Michigan State University Athletics
Post Game Quotes: Iowa
2/1/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2018
I don't normally give opening statements but I kind of feel compelled to do so. First, I just want to thank all of our head coaches of the women's teams for being here tonight. I think it says a lot that every team was here supporting our team. You know, they did a great job. I know on the concourse a lot of people were talking about some of the interaction, so I just want to say thank you to our head coaches. Obviously you saw us wearing teal tonight which I thought, you know, our student-athletes really wanted to show the 250, over 250, survivors of the Larry Nassar abuse that we support them and that we appreciate their courage and their strength. It's been tough at Michigan State, I think, the last few weeks here, but it's certainly nothing compared to what those women went through. So I'm confident that we'll move forward, we'll support the survivors and Michigan State will create the change it needs to move forward in a positive direction. With that, I'll take some questions.
On the last play not being the play that was designed…
We didn't have to shoot the ball. I mean, I think it started there. We were up and there were 36 seconds left, and we talked about that. We were running a long set. I don't know. That was kind of tough. Yeah, I mean, it was supposed to go to the corner and then into Jenna (Allen), but I think Lexi (Gussert) felt like she could maybe get it in there.
On if it's frustrating not to get a shot…
Very. Yeah, very.
On this game being one where the team was healthy…
Yeah, I mean, even Lexi playing the 24 minutes, (she) still has a little fracture in her arm, and I thought she started to come around a little bit so that was a real positive thing for us. We don't always help ourselves, you know, we had that game won and then there's the foul with 8.8 seconds when all we had to do was let the ball go out-of-bounds and, you know, Branndais (Agee) turned it over at the end and then she shot two shots. I mean, I swear we talked about it, we went through it. I know people probably think I'm the worst coach on the planet but I definitely, definitely had conversations about what we were trying to do. You know, and even to the rebound or whatever, we could've called a timeout. At that time as well I had one left, so we talked about that, but it just didn't happen. So frustrating.
On getting positives out of Kennedy (Johnson)…
Yeah, I mean, the problem is offense or defense, a little bit, you know. I mean, Kennedy was helping. I thought (she was) doing a much better job defensively, but then offensively, you know, she's a little bit more of a role player. Same thing with Sid (Cooks). Sid's a better offensive player than she is defensive player and I thought she hurt us at times defensively so then you want Coco (Gaines) out there, but Coco would rather play defense than offense. So we got a little of that and we were trying to, down the stretch, kind of flip them back-and-forth as much as we could without having to call timeouts. She did do a better job I thought at times than some of our other folks.
On the team's mentality over the past few days with everything that's been going on…
Yeah, you know, I think as coaches it's, you know, it's our job to make sure the health and well being of our student-athletes is first and foremost, and I say that everywhere that I've ever been and certainly in times of adversity and challenging times that is going on with the Larry Nassar case. I think, you know, making sure they're emotionally, mentally and physically where they need to be is first and foremost. We've had several team meetings about it just to let them, you know, ask questions or maybe get some things out. We've done individual meetings. You know, it's been a difficult time and I think they… You know, this was their idea to wear the teal shirts and it just sort of spread to the other teams so I know my team was really, you know, was really just… It's heart wrenching, you know, to many of them. I mean, they're female athletes and obviously most of the victims were female athletes at Michigan State, some outside with the gymnastics side but all in all they were female athletes and I think our kids really wanted to show their support and I think their bravery and their courage and what they saw them step up and have to face their abuser, I think is really inspiring. So we spend a lot of time talking about it and I thought our kids have done a really good job making sure they're being as focused as they can. It's difficult, it has been difficult, but I think kids are resilient and I think they want to put their best foot forward and support the survivors as well as try to be the best Spartan basketball players they can be.
On what National Girls and Women in Sports means to her…
Yeah, I mean, I talked about this on the radio show. I'm a little blessed personally because I'm a Title IX baby, I didn't know what it was like to never have an opportunity to go on and go to college and play basketball on scholarship, you know. The amazing person that raised me, my mom, she never had that opportunity, so I think when you can celebrate and recognize, you know, girls and women in sports it's, you know… You learn so many lessons and that's the thing about sports, like even today. I was so frustrated, we were right there, we lost a couple close ones and it's just like, you know what? You still got to get up the next day, hold your head high, you can't quit. We got more fight in us and roll up our sleeves and go to work and those are good lessons. I think when you see little kids and obviously the athletes on the other teams, we've all been through some of that so it's encouraging to be a part of that and we love this night.
On her thoughts on what Izzo and Dantonio have gone through the past few days…
Well, I mean, I think it's difficult for everybody and certainly I know it's hard on everyone. I think what's hard for me is that, and just like anything in life, right? I do appreciate you asking, Fred, because I think you don't always know what goes on. It's hard for me to comment on men's basketball or football or track & field or gymnastics, just like it's hard for them to comment on my team. So I really don't know what's going on in someone else's program but I do know this: I know that we all should stand together as Spartans and move forward and find a way to make sure the culture here at Michigan State is a positive one and I think we're all committed to that.
On some positive takeaways from tonight's game…
Well, I mean, you got to watch the film certainly. I think that's important to make sure that we study where we get better. I mean, we still need to do a better job of playing inside-out, when we're taking too many three's, I always kind of felt that. I mean, it's, you know, we're not getting the ball inside enough and when we do we're… I don't know, we're not aggressive in there. We're not getting good angles for our post players. You know, they're getting the ball tipped or taken or blocked. Penn State has some big size and they play a little bit of zone so most people have been playing us zone without some of our kids being injured so that's been a little bit difficult for us, but we're just going to keep working. I think the biggest thing against the zone and we can take away, we got to play inside out and keep attacking. You know, it's just, it's part of life. Sometimes it doesn't always go your way, you know, and you just need to make sure that you can hold your head high and get better the next day.
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