Post Game Quotes: Quinnipiac
12/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant
On going into Big Ten play next week…
We still have a lot to improve on. We've had some bizarre things happen, like we were down a guard today again with Branndais (Agee). She's been out. She's been back. She played well in the last game, but she tweaked her knee so now we're down a guard. We're playing different people and different combinations. Although we did that early, it's different when you want to go to that versus when you have to go to it, I guess, and then obviously we get in foul trouble. Shay (Colley)'s gotten in foul trouble the last two games, and that's really hurt us a little bit, especially when we were down a guard with Mardrekia (Cook) pulling her knee, Claire (Hendrickson) pulling her knee, and Branndais (Agee), you know, and that's three pretty good guards there. It was good to see her kind of come to life in that second half and play downhill. That really makes a big difference for us.
On her team's leadership…
We're getting there. I think so. I mean, we certainly have people that are vocal leaders and you know, you got to be able to do a little bit of both. You know, that vocal leader part is important, but that street cred has got to come with it, too. People like to listen to people that do their jobs and do it consistently. So, I think that's part of being a good leader too, is being a leader of one first. I always say that before you can lead many. We're getting there, and I think it's a collective effort, but still trying to figure out our way offensively about who's going to be consistent for us and be that kind of go-to guy, but we have options. It's been different people different nights and we have shared the ball really well, so I think from that standpoint it's positive.
On playing doubleheaders...
Not a fan. It's just a lot. It's a lot on people. It's a lot on our fans. I mean, to ask them to leave and then turn around, like tonight was the worst crowd I have ever seen in the history since I've been here, and it's nobody's fault. It's nine o'clock at night number one. They have to leave and then maybe come back and who wants to do that? I mean it's a late night so that wasn't obviously an ideal situation, but scheduling is very challenging. But for the first time ever, the men are in the same situation we are with that one less week to play games, so you're trying to cram a lot of games in a short period of time and for them TV takes precedent. So, when TV sets the games then we just kind of have to work around them. So, we're either playing at noon, which I'm not a huge fan of. You know I don't love nine o'clock (games), but to be honest, with college kids I'd rather play a nine o'clock game than a noon game because getting a college kid up for a shoot-around and that kind of thing at seven a.m. is not ideal. I thought we got a little tired in that second half, but I felt bad for our fans, I felt bad for our administration and we're just put in a really tough spot. We still have two more games this week to play so it's a lot. It's a lot on everybody so hopefully next year we do a better job of being able to space some things out and figure a different way.
