Michigan State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes: Iowa
12/12/2020 8:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MSU head coach Suzy Merchant
On the play of Nia Clouden...
 I thought she did what good players do.  I thought her first half, certainly, you know, Alyza [Winston] was kind of the catalyst there.  I'll take Nia Clouden anytime at the end of the game - to put the ball in her hands, or that we make free throws, or hit a nice little pull up jumper, or make that pass tight right here was beautiful. She was a really, really big part of what we do, always has been, but certainly I think now just watching her down the stretch kind of deliver the ball in the right place, and having that poise and presence about herself. That's really what all-conference guards do and I was really proud of her. I thought that she had a great game today.
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When you think about the first half to the second half, was there a moment in one of those timeouts, where you kind of started telling the players, 'This one is not over and we need to kind of refocus'"...
Yes - that started two days ago on a scouting report. We replayed [their game] at Drake, they were down, I think, 11 or 12 and came back to win on the road. They were down as much as 18 against Iowa State on Wednesday night at home, down 14 going into the fourth quarter. And, you know, that's what happens. They've got Caitlin Clark and she is as good as advertised. She is a really special player. She's from right down the road, an Iowa kid who was a top- three recruit in the country. She turned down UConn and people like that stay home. You know, the good thing is we got the dub, but the bad thing is we're going to have to see her for the next four years because she's ultra-competitive and very talented. I thought, early in the first half we played well but I know that going into halftime, (and our kids know too), is that we have got to act like we're down ten, you know because Iowa can score - twice this year they scored 38 points in a quarter. And those have come in the third and fourth quarters. So they kind of get it together - Caitlin gets upset, the big kid gets mad, and those kids just deliver. You know it doesn't matter what you're doing to them. They just hit big shots and kind of get things back into a respectable place when they can go in the game.
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On fighting to earn another Big Ten win...
 I think it's going to help us a lot. I think anytime you're in time/score/possession situations,  everybody's feeling it when you're up and you're in control. But although we were in control of the game -  with  Iowa,  you never are. As they kind of, obviously brought that thing down even with 37 seconds left. That's just too much time for a team like that. So for us, we have to have to understand that. We have some new faces out there. You know … kids that are experienced but maybe not with a ton of minutes and I thought they did a really, really good job. I think that'll make us stronger, You're going to be in situations where you need a quick bucket or you've got to get the stop. What I didn't like was I thought we did a pretty bad job down the stretch of giving them and-1 opportunities. You know, we kind of turned our body sideways and they call the foul so that's the last thing you want to do. We have some some work to do when it comes to time/score/possession situations late  - defensively especially.
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On the extended minutes and impact of Winston and Ayrault...Â
Julia has been been playing really, really well. I mean REALLY well. I thought she was super ultra competitive, She's a tough matchup and she's very athletic too - I mean, the kids got some hops. She's long with her reach so she can get to some blocks, and you can keep balls alive on the offensive end.  I thought she was big for us,  I thought she played well and she had a presence about her. And we were switching one through four. It was her first start you know, due to an injury - so we were going to go small and put (Mardreika Cook) at the five so I was a little bit worried about our size.  I really liked Julia as a catalyst out there. She makes good decisions. She's a face-up guy but she can put the ball on the floor she can elevate and hit a little pull up jumper. I thought she played with a lot of confidence and was a huge reason why we won this game.
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On what you've seen of Winston through what you've seen from her these past couple games...
 Alyza is such a good player but I think sometimes when she's running the point a lot she tries to be more of a pass-first person and you know you could see we really needed that that next score. And so this was before we left for Minnesota (I want to say it was Monday), I just did a segment and we did kind of split teams up and one team was at the other end and her team was going against our scout team. And I said, 'All right, Alyza. You're the only person that can shoot for the next 15 minutes, so we've got to get you open. You've got to look for your shot; you've got to catch the rim, you've got to drive it , hit your pull-up;  you know, come off screens with a purpose ready to shoot. And I don't know if it was THE reason but I feel like she got a lot of confidence from that. Saying 'I have some goals. I've worked really hard this offseason.' She's in great shape, she's quicker, faster, and I think she just really wanted to kind of come to life a little bit this season.  In practice I think she was still passing a little too much so when we did that segment I felt like it kind of, you know, upgraded her little bit to be more of an aggressive scorer. I mean, she'll just look in your eye now and she's got great range and getting a lot of confidence and quite honestly, we need a guard that can create our own shot like [Nia] Clouden can, and that's something that we feel really strongly about with Alyza. She was huge in that first half for us. Huge.
