MSU 70, Wisconsin 63
3/3/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Big Ten Conference Women's Basketball Championship
Thursday March 2, 2017
Post-Game Quotes
Michigan State 70, Wisconsin 63
COACH MERCHANT OPENING STATEMENT: It was sort of a rusty go of it in the beginning. You know, I think sometimes when you wait around and have like a bye game it's hard to get into a rhythm. Give Wisconsin a lot of credit. I thought they came out and were really aggressive on offense and we were a bit tentative. I thought the second half we made some changes and some adjustments and started to do some things that bothered them. We also adjusted what we were shooting. We were shooting a lot of outside shots in that first half and really tried to get back to the paint and attack inside. I was proud of coming up with a win. I think Wisconsin was playing really well at the time, and we had to fight and scratch and claw to get the win. And that's all you can do at this time of year.
Q. Tori, when you struggle like that out of the gate, is that something where you try to let everyone get back in it and you'll find your spots? Or did you just kind of force it until it worked?
Tori Jankoska: Like Coach Merchant said, it's kind of hard to sit out for a couple of days when the other team is in a rhythm. I think as a team we had to find our rhythm defensively and get some stops, and we got some transition buckets on the offensive end until we could all settle in.
Q. How about you, in that first quarter?
Tori Jankoska: Just kind of letting the game come to me. It wasn't really anything that they were doing, but, yeah, just letting it come.
Q. Branndais, can you talk about the offensive rebounding you guys did in the third quarter? You had, like, 10 offensive rebounds as a team and got a lot of second chances.
Branndais Agee: I think it's very important that we offensive rebound because they're a very good defensive rebounding team. For us to get those boards and get second-chance shots it was very important for us, and it helped us get this win.
Q. When you're down seven at the half and you have played a strong second, got contact in the first after the poor shooting, how do you tell them to stay in it when this is a team you blew out earlier in the year?
COACH MERCHANT: Certainly our post defense we talked about - we just talked about tactical things. You know, number one, our post defense wasn't very good. We switched to our zone to try to deter some of those things with some traps. And then ,I felt like it was kind of a struggle on offense. There wasn't a lot of flow. So probably the first time in a while I actually got into Tori a little bit. Sometimes when she gets frustrated she can get on a little bit of an island and kind of just try to do too much and not play the way we know she can. So, I kind of got into her a little bit there. She obviously had a great second half. I'm not sure it's exactly what I said. But I think she needed to understand that she needed the guys to her right and to her left. She had a edge to her. I said after the game that I think when you're the only senior on this team, you know, that there is an edge to you - and that fear of it being the last game for you in the tournament is real. She doesn't like to lose and I think sometimes it manifests itself in a way that isn't always healthy at times. I give her a lot of credit, because I thought that second half she was driving the ball more, dishing and getting rebounds. She was really attacking the basket. She had some nice post feeds. She just kind of really took it to heart and adjusted what she was doing and giving to her teammates.
Q. 12 points -- 12 rebounds for Taya Reimer, four offensive rebounds. Could you talk about her performance?
COACH MERCHANT: Our post defense wasn't the best the first half. They had quite a few points in the paint, and that was disappointing. I don't think we were working real hard to fight their duck-ins and really challenge their shots. So we kind of talked about that at halftime too. And I thought that Taya had two really big offensive rebounds and putbacks that kind of kept the momentum going our way, and she had two really big defensive rebounds down the stretch. So it was really positive for us to see her have a double-double. She's been close a lot of times where she's had seven, eight rebounds. But for her to kind of step up and keep the ball alive and finish down there was really important.
Q. You guys played so well in that game at Michigan. They had that big crowd and everything. Is that something that carries over? Does it matter in this game or is it a different scenario?
COACH MERCHANT: I don't think it matters. We beat Wisconsin by 24 points at their place on the road, and then turn around and had to squeak one out [tonight]. I don't think anything matters. Look on the men's side, look on the women's side; it's all across the country. Records don't matter. Seeding doesn't matter. It's teams that work the hardest, play the hardest and do the right things, and the ball falls for them, and they're making their own breaks. I thought Wisconsin made all the right moves in the first half and played with a lot of energy and aggressiveness and we didn't - and then we changed our minds and flipped it in the second half. So, you know, it was a good victory at Michigan. But I think that seems like forever ago.
Q. You're not the rusty team tomorrow. Having played a game, is that to your advantage?
COACH MERCHANT: I don't think it hurts. I think sometimes the jitters kind of happen. I was telling the team when we played for the Big Ten Championship last year against Maryland in that first game we almost didn't get there. We had to play a Purdue team, I think, was an 11 seed, and we had to hang on like to the very end and catch the ball and hold it and make some free throws down the stretch or we wouldn't have even gotten there. We could have been bounced in the first round. Sometimes when you're waiting around and you haven't played, you know, you get the jitters. I feel like it's nice to play sometimes and stay in a little bit of a rhythm. But the hard part is now you've got to play back to back and the other team didn't. It will be a tough game. They're very well-coached and they've got some really, really good players. They run good stuff and they defend, so it will be a battle.
