Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Post-Game Quotes vs. No. 4 Michigan
2/10/2022 10:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On where this win ranks among all the others…
I mean, it doesn't matter, whenever you play Michigan and win it feels really good, especially when you're a Spartan, right? I'm sure if it was the other way around, they'd feel the same way. When they're rivalry games, they mean something. So, does it rank more than the others? It just feels really good right now, so we'll take this one.
On Nia Clouden and her emotion tonight…
Well, it's her last go-around in the rivalry game. Last year we had no fans, we only played them once and it was at their place, and that was on a short notice. We found out like a day before we were going to play them, so it was kind of a weird season last year. I think, especially if you're from our state or you're a veteran, you know what these games mean, just like they (Michigan) know what it means when they play these games too, so I'm not surprised. Nia's been a great leader, I don't think she was going to step off this floor without taking a win.
On the freshmen tonight…
I thought DeeDee [Hagemann] did a really good job. I mean nine assists, one turnover in a game like this, they were coming at her pretty good in ball-screen action, we had to adjust that a little bit for her. She had seven boards and we've been asking her to do a better job on the defensive boards, especially to go in there and help clean up some of those ones that are kind of batted around, just because Naz [Hillmon] is a hard person to keep off the glass. She is just a force to be reckoned with, so we were trying to double-box her out, and when you do that sometimes, it's hard to get the rebound at the same time. So, we asked our guards to do a better job in there, and she had nine points, nine assists, one turnover and seven rebounds, so that's a pretty good night for a freshman in a game like this.
On Matilda Ekh's pair of big three-pointers late…
They were late in the shot clock, too, like one or two seconds, and the one was really deep. She's pretty calm. Those were probably a little further than her range and she didn't really have a choice, but she wasn't hitting her shots early and I thought she passed them up and kind of drove half-heartedly tonight, so for us to be able to find her in that kind of safety position, she did a really good job of getting behind the ball so that when someone drove she was able to be there and be available. They have a great defense where they suck in and anytime the ball gets in the paint everybody kind of collapses, so you got to find shooters. They have size and athleticism in there and it's not always easy to find those shooters. To be able find her late and for her to hit those, I felt those were sort of back-breakers for Michigan because they were at times when we were ahead and they kind of cut it. So, those were two pretty big shots down the stretch at different times for her.
On the energy tonight, especially the emotion…
It just felt good. I thought we had a great crowd. I was a little bit worried about it because it's been a little bit up and down so far this year, but it felt really good to have so many fans there. You could really feel the energy. Those are usually really good rivalry games. It's your fans, it's your Pink Game, you're playing for something bigger than yourself, too. You're representing people that are in a different kind of fight. I don't know, I was just really proud of our group. As you know, our depth is tough sometimes, and we really went to our bench with our big kids. I thought Isa [Isaline Alexander] was really good today and we put Brooklyn Rewers in, too, because the one thing with Michigan is Naz [Hillmon] is a force, right? So, if you double too much, she's a really good passer. We were trying to dig a little bit more and we felt that if we could push her off and work really hard to be more of a wall on wheels and make her shoot over us, with our size and our physicality, we thought maybe that could be effective. It makes it harder for her to score than when she's wheeling and dealing in there. So, they did a good job. I thought Kim [Barnes Arico] down the stretch there, they put Naz and Maddie Nolan on the same side. You can't dig on Maddie Nolan, she's too good of a shooter. If you come from the weak side, now that's a long closeout. I thought down the stretch they did a good job of putting those two on the same side just so it made it easier for Naz to go one-on-one on the block.
On where this win ranks among all the others…
I mean, it doesn't matter, whenever you play Michigan and win it feels really good, especially when you're a Spartan, right? I'm sure if it was the other way around, they'd feel the same way. When they're rivalry games, they mean something. So, does it rank more than the others? It just feels really good right now, so we'll take this one.
On Nia Clouden and her emotion tonight…
Well, it's her last go-around in the rivalry game. Last year we had no fans, we only played them once and it was at their place, and that was on a short notice. We found out like a day before we were going to play them, so it was kind of a weird season last year. I think, especially if you're from our state or you're a veteran, you know what these games mean, just like they (Michigan) know what it means when they play these games too, so I'm not surprised. Nia's been a great leader, I don't think she was going to step off this floor without taking a win.
On the freshmen tonight…
I thought DeeDee [Hagemann] did a really good job. I mean nine assists, one turnover in a game like this, they were coming at her pretty good in ball-screen action, we had to adjust that a little bit for her. She had seven boards and we've been asking her to do a better job on the defensive boards, especially to go in there and help clean up some of those ones that are kind of batted around, just because Naz [Hillmon] is a hard person to keep off the glass. She is just a force to be reckoned with, so we were trying to double-box her out, and when you do that sometimes, it's hard to get the rebound at the same time. So, we asked our guards to do a better job in there, and she had nine points, nine assists, one turnover and seven rebounds, so that's a pretty good night for a freshman in a game like this.
On Matilda Ekh's pair of big three-pointers late…
They were late in the shot clock, too, like one or two seconds, and the one was really deep. She's pretty calm. Those were probably a little further than her range and she didn't really have a choice, but she wasn't hitting her shots early and I thought she passed them up and kind of drove half-heartedly tonight, so for us to be able to find her in that kind of safety position, she did a really good job of getting behind the ball so that when someone drove she was able to be there and be available. They have a great defense where they suck in and anytime the ball gets in the paint everybody kind of collapses, so you got to find shooters. They have size and athleticism in there and it's not always easy to find those shooters. To be able find her late and for her to hit those, I felt those were sort of back-breakers for Michigan because they were at times when we were ahead and they kind of cut it. So, those were two pretty big shots down the stretch at different times for her.
On the energy tonight, especially the emotion…
It just felt good. I thought we had a great crowd. I was a little bit worried about it because it's been a little bit up and down so far this year, but it felt really good to have so many fans there. You could really feel the energy. Those are usually really good rivalry games. It's your fans, it's your Pink Game, you're playing for something bigger than yourself, too. You're representing people that are in a different kind of fight. I don't know, I was just really proud of our group. As you know, our depth is tough sometimes, and we really went to our bench with our big kids. I thought Isa [Isaline Alexander] was really good today and we put Brooklyn Rewers in, too, because the one thing with Michigan is Naz [Hillmon] is a force, right? So, if you double too much, she's a really good passer. We were trying to dig a little bit more and we felt that if we could push her off and work really hard to be more of a wall on wheels and make her shoot over us, with our size and our physicality, we thought maybe that could be effective. It makes it harder for her to score than when she's wheeling and dealing in there. So, they did a good job. I thought Kim [Barnes Arico] down the stretch there, they put Naz and Maddie Nolan on the same side. You can't dig on Maddie Nolan, she's too good of a shooter. If you come from the weak side, now that's a long closeout. I thought down the stretch they did a good job of putting those two on the same side just so it made it easier for Naz to go one-on-one on the block.
Players Mentioned
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