Post Game Quotes: Penn State
2/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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MSU head coach Suzy Merchant
On Tori Jankoska's second half comeback…
I wasn't disappointed in how we played in the first half, but you've got to give Penn State a lot of credit. I thought they put their foot on the gas and we didn't react too much, and we were just settling for jumpers. It wasn't really the drama, I knew she'd come back in the second half, that's just the kind of kid she is. I just knew she wasn't going to go out like that. I don't know if there's ever been a game where she hasn't scored in the first half. I knew it was going to come, I didn't know exactly to what capacity, but we talked about everybody just stop shooting threes, and let's play downhill a little bit more. Whether it be getting the ball inside, getting ourselves to the free throw line, getting momentum that way, and then certainly Tori really pushed it into transition I thought.
On pressure put on Tori because of big Senior Night …
I think so, I was kind of kidding about not looking at her, but that's the truth. I don't talk about it, I didn't bring it up, I didn't even mention Senior Night. I've just been a coach that I think you got to win the game and let's just focus on that, because it's going to be emotional for the kid anyway, and I knew it was going to be especially emotional for Tori for a couple reasons. For one, her and I have a pretty strong bond, and it was hard. Even at shoot around, she didn't see it, but after the first drill we do we go to the baseline to run transition 5-on-O, and I got tears in my eyes. That's the last time I'm going to ever call that with that kid. So, those things are going on in my mind, but I really tried to just get it together and keep it strong and focus on what we have to do. I think Tori was, in the first half, a little off because of it. She was trying to do to much and took some shots that she normally doesn't take, but give Penn State credit. They were box-and-one on her, they would double her whenever she had the ball, and we just weren't doing a good job of moving it and sharing the ball.
On Kennedy Johnson's career-high scoring night ...
Kennedy is good in so many ways in what she can do from a shooting perspective. She's more of a catch-and-shoot kind of player, big body. We thought she could defend their big in there for sure, and we just weren't getting much. We just needed energy. The first time I put her out there I thought she had good energy. The thing with Kennedy as a coach is you just don't know what you're going to get, it's kind of a 50/50 and that's what makes it hard to get her into the rotation consistently. She was the reason we came back and won that game. She had some really big minutes, she was trying to take charges, she was aggressive, she was scoring the ball. One thing about Kennedy is every year she's been here, she's going to help us win, come out of nowhere and help us win. She probably didn't even make the scouting report for Penn State. She did that at Rutgers last year, her and Lexi both single-handedly came back and won the game. I felt like she was a monumental reason why we won the game today, and her ability to score the ball. Any time we have three in double figures, usually good things happen for us.
On Tori's rebounding ...
That's just all heart and guts. That kid can't jump, she doesn't really box out, but she refuses to... It's a loose ball to her. When you watch her play, I think what people admire most about her is she gets the most out of every little ounce in her body, and she lays it on the line to do it. I think defensive rebounding is where you see it the most. I mean how does that kid have 12 rebounds in a game, she can't even jump, she's not as athletic, and she doesn't have a great wingspan…she just refuses to let anybody get it. For her to end with a double double and score all those points in the second half was impressive.
On the energy throughout the team during the game brought by Taya Reimer ...
Taya has been playing really, really good. It's been fun to watch her. I think early on you didn't really know what was going on, she's a transfer, didn't know the system. She's the kind of kid that puts a lot on herself, an expectation, which is good as long as it doesn't paralyze you. I think early on she was thinking too much and not just playing. I think in the last five or six games you can see her kind of coming into her own. She can score on the block, she's getting to the free throw line, she's hitting her jumpers, she's doing a good job rebounding, she's been a big reason that I think her, Tori, and Brandi have started to come together. I think Jenna (Allen) is giving us really good minutes. The minutes that Mardrekia (Cook) can play, she's hurt, but the time she can play are significant minutes for us usually. We know what we're going to get with Taryn (McCutcheon). You have some kids that you don't know, but can add some positive things like Kennedy today. Taya is a big reason why we've been playing well down the stretch. She's been playing with a lot of confidence and toughness.
On comparing her relationship with Tori to Tom Izzo and Mateen Cleaves ...
That's a high compliment to say because I don't know exactly, but I've seen obviously Izzo and Mateen together and like you said is a unique and special thing. Where is starts with Tori and I, is that we are exactly the same in terms of our approach, competitiveness, feistiness, and most kids can't handle that. I think I really understand her probably better than any coach she's had. She wants to play at a high level and that can come across a lot of different ways to different people. I love how she plays and I love when she comes at me and says "coach we need to run this" and I have nothing but respect for her because she's earned it. I just love how she is as a person, off the court too. The kid never has a problem. I go to bed knowing she's going to wake up and do the right thing. She's an incredible role model. There's probably 25 little Tori's in that gym tonight that are going to die trying to wear number one here someday. I'm just really proud of the person she is and how she represents Michigan State. I just really try to embrace it. For me, I've just always appreciated and loved her competitiveness. I've never tried to curtail it, I've just tried to help her manage I around others. When you're on an all female team sometimes... I tell kids all the time, 'Don't listen to how I say it, listen to what I say.' Tori's exactly the same way. Just put a little sugar on the medicine and we'll be fine. I've tried to back down a little bit, I think she's tried to back down a little bit but I don't think she'll ever play for anybody that understands her as well. I hope not anyway, I'd be surprised if she does at the next level.
