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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 1, 2012Taylor AltonSuzy MerchantPorsche PooleINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan State – 97 THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant as well as student‑athletes Porsché Poole and Taylor Alton. Coach, opening comments. COACH MERCHANT: Well, it seemed like the day was never going to end. You're waiting for that 8:30 mark. It was kind of a long day. But I thought our kids really came out focused. I think our second half was better than our first half, certainly. But I thought we did some really good things. I like we were able to spread the minutes with nobody really playing more than 20minutes. J.T. played 26minutes, but everybody was 20 or less. So that was a really nice opportunity. And I think we were led, again, by at this time of year you really need your upperclassmen, your seniors, to step up, and these two next to me certainly did that and set the tone for everybody else to kind of follow suit. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Porsché or Taylor, how does it feel to sort of get a game under your belt and sort of maybe develop a little bit of a comfort level heading into the tournament now? TAYLOR ALTON: I think this was a good game for us, just coming in. We talked about it's going to be hard playing four games in four days, but I think for us it was really good, get on the floor. We were really talking about it like it's a good chance for us to feel out the floor, get a game under our belt, like you said, and just kind of get better ourselves so we can, you know, really make a strong push these last three games, which is our goal, to be here on Sunday. So for us, I think, it was a good opportunity just to kind of warm up a little bit and obviously make some good things happen. Q. Did you have any idea this was going to be a 3‑point shooting contest kind of? PORSCHÉ POOLE: No, we just took what the defense gave us. Today we happened to be on. Usually we drive to the basket and try to get shots in the lane, but today we just happened to be open for 3s, and we hit them. THE MODERATOR: Taylor? TAYLOR ALTON: It did go a little bit back and forth, so we want to focus on that for future games, just that we're not trading baskets so much. But the rims were feeling good tonight. Q. For both of you, looking ahead to Purdue, it's a team you guys played recently. How do you guys match up with them? And you guys beat them by a lot the last time. And they beat you by a lot the first time. So how do you see it? COACH MERCHANT: That was an overtime game. Q. Still 15points. COACH MERCHANT: I don't consider overtime games beating them by a lot. PORSCHÉ POOLE: You know, I think Coach put a great plan together, personnel‑wise, how to guard different players. And, you know, it really has to start with defense. We have to get out, get stops, try to run. And the last game, a lot of people stepped up on their playing, played great defense. That's what we're going to need tomorrow. TAYLOR ALTON: We even talked about it in the locker room just now. Our first meeting obviously was by far the worse game probably in the Big Ten. Then when we got them at home, it really wasn't our best performance either. So, you know, I think we're just going to kind of focus on us, like Porsché said, work on defense and just do what we can do to kind of stop who we need to and be successful that way. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, you talked about being able to get players, a lot of different players, minutes. Can you talk specifically about Becca Mills and Jasmine Hines showing something off the bench as freshmen? COACH MERCHANT: Yeah, it was a good start to their Big Ten Tournament, that's for sure. But I think they were led‑‑ as I mentioned in my opening statement, I think Lykendra didn't play a lot of minutes, got into some foul trouble. I thought she was aggressive out of the gate. I thought Porsché and Taylor set the tone, too. I think, as I said, they followed suit. They're talented kids. The thing with Jasmine Hines, she could do more of that if she makes her free throws, and today was a good night for her at the free‑throw line. And she's kind of been suspect there at times, so it was really nice to see her knock down some free throws. That obviously put her in double‑digit scoring. And I thought Becca really gave us some good minutes, too. I mean, she was really aggressive offensively. I thought she played some solid defense as well. So I thought they both gave us really, really good quality minutes off the bench as freshmen. Q. How do you see the way you guys match up against Purdue, obviously a really tight tough one the last time in overtime you played them? COACH MERCHANT: Good correction, Josh. You know, they're really, really talented. I mean, they're big. They're athletic inside. They can block shots. Their guard play is as good as anybody in the league. I think they're led with a great player in Rayburn, and then you've got Moses and KK, and I think their depth and their ability to change who they are offensively and defensively is a challenge. I mean, they can put Antionette Howard at the 3, and then the next possession they can move her to a 4. And they become a little smaller, a little bit quicker. So they