Michigan State University Athletics
Post Game Quotes: Evansville
11/19/2023 4:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Robyn Fralick
Opening Statement…
"Exciting team win today. I think one of the positives moving forward is we had a much better start. We have been talking about that, starting the game, and setting the tone for the game. I thought we took some big strides in that. Obviously coming off this moving forward, we've got some big challenges ahead."
On Julia Ayrault on offense and defensive efforts tonight…
"She was really efficient. I thought she did a good job of kind of picking her times and spots of when to attack and finish. And then defensively seven blocks I mean her timing. She got a lot of them in help and she's doing a really good job in help defense of being able to disrupt plays, but she just keeps getting better. You know she's fun, she's been here awhile, she has a lot of experience and we're excited to just keep seeing her continue to improve."
On overall defensive effort…
"I thought we had really good patches defensively, especially the first quarter holding a team to four points. You just set the tone of what the game is going to look and feel like. For the other team we gave them too many offensive rebounds and I thought we would have a good defensive play and let the ball go out of bounds or go between our hands so there's things we've got to clean up and defending without fouling. I thought against Detroit we did that really well tonight we fouled too much. Some things to get better at moving forward."
On how the team continues to grow throughout the process…
"I've loved our teamness. I think I'd say that night in and night out they've truly grown from the opener. Just looking at the box score, distribution of scoring, sharing the ball, and high assists that's something. You know the strength of out team is the team and our ability to play together and trust each other to make the right play. Same defensively we have to move connectively and I've seen that so far. So we've gotta find a way to continue that teamness as we go forward."
On how important staying together as a team is with two players out…
"Yeah, I think we are still waiting to find out more information. But definitely being hit with more challenge right now. So, I think we will know more moving forward. I shared today was superhero day at our game which I love that. My seven-year-old has every superhero costume so she's always reminding us of the power of superheroes. What I shared with the team before the game is that our superpower is our team. You know we all have the superpower and then we all have to bring that and collectively our superpowers are really awesome right? So that right now especially in this challenge I think it is a good reminder of our superpower is our team."
On Jocelyn Tate…
"I know she's back there right now so I can tease her. She really did a good job picking her spots and finishing and creating, but she did foul too much. [laughing] She did a good job. I thought she did a great job of just decision making and finishing when she had good times to score."
On being 60% from the field and 100% from the FT line and the role that confidence plays with the ability to shoot that well…
"A lot of it comes from taking good shots. You know higher percentage shots come from taking good shots and I think our team has done a good job of playing together. It's fun to get an assist. Tonight, we had 29 assists. It's a fun way to play. The other piece to it is they've been in the gym shooting a lot. Confidence comes when we spend time on your craft. Basketball is a simple game in that if you make open shots and you make free throws and you don't foul, good things happen. It's not easy to do. When those things are in place, you're better. So, those are the things we've got to make sure we continue to do."
On how the team will focus on next games in Cancun…
"Well the Cancun tournament we are heading to is really good. James Madison won their league last year. Gave Ohio State a heck of a game in the tournament. Creighton is top-25 and made a great run in the tournament two years ago. We know we are going to be facing some really good competition. I always love that the game of basketball if you do it right you can go a lot of places. You've got to be able to balance being able to go to Cancun which is a great experience for our whole program and lock into competing and being able to perform at a high level. The game of basketball will take you a lot of cool places if you love it right. Our goal is to be able to balance both of those."
On Bree Robinson…
"Bree I thought did a good job. She finished and she made some shots. I thought that the initial part she got in a rhythm defensively. You just can't teach experience, so I think with both of them it's good. You get moments of good, you get moments of learning. Two things about them are that they always play hard and they are elite teammates. I was happy for them to get some good experience tonight."
On Tory Ozment…
"She had a great game. I thought she did a really good job finishing. Defensively she was really disruptive. She was able to get in passing lanes. Something we have been challenging her on is rebounding the ball better. We just really feel that she can be a consistent rebounder for us. I think the last two games she has done a good job of that. We have to keep her continuing to do that."
