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BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 1, 2012Sasha ChaplinFelisha Legette-JackINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Michigan State – 97 THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Indiana head coach Felisha Legette‑Jack as well as Sasha Chaplin, and we'll go straight to questions for Sasha. Q. Sasha, could you give us your thoughts on the game in general? SASHA CHAPLIN: I just think we went out there and just fought to the best of our abilities, just trying to keep fighting, stay positive throughout the game. And Michigan State played a very well game, and we just have to learn from this and get better for next season. Q. Can you talk about them out there? Looked like they blitzed you guys like the start of the second half, getting the reads and everything else. SASHA CHAPLIN: I think just playing out there, it was just‑‑ I think we were anxious to get out there and just play. And Michigan State just came out there in the second half and kind of started shooting, hitting 3s, and all we could do is just try to stay composed as much as possible and try to calm down and just play Indiana basketball. Q. What did you feel like, maybe it was the 3‑pointers or something else, what was the biggest‑‑ the hardest thing to defend, the biggest difference between you guys and Michigan State tonight? SASHA CHAPLIN: I think the biggest thing for us was definitely the turnovers. It kind of played a key factor in having them get transition baskets, which kind of shifted the momentum. So that was the biggest thing for us. Q. First, the injury with Jasmine, more specifically the injury to Georgia, how did you have to adjust your role on the team especially as the big man down low? SASHA CHAPLIN: Just knowing that two of our players got hurt, it was an adjustment. But we've been through this situation before, and the team just try to come together and play to the best of our ability. As far as my position, I just tried to go out there and play basketball as best as I could and help the team as much as possible. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Finish up with questions for Coach. Q. Could you just talk a little bit about Candyce and Quaneisha getting some solid minutes off the bench and what that says about the future for the team? COACH LEGETTE‑JACK: First I'd like to congratulate Michigan State on their performance tonight. I thought Suzy did a great job of coaching. Her team's responded well to her. Candyce and Quaneisha is kind of interesting. I think that Michigan State has a real special point guard, because usually freshmen don't play like that. They usually need time to grow into a system. And clearly our kids are trying to grow into the system. And it's really fun to see Candyce really emerging into that system late in the season. And this game was a very tough game to play against because that speed was tremendous. But I think she's played a little‑‑ played more composed than she did in the past. I think this summer we'll get her stronger and getting her watching a lot more film so she can become a better point guard for us, along with Andrea Newbauer, but I thought Quaneisha showed grit. She's a kid that's really, really a passionate person and really wants success, and sometimes she's in her own way. But I like our chances in the future with her. I think she can catch the ball, run the floor, and shoot 3s. Once you get the hang of the dynamics of these officials and how officials referee at this level, in high school it's not as fast and she's not used to that. And it's the talent level in the Big Ten is tremendous. And she had to make that adjustment as a really frail‑bodied freshman. But I think she's going to get better. And I like the fact that she's on our team. Q. How frustrating was it in the second half when Michigan State started hitting all their 3s, went 7‑for‑10 in the second half? What was it like trying to defend that? COACH LEGETTE‑JACK: I thought we played silly basketball, because I thought that it was very easy to find 33 since she was coming up the trail. And we needed to adjust to where she was. And she hit those first two 3s and it was like: Prove it. She shoots 80percent from behind the arc. She's four for five from the free‑throw line. She's not coming in. That should have been an easy stop. You know 11 hitting 3s and 52 hitting 3s, that's a little different, because that's not statistically sound that they're going to be the ones. But that 33, she's the one that burst it wide open early in the second half. And that's something we talked about in the locker room. So we didn't adjust from the locker room to the court. And we had a senior player out there. So it was a little frustrating. Q. You talk about Quaneisha. Talk about the veteran leadership on this time. You'll have Aulani, Jasmine and who is the other one, Sasha, they'll be back next year. What do you think those players will bring to this team for next season? COACH LEGETTE‑JACK: I know Aulani was hurting. This was not a great performance by Aulani Sinclair. I know she want a do‑over for this game. There's no do‑overs in the game of basketball. It's all about the next game. There's no next games all summer long. I hope she'll let this one burn