can just kind of change with who they're playing. And their depth is obviously really impressive. And they've got a senior group. They've got five or six seniors or so that have been here and done that. And so it's going to be a tough challenge. They run great stuff. I mean, Sharon does an amazing job there. I think she's really got them playing well, and they had a little bump in the road like we all do in the league. It's a tough league. But, I mean, the last few games for them, I mean, winning at Michigan is a tough thing to do, certainly, then turning around and playing their last game against Indiana, I thought they played extremely well and shot the ball and got their transition game going. So it's going to be a battle for sure. And they're well coached and certainly battle tested. Q. Before the game you were asked about getting the win tonight being critical for your guys' NCAA tournament positioning. But I kind of get the sense from you that the job isn't done for your team. Could you talk about that a little bit? COACH MERCHANT: Well, I mean, the only way the job's not done for any team here is to win the whole thing. So that's kind of the goal. I think everybody wants to take it out of committee's hands. But we felt like it was important to win this one. I think you gotta call it kind of what it is. Indiana struggled a little bit this year. Hasn't been their best season. And so because of that, a loss here could put you in a tough position. I feel good about the way the team's performing, 20 wins. Our RPI is very good. We've got quality wins over Penn State twice, Nebraska, Purdue. So I feel good about our resumé. But it's just you're not in that realm defending yourself, and we have 11days until that selection show. So we're just going to try to do everything we can to put ourselves into position to be successful. Q. Lykendra got a lot of rest because of fouls. How crucial is it to keep her out of foul trouble? COACH MERCHANT: Yeah, I talked to her a little bit about that. I said, you know, it can't be a situation where‑‑ I play you by choice, not because I have to sit you down. So my thing to her is just being a little bit smarter. She's just an aggressive kid. And I thought she‑‑ it's really too bad she was in foul trouble, because you could just see she had that kind of look in her eye. I thought she was making some quality post moves down there and rebounding the ball and doing some things. So hopefully they let a few more things go. But she's got to be a lot smarter. Q. With so many young players on this team, how big was it for you to have so many people get in tonight and get into a rhythm and get some game action here in the tournament? COACH MERCHANT: I thought it was big. You look at our guard play. Kiana and J.T. played the point for us tonight, and they had nine assists between them and no turnovers. And you throw Ché in there and you're looking at 11, 12 assists and one turnover. So I felt like our‑‑ the one thing we talked to J.T. about was, you know, Kiana has never been here before, as good as she is, making All‑Freshman team and being a solid staple for us. We didn't anticipate anything but her best effort and for her to be the player she's been. But you just don't know. And J.T., this was her third trip here. This is her third time around. We talked about as a group we felt like her and A.P. were going to be extremely critical coming off the bench because they had the experience and the wherewithal and understanding of what's at stake. You really hoped Becca and Jas Hines would do what they could and Schiff was going to give you kind of her mad‑dog minutes, as we call them. I guess when I look at it, you know, I felt like it was a quality performance and we were able to rest some key kids. So that was good. Q. You were able to limit Indiana, Sinclair to just four points, two in each half. Can you talk about the game plan and how important it was not let her get going tonight? COACH MERCHANT: That was big. That was the kid we were first and foremost worried about out of the gates. Kind of ranked them a little bit in order. And I thought she was the one we needed to do a great job on. And you could see when Jasmine went down for them that she had really elevated her ability to score so much so that Wisconsin went to a box and one against her. And she's a very talented quick release shooter and a pull‑up jump shooter. So we felt it really important that we took care of her. The two kids that I was frustrated with, our team, a little bit that bothered me that got away from us were the Goodwin and McCurty kid, Quaneisha, because those two kids were their X factor kids we felt, and Indiana is a team that you don't know always who is going to come to play. But those two kids can get it going. One has enough in her game that she can‑‑ so I was disappointed in how we defended her in the first half, and same thing with Quaneisha, because I just felt like they did the things we said they could do and we just didn't really respond well, so I was disappointed in those two things. But to answer your first part, I really thought we did a good job on Sinclair and worked extremely hard to limit her touches. And when she did, make sure they were challenged shots. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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