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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 3, 2017Kim Barnes AricoKysre GondrezickKatelynn FlahertyIndianapolis, Indiana Michigan State - 74, Michigan - 64 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan here. And Coach, we'll ask you to make an opening statement. COACH BARNES ARICO: Obviously we're extremely disappointed. We've had a really great season and we were hoping to make a little bit of a run in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State's a great team. I know they've had some disappointing losses, but they've had some great wins throughout the season. And they've always presented a difficult matchup for us. I thought we did a great job in the game plan of following the game plan of making Tori work for everything she's got. And it was, you know, kids, other kids on their team stepped up and made plays for them and that hurt us. Q. Katelynn, in the second quarter, when the run goes against you, how hard is it to get it back when you're going back and forth and it's been so close for so long? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I think it's just tough especially when we got in foul trouble, and when they make shots it's hard for us to get into transition, which we're really good at, so I think that just kind of hurt us. But we just have to learn to face -- work through tough times and just work on our momentum and just try to stop their momentum and get it to swing our way. Q. Kysre, talk about you brought a lot to the table today, determination and we could see how much you wanted it but it just wasn't happening. Talk about how you played and also the frustration with the outcome? KYSRE GONDREZICK: I'm not going go by individual performances. I think on both ends it's a team effort. We had a game plan and other players just stepped up with the personnel they had and the range with the post players knocking in, and Branndais coming down and hitting two crucial shots. It's stuff like that that just gives you kind of like mental lapses but we just had to regroup. I know one thing that Coach talked about was that she admired the fight in us, and we just had and we had to play to the end and we just came up short. Q. Katelynn, you've got four or five you've lost. Are you concerned you're going to the NCAAs about momentum or do you think there's a way to get it back, matchup or something? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I mean, I think some of these losses are good for us. Coach says it kind of puts a fire in us. It's definitely disappointing to lose today after coming off the past couple of games where we haven't performed like we would have. But we're definitely determined especially after losing this game. It really hurts but we're focused to get back in the gym and get ready and work hard, especially look at these games and work on what we see that we need to do. Q. Katelynn, the shots just weren't dropping for you guys. That's an understatement. But what was behind that? Was it something you saw in terms of why that was happening? KATELYNN FLAHERTY: I think we got great looks. We missed shots. Sometimes it just happens. Moving forward, we definitely need to find a way to keep scoring when that does happen. But I think we got great looks and we just couldn't knock them down today. Q. When Allen starts hitting those midrange jumpers in the second quarter seems like that is a matchup you don't anticipate and you kind of have to react to? COACH BARNES ARICO: Yeah, and I thought it also hurt that Hallie was in foul trouble in the second quarter, too. That really affected our scoring. We only had nine points. And part of that was Hallie's matchup with Allen. They did a good job. And we had watched this leading up of, they back screened Tori coming through the middle. And if you step over to help, they pop Allen, and she's a 6'4" kid who hit a bunch of jumpers for them today. I mean, that's the difference. If you look at their bench points compared to our bench points, they really made an impact for them today. And obviously it was led by Jenna Allen and Gaines, who was another kid that we thought didn't score in bunches for them, she wasn't a key going in, really made us pay for that as well. Q. There was a point, I don't know if it's the end of the third or beginning of the fourth where they substituted pretty much everybody except for one starter. And it looked like here's your opportunity to make a run. Talk about what happened in that time and why you weren't able to make a run right there. COACH BARNES ARICO: Well, I think we got a little stagnant offensively. We had trouble scoring against them offensively, but then I thought during that time Hallie got a lot of great looks and a lot of great touches. She's a kid that shoots 60-something percent from the floor. And I think in this second half, if I'm correct, she was like 5-for-13, which is not typical of Hallie. So we were able to get the ball inside and we went with a smaller lineup to get more offense. And then she missed and we didn't get any offensive rebounds. So we never really got anything going. Hallie was getting touches. We got good looks, but we didn't make them. It was a case where we weren't really scoring the basketball, and then we weren't getting stops so we couldn't really get anything easy in transition either. So a combination of a few things, but I thought there was a stretch -- I mean in the second half we really got good looks. We just didn't get them to fall. And I think part of that is the pressure of the situation. Part of that is Michigan State, for sure. They're bigger bodies. They're aggressive bodies. We were getting bumped and banged around and that definitely weighed on us for sure. Q. How do you regroup from here? You've got time to do that. But as a coach you probably are already running those things through your mind. What do you need to do to get your team back on track? COACH BARNES ARICO: That's a great question, and we're sitting as coaches and talking about that already. We lost a really tough one the other day at Penn State that we felt should have gone our way. So down the stretch here we've had the tough part of our schedule, and obviously we have to regroup from that moving forward. I think a couple of days, obviously, off will get the kids a break and get them fresh again. And we had a really good week of practice leading up. We felt really good about today. Michigan State's just -- it's been a real tough matchup for us. It's interesting, we get them every year we come here. It's just been a tough matchup for us. I think we gotta move forward from it. We've got to continue to work on improving. And our kids will bounce back. They still have an opportunity to be a part of the best team that's ever been at Michigan. And I think that's really important to Siera and Danielle to leave that legacy behind. So I know that they're going to go out fighting and that we are going to regroup. And if we get selected, which we still feel like our total body of work, which will get us selected to the NCAA Tournament, it will be the first time anyone on our team has ever been in the NCAA Tournament. So we still have a ton to play for. And I think that's really important for our kids to know and I think they're competitors, they're fighters, and they will definitely bounce back from this. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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