Post-Game Quotes: Oakland

Michigan State Head Coach Robyn Fralick

Opening Statement…...
Great opening night at the Breslin for the season. I thought there's so many things to build on and then there's also so many things that were watching and thinking, 'we know we can get better at this'. So I loved our effort, I loved our energy, I loved the entire impact our entire roster made in that game. We'll enjoy it for a little bit and then we're going to learn from it, because there's a lot of things that we know we can continue to do better, but the energy and effort from this group is in a really good place to start.

On the growth of women's basketball……
Well, the growth of our sport is at the best place it's ever been and it's deserving of that. It is worthy of it. I get asked a lot 'why is women's basketball so popular now'. I said, 'because it's really good.' Because its really good, because its really fun to watch, and were excited to be part of that. I think that a big piece of it, too, is there's been a lot more TV opportunities and viewership. So, we're excited to be a part of where women's basketball is right now, and we feel a responsibility towards that.

On the bench performance tonight…...
So important. I think really good teams have a lot of players who impact the game, and tonight we got a lot of positive impact off the bench from a lot of different people.

On the defensive performance tonight….
Anyway you can win possessions, basketball is a lot of things, but it's also a numbers game and you have to find ways to win possessions. That can be through turnover margin, that can be through rebounding, that can be through shooting percentage, and our disruption tonight did a really good job forcing turnovers. When you force turnovers, you have 'advantage basketball', your usually in a situation to create a really good shot. So I was proud; I thought our team did a good job being disruptive and our disruption led to a lot of advantages.

On the identity of the team….
I think we're going to learn. I think we got an early feel, but I think we're going to learn as we continue to grow. I think were physical, I think defensively we have been disruptive and made it hard to score. Offensively, we've done a good job of getting to the free throw line consistently. So those are things we like early, I think we'll learn more as we keep going.

On the starting lineup and teams' depth….
Well, I think you finish the season, and you evaluate. 'What was good', 'What has to be better for us to get to that next level', and I think some things we identified was depth. Last year, we played with two subs off the bench but led the Big Ten in scoring. So sometimes it doesn't matter how many; it matters how productive. We felt like going into this season, that we needed more depth to play the way we want to play. To play the way you want to play requires incredible effort. There has to be a mentality around earning your sub because to play the way we want to play. We knew we would need to be better defensively, and I thought last year defensively part of our challenge was just size. I think that some of those things we've taken steps forward in, but we're going to keep learning more as we go too.

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