agee) and Madrekia (Cook) and Coco (Victoria Gaines), I mean, their legs and knees and compartment, well Madrekia's got compartment syndrome whatever that is. Which is pretty painful. Now I wish we were 100 percent healthy in those positions, but we're trying to play through some of that and get kids more minutes. Some of what I was happy about today was how we shared the ball. I think we've been sharing the ball better. You know, it's sort of been, Tori (Jankoska) took the team over in the beginning, which was great because nobody really knew how to do that and where things were coming from. I think we're starting to get a little more comfortable within the offense and they know exactly what their roles are. So to have 20 assists on 28 field goals I think is really positive.
On playing Notre Dame on Tuesday and how today helps with preparation…
They're big. I mean, they're big measuring sticks. That's the second ranked team in the country and for most of the preseason were ranked first until they played UConn. I mean, they're athletic, they're long, they can score the ball. They have six or seven McDonald's All-Americans. They're efficient offensively. It's going be a great opportunity to kind of see where we're at. We're going to need everybody. Our game is going to have to elevate a lot I think on the defensive side including rebounding, and offensively, we can't give the ball back to them. I think today we were a little sloppy with the ball. We've been pretty good with it lately. We just have these areas where we go up and down. If that's having a freshman point guard or not, but those things can't happen against Notre Dame. Turnovers or something. We can't just give it back to them. It's hard enough to defend.
On Branndais Agee's off-season injury…
Well, I mean, she's just trying to fight through. It's tough, I mean, it's been a process. She's been working at it a little bit. I think what you see is probably what you're going to get. Just trying to make sure that she's being efficient and effective as she can in the minutes she plays, and for us, not playing her extended minutes is probably the best thing for her. She's better when she's not tired. When she's tired she makes mental mistakes and struggles to find the ball. So for us, to use her the best we can, right now I think it's to play her in stretches and segments and try to use Madrekia and Lexi (Gussert) to fill in so when she's out there she's fresh and ready to give good energy and she's building her confidence.
On what she did during this week of finals to prepare for the game…
This is not a walk-through team. We are too young and they haven't earned that right, we don't do that. If we are going to do something, we are going to do it. I think that what I saw was a team that wasn't in the best physical shape. We had some injuries, lower leg injuries and stuff this summer. I just decided that if we're going to go down, we are going to go down. We need to work on getting in better shape, so we've been going hard. We have to be disciplined. This group is too young and hasn't earned the right to understand what is going on out there and transferring it to do it at a higher rate. I am not a two-a-day person. We did get a lot of things done on both sides of the ball that I think will help us. We worked on ourselves a lot. We went shorter and we just went harder. I didn't do two-a-days.
On looking ahead to Notre Dame and Taya Reimer, who transferred to MSU from Notre Dame…
We have an insider, but the problem is, they know we have an insider and I'm sure they're going to be extremely motivated. As good as they are, Notre Dame, you have someone leave your program so I am sure they will have some extra motivation to play against Taya, so I don't know if it will be a negative or a positive. You can look at it both ways. She has something to prove and they have something to prove. We are happy to have her at Michigan State and it worked out that we are playing them this year, but at the same time I think we just prepare the best that we can and focus on some of the things that we need to do and let that sort of play itself out.
On stepping up today before Notre Dame…
It's a different beast that we are going to prepare for. I think we need to step up to the challenge and we need to have a great crowd. If we have a great crowd here on Tuesday night that would help a lot. Our kids really need to elevate their game. We are young and I look out there and a lot of times I start two freshmen and sometimes three freshmen out there. There's just not a lot of people who have been there and done it. We are just going to really have to rely on not only our ability to execute the game, but probably do it at a higher level with more consistency. This is a team, when you play Notre Dame, you can't have a bad 30 seconds or two minutes, you're done. We really have to be disciplined, focus and stay in the fight for 40 minutes.
