Post-Game Quotes: Ferris State

Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant

On Moira Joiner's all-around performance tonight…
I actually just said that in the locker room too, but she was out for about a week with an injury and you could tell she wasn't on the floor. I think that's probably the highest compliment you could get when you are a freshman. We just really missed her and now that she's back… You just watch her play and she competes and plays hard. She can do a little bit of everything. I thought defensively she was by far the kid that worked the hardest, guarded the ball the best, got in passing lanes - I mean she had two breakaways. Mo, I think she's, and I said this at the media day, she's kind of the jack of all trades, master of none, but she can do just about anything. Be careful when you leave her open, she can hit it. If you come out on her, she can drive it. She's really good defensively, she rebounds so I really like what she brings to this team and I've always thought she had that competitive toughness that is Michigan State basketball.

On how Alyza Winston led in the point guard position…
A couple of things with Alyza. First of all, she's got to learn to keep her hands off of people and we've been talking to her about it. She's really good on-ball defending. She does hand check and in high school you can get away with that and in college everything is a foul. I think getting her to try and deal with that part of the game at this level. Her speed is obviously a good thing, but she also has to learn to have a little bit of a commanding presence. She might know what we're in, but she's got to be able to communicate that to others and I think a lot times offensively everybody is like, what are we doing? She probably knew in her own mind, but just having to direct the team and play and make sure that our five's, our four's, our three's and our two's know exactly what's going on out there. Probably next level for her is just to continue defensively, to be in help, to stay in the stance. When she kind of gives up the ball sometimes, she doesn't jump to the ball or be in help, but she's gotten a lot better. The kid is going to be good as you can see she can create her own shot and she can get to the rim. I do think she's a better finisher than what she showed today, but she could have been tired and a little bit overwhelmed for her first game as a freshman.

On what she got out of her seniors...
I didn't really plan on playing… I mean Shay (Colley) played a lot in that first half, but I knew we weren't going to play her, Taryn (McCutcheon) or (Nia) Clouden that much. I really wanted everybody to play. I think you can look at the stat sheet and see almost everybody was in double-digit minutes with the exception of one. It was kind of a little unique combinations with running people in and out so that's a little bit different. I did like that – I mean, Shay, Clouden and Taryn - those are pretty veteran kids. I thought at times they looked pretty good and at times they looked a little rusty too. Shay just started practicing; she's been out the whole month of October and just really has been starting to practice again from tweaking her knee a little bit with the Canadian basketball group that she played with in September. She's just trying to get her groove back a little bit. You saw her be Shay and then you saw her do some things that she just didn't have a lot of practice at yet. We'll get her there though. I'm confident in that and certainly think that Taryn, Nia, and Shay - I mean you have an all-conference back court; I think that's a start. I thought Coco (Victoria Gaines), bless her heart with what she's got going on with her playing that five spot. I thought in the first quarter she was a little off and then boy, I thought she was really pretty good the rest of the minutes that she played. She played within herself so those are the four veteran kids. I would throw Tory (Ozment) out there, but you know Tory was hurt a lot last year, so she hasn't really logged a lot of minutes. She's really more of a three then a four, but Julia Ayrault was out tonight and Julia's a really good four-man as well. We have Mardrekia (Cook) and Nia Hollie at that position too so our depth was a little bit lower at that. That kind of forced Tory to play some four where she's been more of a three for us. In terms of those vets, I thought they did well. It certainly was their first kind of run at it too.

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Victoria Gaines

Nia Hollie

Moira Joiner

Alyza Winston

Related Videos