Post-Game Quotes: Hartford

Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant

On how Julia Ayrault played today…
Yeah, I mean she is just a really talented, tough matchup. I think we put her at the four and the three, so she plays multiple positions for us. She does a great job of reading defenses number one, so when she has a drive, when it's a pull-up, she's great at the next pass. She can create for other people, she's unselfish and she's a really good defensive rebounder too. I think she does a really good job of attacking the defense glass and offensive glass both. So, she's a nice little component. It's been difficult because she hasn't really been able to play the minutes that I have wanted her to play because she had some tweaks and some injuries, nothing major, but enough to hold her out for a little bit here and hold her out for a little bit there. So, it's just going to be great to continue to watch her grow as a player, but I mean she's a special talent, there's no question about that as a freshman.

On Kayla Belles' performance…
I think Kayla is really coming along, as I said about her last time I think we spoke. She really had to kind of sit behind some talented kids last year and this year she was injured, so she was sort of late to the party and was never really able to get 100 percent in that rotation and now we're relying on her and it's a different beast. It's about performing, stepping up; we have to rely on you to be a player and I still think she needs to do a better job of finishing at the five position, there's no question about that, but having a double-double - to me she capitalized on her second half against Oakland into this game. That's what you want to see. We have to get better and better. Obviously, I was a little disappointed, the post player for them is a good shot blocker. That's her thing and we just kept shooting it into her and I don't know why we did that because it was in the scouting report, it was the four's and the five's both. So, we just have to do a better job of gathering ourselves and the one thing about Kayla is she is actually a double move player; she likes to make two moves. That's versus always just turning and drop-stepping. I've had some kids such as a (Jasmine) Hines who took her time to build a double move, she was all power all the time. Kayla is very mobile, so I want her to be able to recognize that in a scouting report which we have, and we talked about it and have her work her step through and up and under; things like that. But I liked her energy. The kid has speed, athleticism, she plays hard, she wants to be good and she's very coachable.

On having 17 turnovers…
Well, just disappointing. I mean, that was disappointing, no question. I didn't think Hartford was doing anything per-say to take it from us. Some plays, yes, but to me just silly passes, trying to make something out of nothing. The travel situation; we had a lot of travel calls, a lot of those were freshmen and inexperienced kids. We are going to have to do a better job of checking their feet and whatnot and making sure they put the ball down before they go. But, yeah that's disappointing if I had to say there is a stat, I would say that and maybe not finishing at the free-throw line as much as we need to and then finishing in the paint. Those are probably the three areas where I would say were high on my list on the offensive side of the ball anyway.

Players Mentioned

Julia Ayrault

Kayla Belles

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