a little bit because no one can stop Aulani but Aulani. She's good enough. We had plays for her and she didn't come through as much as she should have. And so she's going to feel it the most this summer. I thought Sasha gave her best. Those early two fouls, the one was undisciplined. The other one was just her foot was there and the kid ran over it and you call it, you call it. It's a foul. But nothing you can do about that. But her being on the bench early did not help us. And when she did got back out there she'd done some fun things. So a lot of players that were going against that hurt us that season has been seniors. So I think Sasha will have a chance to show her ability. And what's neat about Sasha, she lasted the entire season. This is the first time ever that she played an entire year. We're thrilled by that. That is the blessing that we talked about in the locker room. So hopefully they will get that. Jasmine is a kid that's never been coached. She's just been great. And this was kind of good to have her sit down and watch and sense how the game feels from the bench perspective. And the role she can play for us next year. I'm not certain what her role will be. I'm going to be curious how she learned. And I know she's an unbelievable kid. She wants to get better. But until we get her out there again, we won't know. Q. Coach, what do you feel like the team has to do either next year or the following years to get to the level of a Michigan State or a Purdue or the top teams in the Big Ten? COACH LEGETTE‑JACK: You mean get back to that level? Because we've been to that level. And it's unfortunate that our injuries were in key positions and it didn't allow us to be at that level again. But I like our youth. I like our fight. I'm not certain what team could go through what we went through and handle it as gracefully as we did. It's unfortunate. It is what it is. But I like the kids that we've got coming in. I like the kids that's in the bush that we're trying to get in the hand. And I think that our kids are going to continue to grow. That leadership was up in the air this year. Nobody wanted to take ownership of this team. And it hasn't had that cultural experience yet. But we have to get this team beyond 20, 25 wins so they can understand what it feels like to win here women's basketball. I think once we get that feeling in our hands, I think it's going to really be exciting times at Indiana for both basketball programs. But we have to figure out how to get them there and we're going to have to get lucky with some injuries. We were lucky my first three years we didn't get injured. We had seven players. We had nine players. We had 12 players, and we got no injuries. Significant. So we were able to push back the fear of success. And we felt that success. In the last couple of years, injuries and come to the edge and they're afraid and they turn around. And that's been an interesting situation. But I like our young kids. They're wide‑eyed. Last night they were in my room and they really believed they were going to have great success today. They really, really believed it. It didn't happen. But I like the fact that they went into the fight thinking they could actually win. And at this stage in the game, when you've won six games, have the eyes look like that. I saw what eyes look like when you lose when you think you can win and you don't believe it. But these eyes didn't say that to me last night. And I just really love these kids. And these kids are fighters, and we certainly haven't won a lot of games on the basketball court but I can promise you one thing: These will be winners in life. Q. You talked about Michigan State the second half run, but it seemed like that momentum really started in the first half. You were able to get within 10 and they got a couple of layups, and got within 11 and couple more layups and that jumper right before halftime which looked like pretty good defense. Seemed like it maybe took the air out a little bit. COACH LEGETTE‑JACK: Starting the game off minus the ball twice, two turnovers. With silly turnovers like that, that's silly. That's silly. You can't give a team like Michigan State who is an NCAA team the ball right away. You give people like Porsché Poole momentum and energy, and that's veteran players making those decisions. Rather, you get a five‑second call, give the ball to the official, get back on defense. But we threw the ball just all over the place right away. And so that's not going to help you. Then we fought and they capped their momentum and it's herky jerky, they have a 12‑point team. You can't tit for tat with a team like that. You have to get a couple of stops. We weren't quick laterally on the perimeter. We were addressing that need‑‑ and our recruiting class that's coming in next year. But we weren't really quick, and we tried to play the matchup with this group. And Michigan State brought out the water. So we had to go play the player, and we had to back off because they were so quick. Backed off, they hit those 3s on us. We chess matched them. We had a lot of things in our tank to throw at them. Everything we threw at them, they were ready. Tonight the best team won. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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