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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2013Suzy MerchantBecca MillsJasmine ThomasHOFFMAN ESTATES, ILLINOIS Michigan State – 54 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Head Coach Suzy Merchant and Becca Mills and Jasmine Thomas. Opening comments, Coach. COACH MERCHANT: We're happy to have a chance to play tomorrow, that's for sure, and give all the credit to these guys and the ones in the locker room. Our defense has been the thing that has helped us succeed. And it's hard to defend Penn State and keep them to a place where our offense could compete. And we didn't do it for the two times we played them. They were in the 70s, and we're not a real high‑scoring team, but we rely on our defense. So to see our defense come to fruition tonight, I'm very, very proud of them and feel good about the win. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Jasmine, what were you able to do with your speed, especially in the second half, to kind of change the game for your team? JASMINE THOMAS: I don't know. The guards played us up tight, real close, even before we started our dribble. And just to try to create space a little bit just with that first step. But I don't know, I mean, it was to my advantage, I guess. Q. Becca, just kind of talk about that 10‑0 run you guys went on after they pulled within one on the Lucas 3, 34‑33. You hit a big 3 during the run, and just kind of talk about what worked well for you guys there. BECCA MILLS: We needed to pick up our defense.  And I think after I hit the 3, it kind of got us pumped up. And I think when we hit big shots like that, it propels us in defense and makes us step up. Q. Jasmine, was there a point where you just said that you needed to look to score a little more today in that second half? JASMINE THOMAS: Actually, I was thinking more give other people shots, because my jump shot‑‑ I didn't feel as comfortable shooting it tonight. But I don't know. It was just take what they give you. Q. Jasmine, I was watching you part of the game and you had a real like blank look on your face, even when you guys had‑‑ you just kept‑‑ seemed really calm and cool the whole time. What was going through your mind? This is obviously a big game, senior, and you're trying to get to the title game, but you still seemed pretty calm like the entire time. JASMINE THOMAS: I mean, yeah, because it's like a 40‑minute game. And Penn State is the type of team where they can get it going instantly. And there's no time to celebrate. You just gotta stay in the game, stay in the moment. And keeping that calm presence, I think, with my teammates looking at me, it satisfies them as well. Q. Maggie Lucas on Penn State, how were you able to keep poised when she was making 3s, especially in the last couple of minutes? JASMINE THOMAS: Yeah, she's a shooter. She's a scorer. I mean, we kind of know automatically just kind of going in. But we just have to tighten up and try to get through those screens even better the next time. Q. Jasmine, how much did that tape on your hand affect you tonight? Obviously you still were able to lead the team. Was that affecting you at all? JASMINE THOMAS: It was uncomfortable. I mean, I'm not going to put blame on the tape. But I mean, it is what it is. I don't think it was a contributing factor. Q. Becca, you guys were down 16‑5 at the start. Did you think that maybe you guys were in serious trouble at that point? BECCA MILLS: No. I think that Penn State definitely is a team of runs. They came out really hot on us. And we needed to take a deep breath. We were playing too fast and slow down and get back to our game and get stops on defense, because that's what we do well. And then when we do that, we play better on offense. Q. Jasmine, just being a senior now, being able to play for a Big Ten championship, in the last sort of second half of the season, you came up, really clutched for your team in a lot of different situations. What does this mean for you to play for a championship at the end of it all? JASMINE THOMAS: I mean, we're there now. I mean, that was the plan coming in, to try to fight to the end. And now that we're here, we just gotta give it our all tomorrow. Q. Becca, you had nine rebounds. Jasmine Hines had 14. Could you speak to her rebounding performance? BECCA MILLS: Jasmine was a beast today. Nikki Greene is not a little girl. She was battling down there, and I think Jas worked really hard. And you could see it with all her rebounds. She did a really good job for us. COACH MERCHANT: Jasmine Hines is not a little girl. Of the petite ones. (Laughter). THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, I asked Jasmine how calm she was during the game. Does that really help your team during those runs? She just seemed the whole time that she was very flank and very focused in. COACH MERCHANT: It helps, because I'm a crazy maniac, so we balance each other out, I guess. Yeah, I think one thing, when Jasmine went to a point guard school one summer and she came back with a lot of notes, and one of the things she told me that she learned there was be the face your team needs to see. And that's a quote that she came back from. And she always kind of refers back to it. And it was interesting you talked about that, because in the past, I think I would read her wrong, you know, when she's like that. And probably did. And this year, just really getting to watch her mature and her game develop and that‑‑ always going back to that's the face her team needs to see, calm, poised. Becca commented on that. We played way too fast and too panicky out of the gate, and Jas is one of those kids that can stay calm in the heat of the battle. So that was big. In fact, when we would go to our timeouts, she would actually kind of take a little bit of a walk away from her team, I think just to get herself together, get her heart rate down, to get her focused, and to keep that same face that her team needed to see every possession. Q. After that slow first half, especially shooting for you guys, what changed in the second half, more efficient, better numbers? COACH MERCHANT: Well, we knew we had to come out and be a better offensive team in the second half, because I just felt like we took a stick and hit a big beehive. We just angered a little bit a bunch of bees in there because of their offense is so potent. And so I said to the girls, it's like we know they're going to come out. There's aggressive