|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 4, 2017Suzy MerchantBranndais AgeeTori JankoskaIndianapolis, Indiana Maryland - 100, Michigan State - 89 THE MODERATOR: The Spartans are here. Coach, an opening statement and then we'll go to the students. COACH MERCHANT: I guess Michigan State and Maryland were not good games today for either side, mine or Izzo's. But give Maryland a lot of credit. I thought they played with great toughness and energy. Their size and their strength is usually what gets people in the paint. We tried some different things, and we did the first time we played them. And it did open up some things, but I thought, you know, we kept cutting it. We just couldn't get over the hump. We'd get it to 5, get it to 7 and then they'd make a play or get a rebound putback. It's difficult, the free throw disparity. Whenever you play them, it makes it difficult sometimes to kind of slow the game down enough to give you some points with the clock not ticking. But they're a good team, really good team, and led by two very good players in Brionna Jones and Walker-Kimbrough and wish them luck tomorrow and in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Tori, could you talk about your 3-point shooting there in the third quarter? I think you guys knocked down 7 of ten to get back? TORI JANKOSKA: We're a good 3-point shooting team, I think, one of the best since I've been here. And when you're scoring 3s and they're scoring 2s it helps you get back in the game. And we were moving the ball and getting open people and trying to get ourselves back. Q. Tori, obviously 89 points is usually enough to win a game, you would hope. But they made a lot of runs -- you would make a run and they countered everything. Was it just hard to guard them? TORI JANKOSKA: We know they're a great team. They're ranked top 5 in the country. It's for a reason. They have players that can score from all angles. You try and double one person and you leave another McDonald's All-American wide open. So it's tough. But there's some times where we just didn't get rebounds, defensive rebounds, when we needed them, and those are hard to guard. And they'd go on a run, and that's the sign of a good team. Q. Tori, in this state there was a legend called Scott Skiles. And I had somebody sitting next to me that said you kind of emulated him a little bit today, your toughness and fierceness. Where was the drive at, your last game in the Big Ten, and comment on that, please? TORI JANKOSKA: No, I don't think that's where it comes from. I think it comes from every game. I think that's pretty similar to how I play every single game. And when you play a team like Maryland, they're built on toughness and rebounding and packing it in the paint and driving. To be able to beat them you've got to raise your level of toughness, no matter what. Q. Branndais, you've been good at this tournament for a long time. You had a really good solid game today. Talk about what it was like facing Jones, Shatori, people like that? BRANNDAIS AGEE: It's always great to play a top-ranked team. We fought hard we just didn't come out with the win. It's always good to play a good team. Q. Suzy, tough in the moment, obviously, but to take away from these three games, even there's a loss, you guys played well against a top 5 team. Is there something you can spin forward to the NCAAs here? COACH MERCHANT: I think so. I think we've been doing a good job of having multiple people score the ball. There was times earlier in the season where we'd struggle with that. And these two right here have been the most consistent and really come on, and we've got Taya playing really well. I think Jenna's starting to come around a little bit. We have kids that sprinkle in a little bit. It's nice to see Coco have some confidence and play well yesterday. That really helps. Sometimes it's Taryn and Kennedy helped us win a couple of games when we played Penn State. It's been nice to see us kind of come together. I like how we share the ball. We had 23 assists on 34 field goals. So I think that part's really good. But there's some areas we need to improve on for sure. But give Maryland a lot of credit. Like B said, they're a very good team. We played them in the championship game last year. And we all kind of had that feeling of wanting a little revenge and get a chance to get back at them. But to their credit -- I think the Slocum kid is the difference. I mean, she had like eight in that fourth quarter, whatever. When we would get to a hump, she'd hit two 3s. And the one at the end the quarter she was at like 28 feet. She's a heck of a player, and I think she gives them a head to a monster that they really haven't had. Q. (Question off microphone)? COACH MERCHANT: Yeah, I think so. They deserve it. We've been going pretty hard. And just the way the season is a little bit. So I'll give them a couple of days and we'll regroup and let their bodies heal a little bit, and then we've got to get back at it. The thing is you don't want to get too out of rhythm. We're playing really well. Coming in here, we won four of our last five and won a couple here. We're playing good basketball. I don't want to lose that either. But there's some things we can work on, improve on, and keep their legs fresh and stay mentally fresh at the same time. But we'll give them some time, for sure. Q. Brionna Jones, 32 points, nine rebounds, what was she doing to give you guys fits? COACH MERCHANT: Can't stop her. We tried to double her. Last time we didn't double her and she didn't score that many points. I really don't know how to guard the girl. I thought, oh, we're going to double her and she's going to struggle. And she had 32 points. We couldn't keep her off the board. She had six offensive rebounds. That's the other thing. When you play Maryland, it isn't the play -- Tori, I think you were trying to box her out. And Tori boxes her out and she gets the foul. So, I mean, the kid is just a beast around the bucket. There's not a better post player in the country as a true 5. Maybe the kid at South Carolina, is a little more mobile, but in terms of efficiency, kid shoots 70 percent from the floor, makes her free throws. She's just a load to move. And if you double her, she's learned how to pass it out. That's the thing that earlier in her career you could get her on. She was a left-shoulder-only kid as a freshman. Learned to be able to do a little bit more in her sophomore year. Started handling doubles late sophomore, all of her junior year. Now as a senior, she's a point guard down there. I give her a lot of credit for improving her game. She's lost a lot of weight and committed to her fitness level. I don't know. I thought we could double her and make a difference. But clearly it didn't matter, it didn't work this game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|