Post Game Quotes: Rutgers
12/31/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant
On the second to last possession…
It was a great look. It was a gate screen and she was wide open, she's a sixth-year senior. We run that play a lot. Ran it when we played Mississippi State, when we played them a couple years ago. I thought we did a good job of getting a good look at it. I thought we could have crashed the boards a little harder and tried to get one more look at it. For B (Branndais Agee), I thought she did a really good job of getting her feet set and getting a good look at it, but it just didn't go down.
On Rutgers' defense…
It is a heavyweight fight and they don't let you score. It is the first to 50 sometimes, it just is how it is. They are very physical, handsy and aggressive. I think they got us a little bit out of scoring pockets, which I think we rectified for a period of time.
I do think they had a hard time guarding Shay (Colley). I thought she got fouled a lot, personally, going to the rim. It seems like there were the same calls that they were getting that we were not getting at our end. And maybe I am not allowed to say that, but that is just the reality of it. I thought she was getting hit with two or three people on her, and I know they are athletic and can challenge shots, but it felt like they were getting a lot of those calls, too, down the stretch when there was barely a touch.
I thought we were getting what we wanted, we just didn't get the call, but we anticipated that. That is how Rutgers is. They are a heavyweight fight. It doesn't matter who they are playing, it always seems to be that way.
On Branndais Agee's injuries. . .
She has been hurt, that has been her problem. She ended up getting a shot in her foot. The problem with Branndais is that when she sits out like that her motor isn't very high. She loses her conditioning pretty quickly. She has had to work the past couple weeks to try to get back which is not as easy to do during the season. I think she has done a great job. The thing Branndais brings, is the ability to rebound the basketball, number one. She is pretty good at getting in there on both ends of the floor. She has got some length to her in her press, and top of the zone and I think she has got a scoring mentality.
She is a super competitive kid and does some really good things for us. I thought she played well for us tonight, obviously that last shot didn't go. I could have run it for Sid (Cooks) maybe, but that is a lot to put on a freshman and I wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet and Branndais has run that play many times before. Branndais is starting to get healthy again. I think that is part of her problem. Her conditioning goes with her game. When she is hurt she has to sit out, she doesn't practice and loses her conditioning very, very fast. She is starting to come back the last couple of games and I think she is doing a good job.
On Shay Colley's performance. . .
She is good. She decides to play downhill like that we are a different team for sure. She is a really good defender. That last foul she got really hurt us because I felt that she was the difference maker. We were able to hold on enough to get her back in there. She can play both ends of the floor. She is really good at getting to the rim, obviously. She is an and-one kid. I thought she should have gone to the free throw line a couple more times tonight. I think the thing she brings us is the athletic north and south kid and somebody that can lock somebody up.
On lineup rotation…
This is an interesting team. Shay was sick in the last game against Indiana so we were not sure she was even going to play. So we started Branndais and she played pretty well and Lexi (Gussert) was playing pretty well, but tonight she wasn't very good. Some of it, you have the luxury of playing more kids. More kids have had game experience as part of it which is a positive thing where you can make some changes and people are in the flow. Sometimes it would be nice to be able to blend both. Against Rutgers, who defends very well, even kids who are good offensive had to work for it. It could have gone either way, we had our opportunities.
The three things we talked about were taking care of the basketball, defensive rebounding and the last thing was that we had to do a better job on Tyler Scaife. That kid is a pro. She is a legit pro, and I thought she did a very good job of making shots down the stretch. Some of those off second opportunities. Those are the three things that I think we did okay with. Then right down the stretch they bit us. The turnover with Scaife and then the whole rebounding thing. We still had opportunity to win it and that's a seventh ranked RPI team that is 14-2. It is not like they are a bad team. Very well-coached and very physical. It would have been nice to get this one.