attacking, crazy scores that can take over games in seconds. And if you watch all their film‑‑ in fact, we showed a clip at film today‑‑ or yesterday where in the Ohio State game, in 35seconds, they scored‑‑ Maggie Lucas got the 3 and got fouled. They got a steal, hit a 3, and Bentley scored a layup in about a 35‑ 40‑second span. It's like 8, 9, 10 kind of thing. It was that potent. So we talked about being aggressive, but at the same time, we had to play slower. We felt like we were playing rushed and rushing our shots and rushing our reads and just weren't ourselves offensively. And I thought getting stops helped us a little bit because we were able to control the tempo at that point. Q. Can you expand on the defense a little bit? Like you said, you gave them in the 70s earlier, and it was 16‑5, and then you outscored them 49 to 30 the rest of the way. It's their season low in points. That's a phenomenal effort. Expand your thoughts a little bit on your defensive effort tonight. COACH MERCHANT: We did a couple of different things to Penn State. We call it downing a ball screen, where we wouldn't let them use it, and we kind of gate‑trapped it to the strong side. And the one thing, if you watch them in their triangle offense, every guard, they'll put Maggie Lucas sometimes at the top of the key, so that whole lane line is open to the middle. And so we really talked about forcing our foot angles to the sideline and never getting beat middle. Now, late, I thought we broke down. But we didn't let them get middle and we bound ball screens at the wing and in the corner. So basically what that means is you're going to say you're not going to come over the top of the ball screen and use it. And they do a lot of damage that way. The other thing that I thought was big to make sure that they could score in a range that we could compete with them was not give it back to them for turnovers, for touchdowns. We had 29 points in turnovers, I think, the last time we played them. I don't know exactly, but I think it was somewhere around there. And I think tonight they had six. Our goal was 10, 12 at the most. But we could not give them points that they didn't earn. And I thought our kids did a nice job of that. Q. Could you speak about Jasmine Hines's play today? COACH MERCHANT: Yeah, she was big. And she had been struggling a little bit there down the stretch. And I think you can get in your own way sometimes. And she was overthinking, overtrying. So sometimes you just gotta sit down for a while. As much as we needed her, I think when she wasn't playing, it frustrated her. So when she came out, she was more focused on really trying to perform to the best of her ability. We were winning. We didn't have to have her. But it certainly humbled her a little bit, and I think she wants to contribute. She gets people in foul trouble because she's so powerful. And tonight, it's the best I've ever seen her defensive rebound, and that was probably more important than the offensive rebounding. Q. Same question that was asked of Jasmine: What does this mean especially for the seniors? I know Schiffauer hit the shot that gave you guys the lead for the first time, and then obviously Jasmine's performance tonight. What does the chance to play for the championship mean for that? COACH MERCHANT: It's really big. You always come here with that intent. And you always leave sometimes when you come up short a little disappointed. I mean, you know you're looking forward to the post season, but it's a long time to wait. And it's nice to have a chance to play for that kind of hardware and that kind of trophy. And I'm so proud of this group. We even lost Akyah Taylor in the game yesterday, so now our rotation is even smaller. She's not even here. She had to go home. She has a fracture in her face and a concussion. I don't know. We're just going to go to the hotel and get in a bubble and come back here tomorrow at 3:00 at this point. Q. Piggybacking off of that, halfway through you had the foul trouble with Pickrel and Schiffauer, and the others a little bit later, the players were gassed. Like you mentioned, Taylor's not in there. Just what can you say about your team's fight, I guess, considering all of that and then to sort of battle back at the end of the game? COACH MERCHANT: Well, especially how Penn State plays. It's not like you can take a break and get your composure, dribbling the ball up and take a few seconds. I mean, they are a full court, in your face, pressure, deny, hard headed/trap ball screens for 40 straight minutes. That is emotionally, mentally, and physically taxing on a group of about six or eight kids. So that's what makes me proud is a lot of people can play with Penn State for 23 minutes, maybe 30, maybe 32, maybe 36. But it's hard to finish against them because of the consistency at which they perform and their defense and their offensive transition. So I was very pleased. We gave up some offensive rebounding opportunities just to be sure that they couldn't get easy baskets in transition. So I'm proud of them. I really am. I thought it was one of the most kind of inspiring‑‑ it was just fun to watch a band of kids just fight and compete and not everything go their way, but find a way. Q. Top two seeds are now out in this tournament, what does that say about the depth of this conference, with you guys and Purdue advancing to the Finals tomorrow? COACH MERCHANT: We've been talking about that, and a lot of people have asked me through the media‑‑ and I agree with that‑‑ I think it's just like the men's side. It's just a bizarre league in that if you don't bring high energy and focus and aggressiveness and play and compete at a high level, you could get beat. The one thing I'll say about playing Purdue, I actually texted Sharon this morning and wished her luck or whatever, and we're good friends, and I told her the story at 6:00 this morning, my two‑year‑old jumps in bed and says: Mommy, can I get some juice? And I said okay. So I go over get him juice. And I turn around and my two‑year‑old is sitting in bed and he's going: Boiler up, (clapping), boiler up, (clapping), over and over. I went, oh, my gosh, what's happening. My Spartan is a Purdue boilermaker. That's how I started my morning at 6:15. So I thought Sharon would get a kick out of that. But now I'm going to put my kid in a closet. Is that bad? Probably bad. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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