On giving Tori the power to call plays…
Aerial (Powers) would do a little of that. Tori's a coach on the floor, so she sees things that I don't see and I trust her. She's called a few. Like today when we were on that slice two action over the top for her and that gal fouled her on the free throw line, I was going to power her and put her on the block. That one where she almost… That guy was really riding her over the top and she's tough enough to go get the ball and make that a foul so, just little things like that. I let her overrule me. It comes from a place with Tori where she wants the team to win, it's never about getting more points. She never says, 'Run this for me because I want to score the ball.' It's always 'This is going to work and it's going to help us win the game.' I let her overrule me, not on every play. Let's just get that straight, but sometimes.
On Tori playing with Aerial Powers who is number two in scoring and still being able to accomplish everything she did…
Well, it's pretty amazing, actually. I think Tori's transformation… You talk to the pro scouts, they're trying to figure out where to play her. Is she a one or is she a two at the next level? For us she happened to kind of play out of her position. We recruited her as a two, but she had to play a lot of one like you mentioned. I'll tell you what, I think it helped her become a better player. I think it helped her take our team to another level because she learned how to be a play-maker, not just a scorer. I think some really positive things have come out with the injuries we've had in the past and Tori never fought it she just embraced it and wanted to learn to be the best that she could in that role. Her and Aerial were fun to have on the team together, but there were days when they would both have a scoring mentality and at a very high level. You had to get three or four shots for this one, and three or four shots over there for that one. Just to watch them learn to communicate… I think in the beginning it was probably a little bit more competitive in nature and then throughout their career they really came together and played extremely well together. Tori's special. I know you know that, you watched her in high school over there. She came here as more of a shooter and turned herself into a complete player and that's not an easy thing to do at the BCS level. It just speaks to the kind of work ethic and heart she has.
On voting for Tori for Player of the Year…
I do. Yes. She's up there. I don't think there's a player in the top five scoring that affects the game the way Tori does. Not rebounding, not assists, not three-point field goals, not free throws, not minutes played. You look at her line, she played 40 (minutes) tonight. There aren't too many other players out there that do what she does. They have their roles but Tori has to do so much more for our team and has for four years and I think that's where a lot of people really garner their respect for her, of how gutsy she is and how tough she is. I really hope that the media out there when they start voting for stuff just really looks at the stats and see how much she affects our team in so many ways.
On Tori missing two free throws in one game…
Yeah, she did. You're right. She was 91% from the line coming into the game. So, yeah she's pretty special.
On how this win helps Big Ten standings…
Well, it's big for postseason implications. Not only in the Big Ten Tournament but obviously we're in a position where we want to make sure we don't have to worry about Selection Monday, that we know we're going to play. To do that, it was in our control. That's maybe why I was a little disappointed in how we started because we kind of knew what we had to do to make that statement and to get this win. We're going to have a tough one on the road at Nebraska. That's not going to be easy on their Senior Night from that crowd. It was important. We just want to keep things in our own hands. Just keep moving our RPI up and the best way to do that is to win games. Simple as that.
MSU Senior Guard Tori Jankoska
On being nervous in the first half ...
You try to make it just another day but it's not. Coach Merchant, I knew she had been avoiding me, I could tell. She didn't say anything about it, nobody really said anything about it. The first half, you know, your name is getting announced for the last time and my heart was beating out of my chest and there is so many emotions going through, I'm trying to take everything in. This is the last time I'm coming in, I'm trying to put my shooting jersey on before I play. So, I just really wanted to take it in. I think that my emotions kind of got the best of me in the first half. But, the second half, it's time to win and that's really all my focus was and it was a great comeback for us and a win we needed.
Reflecting on the support during her last home game ...
I can't even put into words how much it means to me. Like I said, I go out there and I try to make every single person in that gym proud every time I play. My family, the fans, especially Coach Merchant. I go out and I play every game as hard as I can just so she is proud of me, like I said she's like a second mother to me and that's the person you want to make proud the most, and I want to give her that feeling of winning after every single game, because I know how much it means to her because we kind of have the same winning mentality, it kills us to make us lose, so I want to be able to go out and give her the feeling of winning after every game.
On how much sleep she got before the game ...
I didn't sleep much, I felt like I had my eyes closed a lot, but it just wasn't really in a sleep. I was tossing and turning, woke up probably at like 6 a.m. this morning.
On how this moment feels ...
It didn't really hit me until today, you know you wake up and you try to put on some music and put it out of your head, but, it's really no stopping it. Going out and kissing the Spartan head was one of the best moments of my life. The emotions going through that we were able to get the win and I was able to come out and give all of my teammates and all of my coaches a hug and kissing that floor where I left everything I had for four-straight years was really special to me.
On talking to herself late in the first half ...
We weren't making stops in the first half and that was our biggest problem. Pretty much every game, when we're getting stops we can push the ball in transition and that's where we get a lot of our energy and our points from. And they were getting some second chance points and some easy drives to the basket. As soon as we eliminated those things we really had to only do two things, and that's kind of what we harped on at half time. I was just trying to get through the first half. I felt normal, I mean, obviously I wasn't, but, you know, you have people coming up and they're like 'oh the next one is going in' and so then it kind of gets in your mind a little bit more, but, at halftime I kind of made an emphasis to get inside, get to the paint and drive and I think that was really important for us.
On her favorite memory of the night ...
I think tonight, listening to the words Coach Merchant said, having my teammates react the way they did, having the crowd... I feel like every free throw I shot was like, shoot, we just won the whole game, and everybody was standing up and I heard 'Tori, Tori, Tori' It was just really, really awesome. I had a bunch of hometown people there and the support that they give me, it was just a really great way to cap off four years.
