Spartan Women’s Basketball Begins Practice Wednesday
10/14/2020 5:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head coach Suzy Merchant begins her 14th year at MSU.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State women's basketball began preparing for the 2020-21 season with the first official practice of the season, Wednesday. Prior to practice, 14th-year head coach Suzy Merchant spoke to the media about this year's Spartan squad via Zoom.
After the 2019-20 season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan State has been eager to return to the court. This season, the Spartans are led by All-Big Ten guard Nia Clouden. The junior led the team in scoring averaging 14.5 point per game, while also averaging 3.3 assists per game. MSU also returns redshirt-senior forward Mardrekia Cook who missed the end of last season with an achilles tear. Sophomores Moira Joiner and Julia Ayrault were also top scorers returning for Michigan State after losing All-Big Ten guard Taryn McCutcheon and Shay Colley to graduation.
MSU Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On preparing for the season...
I feel like I am on a golf cart that isn't working very well; you know where it start stops, start stops. Trying to get up a hill, trying to get down a hill. It has just been very bizarre. I will tell you that it has forced us to do things a little bit differently. Maybe work a little smarter, number one; I think we have all learned that lesson. And maybe you all in your profession too have found ways to do things uniquely and differently that maybe give you sense of peace in other areas of your life. For us its just been following the rules and the guidelines that Michigan State, athletic department and our athletic trainers have put forth. I have to say if anybody needs a vacation, it is probably those guys. They have really worked hard from the time this started to every second of every minute of every day. We owe a lot to our medical team and our medical staff. I am really proud of the kids. It has been unique and different. One of the things that I think that we have tried by staying connected if it isn't via Zoom call like this with weekly Zoom calls and individual position meetings throughout the summer. When we were able to bring them back here, we really just tried to build a schedule for them. To keep them used to being a student-athlete who is busy.
On the addition of transfers Jayla James and Alisia Smith...
They are doing really well. They have an opportunity to sit out and really grow their game. I was talking to a young lady who is not a transfer, and she was saying that looking back on her career that she wished she would have redshirted. I think at the time that kids don't always want that. They want to go play all the time. When I look at Smitty (Smith) and I look at Jayla, both of those kids want to move on and be professionals. Both of them have been really incredible additions to the family, and it also nice without having a scout team. We have male scout players for women's basketball which we don't have right now, so as silly as it sounds to have a couple kids who don't get the reps of our offense and are a little bit more on the defensive side or vice versa, depending what we are working on, knowing that they are there to be on that practice squad is something that we are going to need this year. Maybe now more than ever.
On the evolution of Moira Joiner...
Mo had a really, really solid freshman year. She is a competitor and if you do anything well on a floor it better be that at this level. You need to compete. She has really improved her outside shot, her 3-point ability. She has a goal to increase her percentage by six percentage points this year from behind the arc. So she is really invested in that in the off-season and throughout the fall. But Mo is a natural leader; she was a leader as a freshman. You couldn't really call her that yet because she had to earn some stripes. You gotta get that street cred to go along with that leadership role at our level, but she wants to lead.
After the 2019-20 season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan State has been eager to return to the court. This season, the Spartans are led by All-Big Ten guard Nia Clouden. The junior led the team in scoring averaging 14.5 point per game, while also averaging 3.3 assists per game. MSU also returns redshirt-senior forward Mardrekia Cook who missed the end of last season with an achilles tear. Sophomores Moira Joiner and Julia Ayrault were also top scorers returning for Michigan State after losing All-Big Ten guard Taryn McCutcheon and Shay Colley to graduation.
MSU Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On preparing for the season...
I feel like I am on a golf cart that isn't working very well; you know where it start stops, start stops. Trying to get up a hill, trying to get down a hill. It has just been very bizarre. I will tell you that it has forced us to do things a little bit differently. Maybe work a little smarter, number one; I think we have all learned that lesson. And maybe you all in your profession too have found ways to do things uniquely and differently that maybe give you sense of peace in other areas of your life. For us its just been following the rules and the guidelines that Michigan State, athletic department and our athletic trainers have put forth. I have to say if anybody needs a vacation, it is probably those guys. They have really worked hard from the time this started to every second of every minute of every day. We owe a lot to our medical team and our medical staff. I am really proud of the kids. It has been unique and different. One of the things that I think that we have tried by staying connected if it isn't via Zoom call like this with weekly Zoom calls and individual position meetings throughout the summer. When we were able to bring them back here, we really just tried to build a schedule for them. To keep them used to being a student-athlete who is busy.
On the addition of transfers Jayla James and Alisia Smith...
They are doing really well. They have an opportunity to sit out and really grow their game. I was talking to a young lady who is not a transfer, and she was saying that looking back on her career that she wished she would have redshirted. I think at the time that kids don't always want that. They want to go play all the time. When I look at Smitty (Smith) and I look at Jayla, both of those kids want to move on and be professionals. Both of them have been really incredible additions to the family, and it also nice without having a scout team. We have male scout players for women's basketball which we don't have right now, so as silly as it sounds to have a couple kids who don't get the reps of our offense and are a little bit more on the defensive side or vice versa, depending what we are working on, knowing that they are there to be on that practice squad is something that we are going to need this year. Maybe now more than ever.
On the evolution of Moira Joiner...
Mo had a really, really solid freshman year. She is a competitor and if you do anything well on a floor it better be that at this level. You need to compete. She has really improved her outside shot, her 3-point ability. She has a goal to increase her percentage by six percentage points this year from behind the arc. So she is really invested in that in the off-season and throughout the fall. But Mo is a natural leader; she was a leader as a freshman. You couldn't really call her that yet because she had to earn some stripes. You gotta get that street cred to go along with that leadership role at our level, but she wants to lead.
Players Mentioned
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