Michigan State University Athletics
Post Game Quotes: Davidson
11/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MSU Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On every player stepping up and playing well, well rounded team…
We have our moments for sure. I think that we're still a work in progress. We didn't have Jenna (Allen) tonight, and she's a starting center, and she can score the ball a lot. That's a difference maker for us; we were down a man that way. That was difficult for us, I think, because kids had to play extended minutes. I had to move a guard to that four spot.
We like to think we have a balanced attack, that's our goal. We can make up for last year, what we lost with graduation. We really have to be a collective group, move the ball around. I think there were times that we looked pretty good at it, and there was times that we didn't read the defense very well.
On the frustrations that the team had tonight…
I think we were turning the ball over in the first half too much, and we didn't do a very good job of reading the defense. Didn't really get in the paint, and our shots weren't followed, so I think that made it a little bit more difficult.
On Taryn McCutcheon's performance tonight…
She's a kid that really understands the game. She plays within the flow. She knows what her role is. I think she has a good understanding of attacking and setting people up at the same time, keeping people on us offensively, because she can really shoot the ball. For us, it's just making sure that she stays confident, because we're a better team when she's on the floor, clearly. She can make good reads. She was an assist away from a double-double of her first college game. I think she can really help us, and she does a great job of setting people up in transition especially. I was really proud of how she came out and performed today.
On the positives from tonight…
I think we did a good job challenging shots. Certainly, that was something that we talked about. They shot 23% from the floor, I think we did a really good job of that. I think the kids really understood who their best player was, and trying to take that away. I think that's a positive.
I mean, to me we shared, we had 20 assists on 25 field goals, and probably the negative thing is that we turned it over too much in the first half. We should have scored 20 more points, if we wouldn't have had that many turnovers. We're still not clicking on all cylinders right now, so it's a work in progress this time of year, and hopefully we get Jenna back and that makes a difference for us too.