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On the play of Nia Clouden...
 I thought she did what good players do.  I thought her first half, certainly, you know, Alyza [Winston] was kind of the catalyst there.  I'll take Nia Clouden anytime at the end of the game - to put the ball in her hands, or that we make free throws, or hit a nice little pull up jumper, or make that pass tight right here was beautiful. She was a really, really big part of what we do, always has been, but certainly I think now just watching her down the stretch kind of deliver the ball in the right place, and having that poise and presence about herself. That's really what all-conference guards do and I was really proud of her. I thought that she had a great game today.
Â
When you think about the first half to the second half, was there a moment in one of those timeouts, where you kind of started telling the players, 'This one is not over and we need to kind of refocus'"...
Yes - that started two days ago on a scouting report. We replayed [their game] at Drake, they were down, I think, 11 or 12 and came back to win on the road. They were down as much as 18 against Iowa State on Wednesday night at home, down 14 going into the fourth quarter. And, you know, that's what happens. They've got Caitlin Clark and she is as good as advertised. She is a really special player. She's from right down the road, an Iowa kid who was a top- three recruit in the country. She turned down UConn and people like that stay home. You know, the good thing is we got the dub, but the bad thing is we're going to have to see her for the next four years because she's ultra-competitive and very talented. I thought, early in the first half we played well but I know that going into halftime, (and our kids know too), is that we have got to act like we're down ten, you know because Iowa can score - twice this year they scored 38 points in a quarter. And those have come in the third and fourth quarters. So they kind of get it together - Caitlin gets upset, the big kid gets mad, and those kids just deliver. You know it doesn't matter what you're doing to them. They just hit big shots and kind of get things back into a respectable place when they can go in the game.
 Â
On fighting to earn another Big Ten win...
 I think it's going to help us a lot. I think anytime you're in time/score/possession situations,  everybody's feeling it when you're up and you're in control. But although we were in control of the game -  with  Iowa,  you never are. As they kind of, obviously brought that thing down even with 37 seconds left. That's just too much time for a team like that. So for us, we have to have to understand that. We have some new faces out there. You know … kids that are experienced but maybe not with a ton of minutes and I thought they did a really, really good job. I think that'll make us stronger, You're going to be in situations where you need a quick bucket or you've got to get the stop. What I didn't like was I thought we did a pretty bad job down the stretch of giving them and-1 opportunities. You know, we kind of turned our body sideways and they call the foul so that's the last thing you want to do. We have some some work to do when it comes to time/score/possession situations late  - defensively especially.
Â
On the extended minutes and impact of Winston and Ayrault...Â
Julia has been been playing really, really well. I mean REALLY well. I thought she was super ultra competitive, She's a tough matchup and she's very athletic too - I mean, the kids got some hops. She's long with her reach so she can get to some blocks, and you can keep balls alive on the offensive end.  I thought she was big for us,  I thought she played well and she had a presence about her. And we were switching one through four. It was her first start you know, due to an injury - so we were going to go small and put (Mardreika Cook) at the five so I was a little bit worried about our size.  I really liked Julia as a catalyst out there. She makes good decisions. She's a face-up guy but she can put the ball on the floor she can elevate and hit a little pull up jumper. I thought she played with a lot of confidence and was a huge reason why we won this game.
 Â
On what you've seen of Winston through what you've seen from her these past couple games...
 Alyza is such a good player but I think sometimes when she's running the point a lot she tries to be more of a pass-first person and you know you could see we really needed that that next score. And so this was before we left for Minnesota (I want to say it was Monday), I just did a segment and we did kind of split teams up and one team was at the other end and her team was going against our scout team. And I said, 'All right, Alyza. You're the only person that can shoot for the next 15 minutes, so we've got to get you open. You've got to look for your shot; you've got to catch the rim, you've got to drive it , hit your pull-up;  you know, come off screens with a purpose ready to shoot. And I don't know if it was THE reason but I feel like she got a lot of confidence from that. Saying 'I have some goals. I've worked really hard this offseason.' She's in great shape, she's quicker, faster, and I think she just really wanted to kind of come to life a little bit this season.  In practice I think she was still passing a little too much so when we did that segment I felt like it kind of, you know, upgraded her little bit to be more of an aggressive scorer. I mean, she'll just look in your eye now and she's got great range and getting a lot of confidence and quite honestly, we need a guard that can create our own shot like [Nia] Clouden can, and that's something that we feel really strongly about with Alyza. She was huge in that first half for us. Huge.
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