Post Game Quotes: Nebraska
1/7/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On her health…
I'm doing ok. I'm just trying to figure everything out. It's hard to not be out there so I need to do everything I can to make sure I'm still able to call timeouts and plays from the sideline.
On the reaction from the crowd to her return to the sideline…
I appreciate that and I would like to thank the fans. My heart was racing a bit when I came back out there. It was good. It just feels like home and I genuinely appreciate people's concern. Sometimes when something like that happens you don't realize, from all the people who reached out, the number of people that you impacted in some way. I guess I didn't have to die for that to happen. Usually it's attached to a funeral so I guess that's a positive thing. So, I just want to say thank you to all the fans. Walking out there and getting that ovation really warmed my heart and it's what makes Michigan State special.
On the team's play today…
I thought we really shared the ball. We could have almost had five players in double digit points tonight. Branndais, if she could have gotten one more bucket there, could have had an opportunity to have five of us. I thought we did a really great job of sharing the ball. Obviously, Tori is the kid who needs to score for us and be a great player, but I think a lot of kids are stepping up. For us to score 93 points is a positive thing. We had a little stretch there to start the second half where I thought we were turning it over a little too much, but if you can keep your turnovers down you'll obviously have more field goal attempts. I thought our kids did a really good job of sharing the ball. As far as rebounding goes, it's something that we harp on a lot here at Michigan State. It's something that we believe in. It's something that is sort of in the DNA of a Spartan, I think. We have certain goals that we want to accomplish. I think Taya (Reimer) having a double-double today was great for us for sure.
On the team's energy in the first half…
We talked about that a little. Obviously, I didn't get the chance to coach in the Purdue game. It was interesting because I was sitting there on the couch. I looked like a mental patient because I was sitting there rocking back and forth, I swear, watching the game and driving myself crazy. I think that watching that without the emotion of being in the huddle and getting on kids is different. You're always emotionally invested, but when you're in the locker room and the huddles it's different. One thing that I told the team when they got back was that watching it through a television, and not being in the huddles, and getting the emotions, and not being invested in that way, it was clear to me that it was simple that the energy and effort of Purdue was greater than ours. When you do that, you're going to execute more. When you do that, you're going to play better. At the end of the day, I think it doesn't matter what sport you play. I watched a bit of the men's game earlier today and I think that (Tom) Izzo will tell his team that their effort maybe didn't match what it was against Northwestern or someone else like that. This league is too good. So we just talked about having great energy, and effort, and competitiveness at both ends of the floor starting at the beginning and going all the way through. We played a lot more zone today because we really needed to have the opportunity to attack (Jessica) Shepherd and double her a bit. That created a bit more energy for us on the court. So that was really what I talked about from watching. As simple as it sounds, it's not rocket science, teams that have great energy and effort usually execute better. That's just the way it is. I thought when I watched Purdue, they were better than us that day. If we want to be better than Nebraska, we need to be the tougher team with more effort.
On her message to the team when Nebraska started closing the gap…
We're a young team. We are a young team. We have a lot of freshmen that play. We have a lot of fresh faces and new kids that play. Our injury positions are having to play a lot sooner than we thought they'd have to so we need to get healthier. I just like our kids. They brought it within 10 I think, 67 to 77, but we didn't panic. We put our foot on the gas and executed and had some defensive stops. I was proud of the fact. I thought we matured. There are times that the 10 points can turn into 4 and that would have happened in the non-conference I think. I liked our resolve down the stretch. There were a couple big threes. Lexi (Gussert) hit one. Tori (Jankoska) hit one. We were able to get our gap back up a little bit.
On Victoria Gaines…
We really like what Coco is bringing on the court. We redshirted her last year to try to get her knees healthy. She had two ACL (tears) in high school. She's a little bit rusty. Now that she's played more and is getting more confident, we like the way she's playing. We like the way she's playing defensively, rebounding, and she can handle a perimeter type post player, she can defend on the block, she's a good rebounder, and she's probably our best position help guy. She's taken more charges than anybody. She's long and lanky. She's gotten more and more confidence as she's continued to play. It's nice to see her come out and compete the way that she knows she can. It's been really fun watching her improve her play and confidence.
On going into B1G play…
Well conference play is its own beast. I think that it can be different any given night. It doesn't matter what somebody's record is. I think they found that out at Purdue. Sometimes it's a hard lesson. I like to play bad and win, but if you play bad in this league, you won't win. It was a lesson for our young kids to step up and learn that it's a grind. We're only three games in and there's a lot more season left. We need to show more resiliency and resolve during tough times. The other thing is getting ourselves out of those situations. Don't allow a lot of that to continue. We need to come together through adversity and show a little more resiliency. So if we are not playing the best, our defense needs to still be there. That was one thing that I thought in the last game was lacking. They're learning how important each possession is, especially on the defensive side.
On Taryn McCutcheon's health…
I haven't talked to the doctors yet. Obviously, she didn't come back into the game, but she looked pretty good in the locker room. She was peppy and talking and things like that. Better safe than sorry with the game in hand. She got hit pretty good. I'll just have to wait and hear from the doctors. I really hope she's okay. With Ohio State coming to town we could really use a point guard.
