Feb. 16, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Notes
Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey
On the offense’s struggles when the 3-pointer isn’t there:
“We had some open looks; we just didn’t knock them down. It wasn’t like we were not open at all, but the ones we did get you’ve got to knock them down. We don’t necessarily want to take 31 threes that’s not good either, but we’re not an off the dribble team either so it makes it hard when you don’t do either one.”
We did get to the free throw line a little bit, but again we were 4-of-10. We couldn’t even make free throws we’re usually pretty good with the free throws.”
We’re going to have a game or two like this. This is really our first game where we played this poorly all year I thought we pretty much been very competitive in our other games, so that’s the most disappointing part of the game is that we did not give ourselves a chance to really compete to get the win. If you’re down by nine then they go on a 8-0 run now your down by more than that, so we didn’t help ourselves by not being aggressive on either end. We had some spurts. I’m not saying it was all negative, but with a team like this you can’t have so-so here and there (you have to) be very consistent or they are going to capitalize, which they did.”
On whether Michigan State’s offensive penetration or offensive rebound hurt the Badgers more:
"A little bit of both, it’s not one thing, it’s a combination of a lot of things and they were smart their guard didn’t try to shoot over us like we did on them. We didn’t make that extra pass and they did. Again, we can learn from that with other teams, but some of that is instinct. You have to know to do that and we just quite haven’t learned that lesson yet. They have some nice ball handlers who can create their own shot then they have bigs that can shoot, so if you switch it they are going to post you up, if you don’t and you shadow like we were trying to do they’re going to throw it back and she’ll hit a three and they were hitting them, that’s the difference, and we weren’t."
Michigan State head coach Suzy Merchant
On how instrumental her team’s post play was to its win:
“Well, I think we challenged Lykendra [Johnson] a little bit. We challenged her to be a little bit more aggressive out of the gate, and I think she was. We needed to have Kiana [Johnson] come to life at the point guard position and Lykendra and the post players needed to be able to score under there.”
On stopping the Badgers from finding their 3-point stroke:
“It was our number one goal. They’re number one in three-point field goals made in the Big Ten and third in percentage, so not only do they shoot a lot of them but they make them. So our goal was to really get up in them and guard the arc, and then challenge ourselves not to foul them when they put the ball on the floor and went to the rim. We were a little surprised with their change in starting lineup, just because we had practiced a lot with Taylor [Wurtz] at the three. I thought it matched up to us okay too, because it’s not like we start two power-post guys, so I thought we were okay in that department. We start Taylor [Alton] who’s really a three at the four, so it was almost like a swap for Wurtz and Taylor Alton. [3-point defense] was a big goal and so was rebounding. They were 1-10 when they were outrebounded, so that was a big focal point for us, and we won it 38-21 on the boards tonight, so that was another key defensive point for us.”
On the Lykendra Johnson’s performance:
“I thought she was really sharp tonight. I felt like out of the gate she was very focused at the offensive end. She gives everything she has defensively. She chased down an open-court layup and knocked it away, and those are things that she hadn’t been doing. So I was very proud of her tonight, and that’s what we need out of our seniors, to step up. It had been Porsche [Poole] quite a bit down the stretch, but she didn’t play as well today, but Kiana and Lykendra were really big for us tonight.”
On her team’s knack for outrebounding its opponents:
“I think we’re a pretty good rebounding team. We’re first in the Big Ten, and that’s a big focal point for us. We do a lot of defensive rebounding drills and offensively we have a game-plan too. I feel like we’re capable, it’s just a matter of a little more want-to at times, but tonight I think we did a really good job.”
On whether she watches other scores during the game:
“There are so many key matchups down the stretch. There are so many interesting things that are going to happen. You could finish one week second and the next week seventh. It’s bizarre how things are going. So you watch it, but I really don’t watch it.”
On whether this is the most competitive Big Ten season since she’s been coach:
“I think so. I think there’s a lot of parity, as you can see. There are matchups where sometimes it’s a bad shooting night for one team. We played Purdue on a Monday night where we were just awful and they were hitting everything, and then they go to Iowa and score 42 points. How does that happen? It’s the same team. They had the same looks but they just didn’t make them. So it’s a combination of maybe where you’re riding your confidence and playing a team at the right time helps. A little bit of it is luck.”
On stopping the Badgers transition offense:
“That was a big point for us too. That’s a key point for everyone we play. We want people to have to go against our quarter-court defense, and for us the ability to switch one through four hurt their ability to score the ball a little bit. They do a great job with their ball-screen, re-screen, handoffs and cuts. It’s really hard action to guard because they’re constantly moving and I think Bobbie [Kelsey] has really found something that really fits them. I think early they were really into that triangle, and now she went away from that. I think that was the right move, and they’ve really been playing well. It’s really hard to guard, but because in some ways we could matchup and switch one through four on screens. So there were some positive things that we could do to Wisconsin that a Purdue or a Penn State couldn’t do, or some team that has more of a power-post game.”
On what makes her team so good on the glass:
“Sometimes we’re not. First, with Lykendra, I think she just has a nose for the ball. She does a really good job offensively and defensively. And we work at it. We do drills every day. We do ‘War Rebounding’ every day, and a lot of one-on-one, box-out-the-shooter type of stuff.”
