Post-Game Quotes: Ohio State

Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant

Opening Statement…
Yeah, that's kind of what it came down to. I thought we had really good looks, people had really good opportunities to kind of pull us away a little bit, to put pressure on them and we just didn't. Taryn (McCutcheon) had a tough shooting night, Shay (Colley) had a tough shooting night. Jenna (Allen) wasn't very good from the field as well. Coco (Gaines) was out there for our defense but didn't shoot the ball when we had the opportunity. It's disappointing. I felt like we had the opportunity to knock those shots down and I think that's part of it, you want to make sure you're getting good looks and we did. Those kids have made them earlier in the year. I was mostly disappointed in how we came out defensively against Janai Crooms; She's a really good player and she had 13 on us at halftime as did Aaliyah Patty did - both freshmen. I just didn't think, for whatever reason, they just weren't motivated at that point. Give them credit - and I don't know why because that's all we talked about so it felt like we would be better that way. We were mixing up our defense to try to maybe kill the downhill dribble-drive stuff that they had in their bag and I thought that that helped us. Give them credit; They shot the ball well, field goal percentage they were almost 60 percent. When you add in the three's they made. Obviously their two's and three's were very efficient compared to ours.

On the difficulty of having the same home energy on the road except for tonight…
It was our first home loss. I really wanted to go undefeated at home; We're one of the few teams in the country left that were in that situation so I was disappointed in how we played, just from that perspective and Ohio State beat us earlier and I thought we would just have a little more… I don't know. I get the whole road thing but tonight was just… I don't know. People got to check themselves a little bit, I don't think their mentally as tough as they need to be. I just feel like Jenna (Allen) has just completely gone away for us on the offensive end and we just can't have her do that and expect to do the things that we were doing. I'm baffled by it. She needs to get mentally tougher because it's not a physical thing; She's just, right now, giving in to the mental side of things. Taryn (McCutcheon) has been struggling for us too here in the last three or four games as an offensive consistent player. Shay's been struggling defensively for us to start and took her awhile to get going in the second half. Sid (Cooks) was great in the first half, didn't make anything in the second; Had some key turnovers. I don't know. It's a mental toughness thing right now, I think, because it's the same thing that got us earlier in the year. We've added a few more things to try to maybe stop the bleeding a little bit with our press and zone and make people attack us a different way. Give them credit, they found a way to win.

On the game still being in their control with four minutes to play…
We had, I think with two and a half left, we were up one with 2:40 to go. We make a free throw, we miss a free throw; We would split them instead of hit them both. We would turn it over, they would make a three. You're right, it just felt like it was right there for us and then we had two horrific turnovers by Sid (Cooks) and that just killed us too a little bit. That's not her forte, she needs to kind of know her role a little bit and do a better job of taking care of it, especially in those times of possession situations. The one led out to a run out, layup, foul. It was disappointing. It was anybody's game to get and they just found ways to execute better. I will say when we were down the stretch, when we were advancing it, I thought we had really good looks. We ran three different out-of-bounds sideline plays for three's. Sid had a wide-open three off that kind of curl that we ran and the gate play we ran for Taryn, she was pretty wide-open; We ran Shay off the up-screen, player screen and she was wide-open in the corner too. I felt like we were getting good opportunities down the stretch, too. Even though it didn't go our way and we lost the game and we didn't make those shots, at least they were put in those situations and hopefully down the stretch when we need them they'll have a little more confidence and lights on. I'm disappointed for sure. I really felt good about this game and just disappointed in how we came out in that first half.

On if the lack of motivation was surprising…
Time's running out. I think it's a group that just has to get a little nastier and get mentally tougher. I saw that, I've seen it in them; I've seen us taking charges, shutting people down; I've seen it where we run into transition, got guards that can post, big's that can shoot. There's nothing wrong with the team, with the exception right now the last few games people have really competed harder than us at times - Maybe not the whole game but I feel like we've been, we just played, we play hard. But to me, competing hard is not 2-for-10. You don't go 2-for-10 and win the games on the line or when you're at home and you need a win and you've been struggling; You don't do 2-for-10. That's what I'm talking about mental toughness. That's a night where you're probably 5-for-7, 6-for-8 from the arc, when you have those looks that you have. I felt a little disappointed in that; That's what I'm talking about mental toughness is you have to make plays. That's part of mental toughness is making the plays and having opportunities and shutting people down and actually staying in front of people.

On the team responding against Michigan…
They're playing pretty well right now, there's no question about that. I think we were playing great early and kind of dipped here a little bit. I mean, it's a gut check, if you want your rival to come in here and beat you, then play how you played tonight; If you think that's going to be good enough, because it's not. Michigan's playing well, they have a great post player that makes all her shots down low. She's a senior on the team; One of the few and only seniors, I think, and she's just been very consistent and shown up night in and night out for them, Hallie Thome. They've got good guard play, they have some youth; (Nicole) Munger is as big a competitor as they come. Nah Hillmon, she is just an absolute heart and soul of that team in terms of how she plays and rebounds; That kid can get you eight, nine, ten offensive rebounds in the game just by her energy, effort and competitive level. We have to bring it. This group has to check themselves a little bit. If we want it, we're going to have to play better than what we've been playing for sure. Just go back to work, get ready for a really good team coming in here, we'll have a really good crowd. But obviously that doesn't win you games, it's how we do things. I'm sure they'll be gunning for us as well since we beat them at their place.

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