Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Post-Game Quotes: Purdue
2/21/2021 4:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On what it means for Tory to get the buzzer beater 3-pointer for the win…
I don't think people really realize when, she got COVID right after our Nebraska game, she's a versatile kid for us, she can play the three and the four, so with her mobility and then just having to sit out. Even though she is in great shape, you just don't know since COVID affects everybody in the country differently. We've started to see her progress in terms of her lungs and her fitness, and she started to look like her old self and certainly did a really nice job in the high post there down the stretch, but to be able to extend that as a four man that can shoot it against the zone was big. Credit Nia Clouden pulling in the defense and making the extra pass down the stretch and for Tory to knock it down. It was a great moment for her and for our team for sure.
On Alyza Winston being a big part of the offense when Nia Clouden wasn't scoring as much today…
Yeah, I don't know what Nia's deal was, she seemed off from the beginning, kind of going through the motions and a little flat. I was telling her you got to stop with trying to get a foul and just go focus and finish. At the end of the day, they're not calling that, and I think the more she did that, the more distracted she got from her ability to do what we needed her to do. When she wasn't doing that, for Alyza to step up, I think with Alyza, I just want to see her play both sides of the ball. It was great she brought us offense, but the (Purdue guard Kayana) Traylor kid just destroyed us off of ball screens and dribble drives and three-point shots, so it's great but we have to have both sides of the ball. I'm not coaching football, I don't get to put a defensive team out there and an offensive team, so we have to be able to do both. It was nice to see Alyza get us off to a really good start, so that's positive certainly, but on the other side of that I would challenge our entire team to do a better job of being able to defend in the quarter court.
On Julia falling hard a couple times and how it impacted the game, and how her teammates stepped up in her absence…
She's fine. I just thought Tory was more mobile and Tory is a better defender than Julia and we were down, so we needed some defense, we were extending a little bit. Tory can bring us that offense as well. (Mardrekia Cook) Drekia wasn't available today with her injuries, so we were kind of limited at the four spot. I look at Tory and see a kid that can really help us from the three and the four spot, and be able to go back-and-forth, and we needed that from her today."
On getting things going after a timeout late with three minutes left and what she said in the timeout…
I've been saying it all game, I don't think it was anything I said. We just extended our defense, you know full court wise, and we were in a little bit more of a trapping opportunity whether it be ball screen or full court, and kind of got some offense from our defense. Our offense wasn't really going well, and we weren't really doing a good job in the quarter court, so I think that defense has a shelf life, it's not a 40-minute defense, it's certainly something when we were down nine at the time, we didn't have a choice, we had to go for it. Even if we didn't score the ball, we were going to be in our man, we were still going to trap ball screens and just try to create some offense from our defense. That was more of it to be frank, our extending defensively and trying to create some turnovers which I thought (Alisia Smith) Smitty did a good job of getting into passing lanes and steals and Tory as well.
On what it means for Tory to get the buzzer beater 3-pointer for the win…
I don't think people really realize when, she got COVID right after our Nebraska game, she's a versatile kid for us, she can play the three and the four, so with her mobility and then just having to sit out. Even though she is in great shape, you just don't know since COVID affects everybody in the country differently. We've started to see her progress in terms of her lungs and her fitness, and she started to look like her old self and certainly did a really nice job in the high post there down the stretch, but to be able to extend that as a four man that can shoot it against the zone was big. Credit Nia Clouden pulling in the defense and making the extra pass down the stretch and for Tory to knock it down. It was a great moment for her and for our team for sure.
On Alyza Winston being a big part of the offense when Nia Clouden wasn't scoring as much today…
Yeah, I don't know what Nia's deal was, she seemed off from the beginning, kind of going through the motions and a little flat. I was telling her you got to stop with trying to get a foul and just go focus and finish. At the end of the day, they're not calling that, and I think the more she did that, the more distracted she got from her ability to do what we needed her to do. When she wasn't doing that, for Alyza to step up, I think with Alyza, I just want to see her play both sides of the ball. It was great she brought us offense, but the (Purdue guard Kayana) Traylor kid just destroyed us off of ball screens and dribble drives and three-point shots, so it's great but we have to have both sides of the ball. I'm not coaching football, I don't get to put a defensive team out there and an offensive team, so we have to be able to do both. It was nice to see Alyza get us off to a really good start, so that's positive certainly, but on the other side of that I would challenge our entire team to do a better job of being able to defend in the quarter court.
On Julia falling hard a couple times and how it impacted the game, and how her teammates stepped up in her absence…
She's fine. I just thought Tory was more mobile and Tory is a better defender than Julia and we were down, so we needed some defense, we were extending a little bit. Tory can bring us that offense as well. (Mardrekia Cook) Drekia wasn't available today with her injuries, so we were kind of limited at the four spot. I look at Tory and see a kid that can really help us from the three and the four spot, and be able to go back-and-forth, and we needed that from her today."
On getting things going after a timeout late with three minutes left and what she said in the timeout…
I've been saying it all game, I don't think it was anything I said. We just extended our defense, you know full court wise, and we were in a little bit more of a trapping opportunity whether it be ball screen or full court, and kind of got some offense from our defense. Our offense wasn't really going well, and we weren't really doing a good job in the quarter court, so I think that defense has a shelf life, it's not a 40-minute defense, it's certainly something when we were down nine at the time, we didn't have a choice, we had to go for it. Even if we didn't score the ball, we were going to be in our man, we were still going to trap ball screens and just try to create some offense from our defense. That was more of it to be frank, our extending defensively and trying to create some turnovers which I thought (Alisia Smith) Smitty did a good job of getting into passing lanes and steals and Tory as well.
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