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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2012Lykendra JohnsonSuzy MerchantJasmine ThomasINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Purdue – 73 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant as well as student‑athletes Jasmine Thomas and Lykendra Johnson. Coach, opening statement? COACH MERCHANT: You have to give Purdue a lot of credit. I thought they came out of the gates really strong I thought both offensively and defensively. I thought defensively they got into Kiana and we couldn't get a flow going early offensively, and that's kind of her responsibility, to make sure that we're flowing a little bit from that side. And obviously Brittany Rayburn was insane. That's the best way to put it. And I just‑‑ it was disappointing that it took us that long. I thought J.T. did a great job on her late in the second half, or three‑quarters‑‑ or half, about six minutes into the second half. She was really in her and forcing her to put the ball on the floor. But it was disappointing we didn't have an answer for that. We weren't physically and mentally as sharp as we needed to be, and give Purdue a lot of credit. I thought they really played and really played well. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Lykendra, how tough was picking up that second foul? It seemed like you were in a good rhythm, and as soon as you went to the floor, Brittany got hot and the game really changed. LYKENDRA JOHNSON: It's always tough picking up fouls where I shouldn't pick up fouls. I hurt my team too many times, and I gotta mature from that area. I mean, that's killed my career being in foul trouble. So it changed the momentum of the game and I just let my team down. Q. Jasmine, what was it like watching Brittany get off like that? JASMINE THOMAS: I mean, definitely it's never good, especially if she's hitting everything. I mean, literally everything. But, I mean, defensively, it was just hard to watch, just because you know you want to go out there and stop that player. But you still have to have somebody to step up and do that job as well. And, I mean, it's a team defensive thing. It was team defense on her the whole time. Q. Lykendra, what do you think was the biggest difference between the last game you played against them a little less than two weeks ago, where you were able to win in this game, where it seemed like you guys couldn't find a rhythm? LYKENDRA JOHNSON: We just needed one more person to come alive on the offensive side.  I think nobody deferred from not trying to score, but I think it was just tough to get somebody else going, when they was all up in our grill being real physical with us and basically getting us off our game. If we just had that one more person, we would have won this game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Suzy, how frustrating was it for you to watch Lykendra like that? COACH MERCHANT: Beyond frustrating. And it is just disappointing because we were prepared for everything they did. And we just didn't have theintent. And the difference was J.T. just decided‑‑ when she decided it wasn't going to happen and she got up into her. And we kept saying it and saying it. But there wasn't a whole lot of response. I could tell in the first four minutes we just were not as sharp as we needed to be. We have some transition rules, and, I mean, Porsché's responsible to block the basket, and every time the shot went up, she's still standing in the court. I got into her at the timeout. I just felt like it was fighting your own team a little bit to get what was important accomplished. So I was a little disappointed in that. And like L.J. said, I don't think we were offensively in the flow. And then obviously they got off to a great start. But it was frustrating. I'm not going to lie. We're kind of built to defend, and that was a little troublesome. And we're capable and athletic enough and we've done it against some really, really good players this year, and key people have done it. And it just didn't seem like we elicited enough intensity of a response. And we know she can hit them. She hit 12 against Minnesota. So, I mean, it was definitely part of the scouting report. Q. Porsché and Kiana have been playing well for you for a stretch the last couple of games, but tonight really struggled. What do you attribute that to and why was it such a tough night for them? COACH MERCHANT: I'm not sure. Maybe it's a question to ask them. I'm not sure where they were. But I didn't feel like they were mentally or physically the players that they had been. They were kind of in their own little world out there from a defensive perspective, from an offensive perspective. Hadn't seen that in a long, long time. And I just felt like there was no leadership from either one of them as players. And they had been doing a good job of that prior to this point. You know, we knew they were going to be physical with Porsché. And talked to her about really doing a better job of setting up her screens and from the tip. I mean, there were just things like that. Her safety position. She was just not as sharp and focused as she had been. And I felt the same way with Kiana. I think when Kiana is not strong and focused and someone's getting up in her to a point where she lets them, because she's capable of not, it's happened before where she just handles it, no big deal. I was disappointed and it causes everybody to play a little bit rattled. And I thought she got rattled tonight. And it affected both ends of the floor for us, her and Porsché. Q. Did you feel the second foul on Lykendra was a turning point in this game, and was there any part of you that thought maybe I should keep her out there with two fouls because she's playing so well? COACH MERCHANT: No. I know her. I've coached her for four years. The third was coming. I was happy to get her out before she got her third because we had to wait a long time. And I was really worried about it. She just doesn't do well in those situations. So I've just coached her long enough to know that‑‑ you know, I thought about it, but it was to the point where we were under‑‑ when I really thought about it, when they kind of pulled that stretch was later in that, in part of the first half, and it was like we need to ride that because we're going to need her, make a statement out of the gates. So I guess I felt like, yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, I think she gives us a lot of confidence in different ways. And it always does. Sometimes you can get away with it. But it definitely defensively bothered us. I thought Becca came in and just defensively was not very sharp, no matter if she's guarding a post or had to switch out onto a guard or was on a different situation, I just felt like she wasn't as sharp as she needed to be defensively. So it put us into a real mode. I mean, in the second half I was playing A.P. at the 4, just trying to get somebody in case we could switch out in those situations. She was defending the 4, playing the 3 at times. We were doing things that were a little outside the box from what we normally do. And a lot of it had to do with the situation that we were in because of L.J.'s foul situation. I mean, that charge was frustrating a little bit because I thought she‑‑ we know that about Rayburn, and she said she stopped and the kid fell. But I don't know. I have to watch it on film. But I told her, you know, you don't ever get the benefit of the doubt, L.J. They got a quick whistle for you, usually. Q. How do you compartmentalize sort of going into‑‑ potentially going into the NCAA tournament? Seemed like you were playing real well, winning five in a row in eight of nine versus the feeling after this one of just not playing very well? COACH MERCHANT: We played a bad 20minutes the first half. But the last 20 I thought we played well. I mean, we fouled them at the end. Gave them four, five free throws. I have to look exactly. But I know we fouled Moses twice. Might have been three people to the line. So, I mean, we outscored them in the second half. And we played hard. We were just in a little bit of a hole. I think you can build positive on the second half and the way we fought and competed. I thought we got some good minutes out of some other people. I mean, I thought that J.T. really sparked us, and, you know, that's something that I feel like we can build on. I mean, certainly disappointed with the loss, but I thought at least the second 20minutes, I thought we played good basketball. We really played good basketball. We were just a little bit in the hole. And we couldn't quite get a couple situations, whether it be the ball falling for us, we had a couple of puppies down there we missed, we had a defensive rebound scramble a couple of times where that would have gone our way, we probably could have done some things. So I guess I felt like‑‑ I don't think‑‑ I think you can build on that. I think we're an NCAA tournament team. I really do. I mean, we have 20 wins. We've got some key wins, playing really well down the stretch. We had one bad 20minutes and a kid that went absolutely insane. That doesn't happen very often, that situation where a kid is that hot. And so we can learn from it. But I don't feel like that hurt our postseason, and I was trying to build on the positive on the second half. And I think there's merit to that. It's not like you're trying to make something up. I really feel like we played hard and played well in the second half. We were just in a bit of a hole. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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