Photo by: Rick Kimball
Post-Game Quotes: Oakland
11/23/2025 6:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Michigan State Head Coach Robyn Fralick
Opening statement…..
We made a big deal about this being our last home game for a while, over a month, loved our fans, thankful they came out today. You know it took us a minute to get going, but the finish to our second quarter going into halftime was sort of the catalyst, it really kind of opened up the game. We share with our team a lot that we have a lot of people we can count on, so let's use that as an advantage. Playing at a level that requires the next person to come in and be ready to go. That's going to be important for us moving forward. We know we have big challenges ahead. There's going to be some new challenges, so our team has to get that focus and be ready for that as we head to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving.
On Kennedy Blair's in the first half, especially the first quarter…
One of my favorite things about coaching Kennedy is that she just wants to win. She doesn't care how. If it's assists, if it's rebounds, if it's getting stops, scoring, for me she's just trying to make the right basketball play. I think that when you worry about the right things, you get the right results. Kennedy is someone who's just trying to win, and I think tonight when we started out kind of slow, missed some layups and some free throws, she got us going. She had some really good cutting off the ball, finishing through contact. I'm most proud that she's just trying to make good basketball plays. If you ever get outside of just trying to do what the play requires, usually you just don't play as well.
On the defense being the most consistent part in the first six games, and what the key to consistency has been...
Our pressure can usually wear people out over time. I think our versatility. I like that we have people that can guard different spots or we can get mismatched, or we can switch things and keep people in front. I think Marah Dykstra, who came to us this year, her defensive versatility is really helpful. Our five position, Grace VanSlooten and Isaline Alexander have been good guarding in space, guarding in the paint. We're going to get tested more for sure, so that is something we've got to continue to grow in.
On having a spark like Kennedy Blair...
It's just necessary, It is what the game requires. We don't know night to night what that's going to be or what that is going to look like. She got downhill a lot in the middle of the court, which I think she took advantage of. They were switching fairly late, and I thought she did a good job of taking advantage of that switch and making plays.
Describing the guards performance early on in the season…
Well the game's easier when you share it. One of the beautiful things about the game of basketball is that you can make the game easier for each other by making the right play. This group so far has done a good job with that. I think we're first in the country in assists per game. If you want to create a good shot, you've got to create it together, at least that's how we play. We've got to be able to keep that up.
On Rashunda (Spider) Jones's performance this season…
She's just rock solid. She's a really good two-way player, smart. Same thing, same kind of sentiment I was sharing about Kennedy, she's just trying to make the right play. Sometimes that's to create, sometimes that's to finish; defensively she's going to get up and do her job and bother the ball. That's something I really appreciate about Spider- she's just trying to make the right play. Once again, her mind is in that space and the game rewards that. Tonight I look down and she has eight assists, five steals, fishing at the rim, I thought she did a good job attacking and finding cutters. She's been a great addition, she's also really consistent and she's one of our best communicators.
On Juliann Woodard's performance and development…
She's a worker. The best players storage their strengths and she stores her strengths, she's a really good shooter and she's a really good rebounder. She brings those things consistently, but she works on it. It's not like her shot just magically goes in, she's a kid who's in the gym, works on it a lot, but man that's a strength. She gets those feet set quick and doesn't need a lot of space and she rebounds the basketball. It's been fun getting her going again, she's been out nine months, coming back in from an injury and you can really see her getting her rhythm back.
On developing Juliann's shooting skills…
She works on it. She spends a lot of time on it. She came in and she shot the ball well right away, she's made it a super power.
On their trip to the Bahamas to face off against Temple, Clemson and Western Carolina…
We're ready for it. That's the biggest thing right now, we need it, we're ready for it. We need some good days of practice, we know the physicality, the speed- there's a lot of things that are going to be on a whole other level, so that's good for us. We've got to focus in, I think that helps them dial it in during practice. It also happens to be in a beautiful location- that's one of the great things about the Michigan State experience, we get to play basketball but they also get to see a lot of really cool parts of the world too.
On what the team can learn from playing in different environments…
A phrase we use in our program is, 'when it's time to hoop, you hoop'. I don't care if you're home, on the road, hot, cold, morning, night, and we haven't had that yet. We've been home. That's been great, we've really enjoyed that, we love our fans, we love playing at the Breslin, but the season isn't- unfortunately I wish we could play all games at the Breslin- that's not the way the season is played. It's going to challenge us in a variety of ways: on the road, high-competition, travel. It's going to test our competitive maturity.
On what she has learned from the team from their first six games…
We have depth. We have a lot of kids we can count on, a lot of kids who can bring different things. The other thing I've liked so far is we have a good passing team. That's got to remain, the game is much easier when you share the ball, so that's something we've got to continue.
