Michigan State 68, Northwestern 55
2/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2010
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Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On the importance of getting Northwestern Center Amy Jaeschke into foul trouble...
That was something we were hoping to do. We really wanted to go at her because we know how much she means to that team. I thought we did a nice job of attacking her on the block as well as off the dribble and their pressure. I was pleased with that; I thought that helped big for us in the first half especially.
On Lauren Aitch's 3-point shooting...
Both Lauren and Allyssa (DeHaan) are really good shooters and we do work on that. They shoot (3-pointers) in practice and there's a play that we run that gets them. One of these 3s was a play that we run to get her an open look at that spot and (DeHaan) does a really good job trailing and having her hands ready and ready to knock that shot down too.
On how the defense handled Northwestern guard Meshia Reed...
We were disappointed in how we handled her. We did a nice job of not fouling her this time, I thought last time she did a great job of creating contact. She got away from us and that was a little disappointing to us the first time that we played them, I thought that we chased them a little bit too much. She was kind of the key to that, she got them going there and really got to the foul line and we didn't really want to put them there because they're a great free throw shooting team.
On having a very balanced attack on offense...
Obviously that's kind of been something that we've been proud of all year, we go 9-10 deep. It's really good to see Lauren (Aitch) having some great minutes for us off the bench and a lot of energy. It definitely felt like Porschè (Poole) has been playing really well for us off the bench and doing a nice job. Cetera (Washington) has been giving us some good minutes, I thought she was a great rebounder for us. It just makes it kind of hard to key on certain people, it's like you get one thing stopped and you worry about Allyssa (DeHaan) and then somebody else steps up. It's been really fun to see them evolve and I think a big part of our success has been the defensive end and then the balance that we've had on the offensive end.
On Porschè Poole's performance...
She's a really good playmaker and very good at getting to the hole. She's knocking down her 3s right now too which obviously makes her a little bit harder to guard and she's a very good passer and has great vision on the court. I think she really can make people better around her. We like to put her in a lot of ball-screen action, and try to get her out in transition. Those are the two areas she excels in and I think she's doing a great job.
On whether she felt in control of the game despite the double-digit leads throughout the second half...
Northwestern is going to fight you to the end with the way they can shoot the ball. They have five people that can shoot 3s, you never feel 100 percent comfortable with that. I felt like we had it, but I just felt like you don't want to get too lackadaisical and comfortable. I thought we had a nice balance of attacking and trying to score, and getting some key stops as well.
On what she wants to see out of her team in this last month of play...
Probably just a little more consistency on the offensive end. I just feel like we have some spurts, where there might be a four or five minute spurt where we have some empty possessions. I'd like to see us do a better job of running offense where we're not having periods of empty possessions.
On Taja Wilson getting some playing time...
I think Taja (Wilson) does a really good job. She's had a really good week of practice. I felt like we were struggling defensively and I really believed Taja could go in there and make a difference for us and I thought she did a nice job. We really wanted to go after their post players, they all at one point had four fouls, and Taja is really good at getting fouls. She's very strong and powerful and she does a nice job of keeping her seal in there and being strong and she's a good free throw shooter. I really felt like she could have sparked us tonight, I talked to her about putting her in there and doing a better job defensively, and she did a nice job, I was really pleased with her minutes.
Northwestern Head Coach Joe McKeown
On the difference between the first and second game versus Michigan State...
Our biggest problem with Michigan State is finding ways to score and the game at Northwestern came down to the last 30 seconds. We had a six-point lead in the second half and I thought defensively we had control of the game. Tonight, I just felt they did a really good job getting inside our defensive and getting on the offensive players. We did a good job at the game in Chicago of not letting that happen and trying to limit them to one shot. Offensively, they're physical, they're aggressive. You need to screen and move to get better shots. And I thought that their defensive tonight was better.
On if Amy Jaeschke picking up a fourth foul limited her in tonight's game...
Well it hurts us anytime that we have to sit he you know with fouls. It doesn't happen very often. She rarely gets in foul trouble. It's hard for us because everybody feeds off of her. I didn't think she was tentative coming back, I just thought it hurt us when she had to sit down tonight.
On the difference between having 13 turnovers in the first half and one in the second...
Some of our shots were turnovers probably. I think that Beth Marshall did a really good job of running our team in the second half. We had forced passes in to the post like we had early in the game. I thought we did a little bit better but it's a good sign for us.
On if he felt that he was ever really out of the game...
Unfortunately for us when we're clawing, I'll use a wildcat term, when you're clawing from behind, the margin of error is really thin. You can't be missing free throws, which you can't afford to do which could have cut it to four or five. I can't remember the exact sequence. Those type things. I felt like we were right there if we could just get some stops, make a couple shots, make free throws and we just didn't do it. Michigan State played well too. I know they have been starting to play well in the conference in the last couple games.
