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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 4, 2011Amy JaeschkeBeth MarshallJoe McKeownINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan State – 56 COACH MCKEOWN: I'm going to the first event so they can get changed and I'd be happy to answer anything after that. MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes? Please make sure that you state their name first before asking the question. Q. Amy, can you sort of describe the frustration level you went through throughout the game today? AMY JAESCHKE: Yeah, I give a lot of credit to Michigan State. They played some great defense, you know, really rattled us, especially me. They did a great job fronting me and not letting me get comfortable at all during the game. So definitely made a frustrating game for me at least. Q. Amy, is there something that they did differently? I mean, as Coach Merchant said, she kind of felt you had your way with them last time in East Lansing. What did you see differently out of them as far as looks? AMY JAESCHKE: Yeah, was before I was able post up on a body when we played them at their place, and tonight they were -- they didn't let me post up on them at all and just kept fighting around and at the last second would release any contact and get in the passing lane. So it's really hard for me to even get the ball inside. Q. Beth, Amy mentioned being comfortable. It just seems like this game you guys were never able to get into an offensive flow. How were you able to rattle you? BETH MCKEOWN: Michigan State is very aggressive on defense, and we knew that coming into the game so we tried to prepare beforehand because we knew they would switch everything, and we just didn't execute our game plan the way we should have, and instead of answering their aggressiveness, we kind of backed down. Q. Beth, in the first half you guys did a pretty good job of containing Michigan with only 22 points in the first half. Not bad. What do you think changed for them offensively or for you guys defensively between the halves? BETH MCKEOWN: Well, we just went away from what was working for us. We stopped contesting shots as well as we did in the first half. And to Michigan State's credit, they shot really well and they attacked us. So I think we went away from what was working in the first half. Q. Last night you guys turned it over 21 times -- I guess this is for Beth -- and you were still able to win, and tonight 23 turnovers and a loss and they scored 21 points off turnovers. How important was holding onto the ball to tonight's game? BETH MCKEOWN: Well, tonight our key was to regain more rebounding and taking care of the ball, and we knew if we could do both of those things we'd come out with a victory. And as you said, we didn't take care of the ball the way we should have so it's going to result in a transition point which they feed off of. MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student athletes? Q. Beth, just one more question. When you guys are hitting your shots from the outside, you guys are a very effective team. Tonight 0-16 from behind the arc what. Do you think was going on with the outside shooting and how does it affect your team when you guys aren't able to establish a threat from the outside? BETH MCKEOWN: I think that our team tries to play inside out, and we just really couldn't get a flow either way. I'm confident in all of my teammates' shooting, and sometimes you just have bad nights, and I know our next game we'll probably come out on fire, so try not to focus on that and just know that we'll hit the next shot. MODERATOR: Thanks, Beth and Amy. And, coach, did you want to have an opening statement and then have questions? COACH MCKEOWN: No, I'm fine. MODERATOR: We'll just open it up for questions. First question, please. Q. Coach, it seems like you were just kind of looking at the stat sheet that last little bit and just shook your head. I was just wondering what stands out to you the most in the stat sheet. COACH MCKEOWN: The fact that we scored 11 points in the second half. You know, just -- it's just disappointing, it's just -- that's the best way to describe it. We played with a lot of heart all year, missed a lot of easy shots some of that was Michigan State. That was us but, you know, score 25 points in a tournament game in the second round or, you know, or the second night, that shouldn't happen. Q. When they got on that 19-0 run, how hard was that to break that momentum that they had built up? COACH MCKEOWN: You have to score. When you can't score -- we defended Michigan State, I thought, pretty well, especially in the first half, and I feel we defended them pretty well at the game in East Lansing, you know. But we scored -- you know, the best way to stop runs is to score, and we couldn't do that. Q. How did you see Amy's third and then fourth foul kind of impact the flow of the game for you guys and sort of the way that things evolved from that point? COACH MCKEOWN: Well, I don't -- you know, I don't have a film so I can't -- I really don't know. I just have to go with what they said. I don't know. You know, Michigan State is a very physical team defensively and, you know, I haven't seen -- I haven't seen a monitor play or whatever. Q. I was wondering if you could talk after tonight, what do you think makes Michigan State such an effective defensive team? What do they do right? COACH MCKEOWN: Well, I think the one thing when they're playing well defensively, when they are able to switch and not get hurt in match-ups, they do a really good job. I think that's probably what they do better than anybody in our league. And they have a lot of players that are interchangeable. In the game at Michigan State we took advantage of that a little bit and spread the floor, made shots. We had a lot of chances. You know, I think it was a tied game with four or five minutes to go, three minutes, I don't remember. But we played well and we were able to take advantage of some of those switches. Tonight they stayed in front of us, did a much better job and, again, we -- you know, they play the winner of, whatever, this game, so it will be interesting to see tomorrow. But when they switched, if you don't take advantage of it, then they keep you in front and they're really physical, you know, they make up for some of their lack of size, so to speak. Shot blockers. Q. I know a coach never wants to talk about fatigue playing a role, but do you think there was any difference with Michigan State not having played in like a week or so and you guys had to play a grueling game last night? COACH MCKEOWN: That's a good question. That's a good question. I didn't feel that way today. I thought we had a good day. I thought we were ready coming in. I didn't feel like -- and sometimes when you get to play the night before it gives you a little momentum. You know, you get to shoot. Obviously shooting here last night didn't help us shoot tonight. I don't know, maybe -- maybe the wind got in or, you know, Reggie Miller ghost popped up or something. I don't know. But we shot the ball horrifically, as you said. MODERATOR: Any other questions? Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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