Opening statement…..
We made a big deal about this being our last home game for a while, over a month, loved our fans, thankful they came out today. You know it took us a minute to get going, but the finish to our second quarter going into halftime was sort of the catalyst, it really kind of opened up the game. We share with our team a lot that we have a lot of people we can count on, so let's use that as an advantage. Playing at a level that requires the next person to come in and be ready to go. That's going to be important for us moving forward. We know we have big challenges ahead. There's going to be some new challenges, so our team has to get that focus and be ready for that as we head to the Bahamas for Thanksgiving.
On Kennedy Blair's in the first half, especially the first quarter…
One of my favorite things about coaching Kennedy is that she just wants to win. She doesn't care how. If it's assists, if it's rebounds, if it's getting stops, scoring, for me she's just trying to make the right basketball play. I think that when you worry about the right things, you get the right results. Kennedy is someone who's just trying to win, and I think tonight when we started out kind of slow, missed some layups and some free throws, she got us going. She had some really good cutting off the ball, finishing through contact. I'm most proud that she's just trying to make good basketball plays. If you ever get outside of just trying to do what the play requires, usually you just don't play as well.
On the defense being the most consistent part in the first six games, and what the key to consistency has been...
Our pressure can usually wear people out over time. I think our versatility. I like that we have people that can guard different spots or we can get mismatched, or we can switch things and keep people in front. I think Marah Dykstra, who came to us this year, her defensive versatility is really helpful. Our five position, Grace VanSlooten and Isaline Alexander have been good guarding in space, guarding in the paint. We're going to get tested more for sure, so that is something we've got to continue to grow in.
On having a spark like Kennedy Blair...
It's just necessary, It is what the game requires. We don't know night to night what that's going to be or what that is going to look like. She got downhill a lot in the middle of the court, which I think she took advantage of. They were switching fairly late, and I thought she did a good job of taking advantage of that switch and making plays.
Describing the guards performance early on in the season…
Well the game's easier when you share it. One of the beautiful things about the game of basketball is that you can make the game easier for each other by making the right play. This group so far has done a good job with that. I think we're first in the country in assists per game. If you want to create a good shot, you've got to create it together, at least that's how we play. We've got to be able to keep that up.
On Rashunda (Spider) Jones's performance this season…
She's just rock solid. She's a really good two-way player, smart. Same thing, same kind of sentiment I was sharing about Kennedy, she's just trying to make the right play. Sometimes that's to create, sometimes that's to finish; defensively she's going to get up and do her job and bother the ball. That's something I really appreciate about Spider- she's just trying to make the right play. Once again, her mind is in that space and the game rewards that. Tonight I look down and she has eight assists, five steals, fishing at the rim, I thought she did a good job attacking and finding cutters. She's been a great addition, she's also really consistent and she's one of our best communicators.
On Juliann Woodard's performance and development…
She's a worker. The best players storage their strengths and she stores her strengths, she's a really good shooter and she's a really good rebounder. She brings those things consistently, but she works on it. It's not like her shot just magically goes in, she's a kid who's in the gym, works on it a lot, but man that's a strength. She gets those feet set quick and doesn't need a lot of space and she rebounds the basketball. It's been fun getting her going again, she's been out nine months, coming back in from an injury and you can really see her getting her rhythm back.
On developing Juliann's shooting skills…
She works on it. She spends a lot of time on it. She came in and she shot the ball well right away, she's made it a super power.
On their trip to the Bahamas to face off against Temple, Clemson and Western Carolina…
We're ready for it. That's the biggest thing right now, we need it, we're ready for it. We need some good days of practice, we know the physicality, the speed- there's a lot of things that are going to be on a whole other level, so that's good for us. We've got to focus in, I think that helps them dial it in during practice. It also happens to be in a beautiful location- that's one of the great things about the Michigan State experience, we get to play basketball but they also get to see a lot of really cool parts of the world too.
On what the team can learn from playing in different environments…
A phrase we use in our program is, 'when it's time to hoop, you hoop'. I don't care if you're home, on the road, hot, cold, morning, night, and we haven't had that yet. We've been home. That's been great, we've really enjoyed that, we love our fans, we love playing at the Breslin, but the season isn't- unfortunately I wish we could play all games at the Breslin- that's not the way the season is played. It's going to challenge us in a variety of ways: on the road, high-competition, travel. It's going to test our competitive maturity.
On what she has learned from the team from their first six games…
We have depth. We have a lot of kids we can count on, a lot of kids who can bring different things. The other thing I've liked so far is we have a good passing team. That's got to remain, the game is much easier when you share the ball, so that's something we've got to continue.
Players Mentioned
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