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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2013Barnes AricoNya JordanRachel ShefferHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Michigan State – 62 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Kim Barnes Arico and student‑athletes Nya Jordan and Rachel Sheffer. COACH BARNES ARICO: I thought Michigan State played better than we did tonight. They were deserving to win the game. They were able to score and really limited our scoring opportunities. So I thought they were better than us tonight. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Rachel, what did you see different in them tonight than last time? RACHEL SHEFFER: I think they just attacked us defensively. We really couldn't come together defensively, and we couldn't carry over with defensive stops to our offense and nothing really was going for us tonight. Q. In the second half, similar to the first game this year, second half a big run by them, or at least in some part of the second half. What really made that happen? You played in East Lansing, they opened up with a 7‑0 run, start the second half to expand their lead to 16. In this game, take that 14‑0 run, push to all the way it to a 17‑point lead. What do you think caused that? NYA JORDAN: They scored a lot of transition points. We had a hard time locating in transition, and I think that's what started it off. Also, like Rachel said, we struggled on defense and they were able to score. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Obviously when you took the job, you knew of‑‑ early on you found out about the history with Michigan State, at least in recent years. After this season, do you feel like this is going to be a very‑‑ a much more heated rivalry as far as on the court from here on out, as far as you see it? COACH BARNES ARICO: I hope so. I've always heard about Michigan State, and I've watched them play for years and years, because traditionally they've had great teams. So they've always been known as a really good and established program. And obviously, when I came to Michigan, I knew that would be our in‑state rival and a big rivalry for our kids as well as our universities. They have a great program, a program that we aspire to be. This year, our seniors were able to come away with a victory at home. We played really well against them. And hopefully, my goal is obviously to get our program to be a national contender year in, year out. So that would be on the level of a Michigan State program. Q. How do you feel about your team right now, 21 wins, looking for the NCAA Tournament? COACH BARNES ARICO: If you asked me 24 hours ago, I thought we played exceptionally well. And if you ask me today, I thought we struggled a little bit. I think most teams this point of the year, a lot depends on who you play and when you play them. And obviously, Michigan State did a great job against us today, but I feel like we've got a really good team and we've had a pretty good year. And we could do a good job in the NCAA Tournament. We could catch somebody off guard and we got a lot of different weapons, and when we were playing well, I think we could beat a lot of good people. Michigan State had a third shot at us, and they were fired up about it. So it was a tough matchup for us, and I thought they played pretty well tonight. Q. Did you think your offensive struggles compared to your defensive struggles in the second half, too? COACH BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I mean, you tell a kid don't worry about what happening on offense, just get stops on defense, and you hope that they buy into that. But I think when you can't score, you can't score, you can't score, it's like you watch football teams play, if their defense is out there the whole time, you really feel like they have no shot. I felt like our defense got worn down, especially when we couldn't score, for sure. Q. You mentioned this is your third time playing in the state, how do you feel about going into a tournament where you'll probably be playing someone‑‑ or someone's going to be looking at you for the first time? COACH BARNES ARICO: I'm excited about that, actually. I think State, obviously, did a tremendous job on Kate, as have most of the teams in our league. I think they've done a great job on Jenny, too, who had an unbelievable game against them last time. So for me, from a coaching standpoint, it's exciting when you get to play some new competition and people who haven't seen your kids play and really only watch it on film. And sometimes film doesn't really do you justice. So I'm excited about the opportunity to play new people in the NCAA Tournament. Q. What can you say about Bell's defense on Thompson? Seemed like for the longest, she might not get a 3‑pointer there, which is obviously uncharacteristic? COACH BARNES ARICO: I thought Bell's offense was unbelievable tonight. And her defense was great, too. But she came out of the gates and hurt us offensively. I think she might have had their first ten points. So we expected her to do a great job defensively. She did a really good job defensively against Kate the last couple of times, but I thought she really stepped up her game on the offense tonight as well. She's a good player. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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