Post-Game Quotes vs. Penn State
2/21/2022 8:47:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Suzy Merchant
On Nia Clouden playing in her last few games…
Yeah, Nia's a special player, a special talent. People were coming at her again tonight. She plays within herself, but still is aggressive. She had six assists and only one turnover, so it's not like she's one of those kids who take bad shots. She just takes the right shots. You know, tonight was a little disappointing, but I'm just gonna try to savor all the time I got left with her.
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On injuries and the inability to close out tonight's game…
There were a lot. I mean, it's hard. Every game, it's multiple people. I literally was trying to put our walk-on in to see if maybe she would hit a shot, cause they were [in] triangle and two-ing and they were in jump defense. I mean at this level it's just a little bit disappointing that we don't have people who can step up and be consistent and put pressure. It was just disappointing a little bit. I was most disappointed in our post play, if I had to say anything, because they went small. They [Penn State] shoots the three, which we know, they went small, and their five man can shoot the three as well. We knew we had to guard the arc, we didn't do a very good job of it against Wisconsin, they recognized that, we worked on it. Again, we came out very flat in the first quarter. I don't know why we're shocked they're hitting three's in our face, and we're open. So our urgency was very disappointing from that standpoint, and I guess it makes it difficult when your post can't guard on the perimeter, yet they're not doing their job inside either. So it just causes a problem when you don't have the depth. Not having Isa [Alexander] in there ... Isa would have up and under-ed, Isa would have been more physical and got herself to the free throw line. I think that's the one thing, she does a good job of double moving, and [Alisia Smith] and [Taiyier Parks] would not listen, they would not do it, and it was a problem. That's why [Pe​​nn State] had nine blocks, and every single one of them was on them. I kept trying to say 'if you just shot faked, we'll get ourselves to the line. Double shot fake, just step through, and go around them.' She's like the best in wall on wheels, but when they're hitting three's like that, and your posts are playin​​g that way, it kind of makes it hard to figure out how to put two of them out there. And then Brooklyn [Rewers], our freshman, she hasn't had that many minutes and opportunities like Isa's had, so losing Isa now has really affected our ability to adjust some things, cause she's mobile, face up, mobile four or five man that we can play on the perimeter defensively.
On DeeDee Hagemann's performance and possible injury…
She said she was [okay], she jumped right up and said she was. We didn't go to Wisconsin with her because she had a concussion, so who knows, I'll just wait and see. I'm sure, unfortunately, she will probably have to get checked out, and depending on how that goes she could be out for the rest of the year or for the next game. I don't know, but she played the rest of the game and seemed to be okay. Her second half was obviously a little bit better than her first from a scoring perspective. They have to guard [Makenna] Marisa and she just did not do a great job on that kid at all. She did a needle screen and just kind of went over DeeDee and around DeeDee, and that was a little bit disappointing. We had to do a better job on that kid.
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On Nia Clouden playing in her last few games…
Yeah, Nia's a special player, a special talent. People were coming at her again tonight. She plays within herself, but still is aggressive. She had six assists and only one turnover, so it's not like she's one of those kids who take bad shots. She just takes the right shots. You know, tonight was a little disappointing, but I'm just gonna try to savor all the time I got left with her.
Â
On injuries and the inability to close out tonight's game…
There were a lot. I mean, it's hard. Every game, it's multiple people. I literally was trying to put our walk-on in to see if maybe she would hit a shot, cause they were [in] triangle and two-ing and they were in jump defense. I mean at this level it's just a little bit disappointing that we don't have people who can step up and be consistent and put pressure. It was just disappointing a little bit. I was most disappointed in our post play, if I had to say anything, because they went small. They [Penn State] shoots the three, which we know, they went small, and their five man can shoot the three as well. We knew we had to guard the arc, we didn't do a very good job of it against Wisconsin, they recognized that, we worked on it. Again, we came out very flat in the first quarter. I don't know why we're shocked they're hitting three's in our face, and we're open. So our urgency was very disappointing from that standpoint, and I guess it makes it difficult when your post can't guard on the perimeter, yet they're not doing their job inside either. So it just causes a problem when you don't have the depth. Not having Isa [Alexander] in there ... Isa would have up and under-ed, Isa would have been more physical and got herself to the free throw line. I think that's the one thing, she does a good job of double moving, and [Alisia Smith] and [Taiyier Parks] would not listen, they would not do it, and it was a problem. That's why [Pe​​nn State] had nine blocks, and every single one of them was on them. I kept trying to say 'if you just shot faked, we'll get ourselves to the line. Double shot fake, just step through, and go around them.' She's like the best in wall on wheels, but when they're hitting three's like that, and your posts are playin​​g that way, it kind of makes it hard to figure out how to put two of them out there. And then Brooklyn [Rewers], our freshman, she hasn't had that many minutes and opportunities like Isa's had, so losing Isa now has really affected our ability to adjust some things, cause she's mobile, face up, mobile four or five man that we can play on the perimeter defensively.
On DeeDee Hagemann's performance and possible injury…
She said she was [okay], she jumped right up and said she was. We didn't go to Wisconsin with her because she had a concussion, so who knows, I'll just wait and see. I'm sure, unfortunately, she will probably have to get checked out, and depending on how that goes she could be out for the rest of the year or for the next game. I don't know, but she played the rest of the game and seemed to be okay. Her second half was obviously a little bit better than her first from a scoring perspective. They have to guard [Makenna] Marisa and she just did not do a great job on that kid at all. She did a needle screen and just kind of went over DeeDee and around DeeDee, and that was a little bit disappointing. We had to do a better job on that kid.
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Players Mentioned
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