Jan. 7, 2012
Michigan Head Coach Kevin Borseth
On the team's success in the first half ... "We were trying to do everything that we could to contain Prahalis and Hill. They are absolutely phenomenal players and they are a handful. We were doing everything that we could to try to keep them at bay. I thought our kids had a lot of energy defensively, and I thought that was a big difference for us in the first half."
On players recognizing what teammates to give the ball to ... "We have an equal-opportunity offense. I think we try to share the ball, and we try to take advantage of situations. Sometimes it is a mismatch on the perimeter, and sometimes it's a mismatch inside. We just try to take care of the ball. Sometimes, it looks like organized chaos to me, but if you go back and look at the film you can see that our goal is to take care of the ball and not turn it over. At the end of the game, it was a little bit concerning because Tayler Hill swiped two from Rachel (Sheffer). Rachel trying to drive on Tayler Hill was probably not a good idea. Then Sam (Prahalis) poked one back on Nya (Jordan), so we turned the ball over at the elbow, which was kind of concerning. For the most part, we try to take care of the ball and get a high-percentage shot from whomever we can."
On Sam Arnold's contributions coming off the bench ... "When you are in the game, you have to be able to do something, and when Sam comes in, we rely on her under the basket. Rachel has been doing it and now tonight Sam did it and that's the difference for us, those kids have to be able to come in and contribute. Tonight Kate (Thompson) and Sam came off the bench and contributed and that is part of who we are. You have to have everyone who comes in the game contribute, and I thought Sam did a good job tonight."
On Nya Jordan's increased playing time ... "This is the kind of game that is very physical and fast paced, where you've got to make decisions in a hurry. It's a Big Ten game and I just felt that Nya was a player that we needed to insert because she would be able to handle the tempo of the game. There are things in this game that you really can't teach. Experience does a whole lot for you."
On concern from having lost the Michigan State game ... "We never looked back and talked about Michigan State, we just immediately got to work on Ohio State. When we go to practice on Monday, we won't talk about this game; we will work on Penn State. We have to focus on the next game, regardless of what happened in the prior one. We will enjoy this now; it's going to be a pleasant evening for us with our gala and all of our alumni in town. The game was exciting for our fans and we had a great crowd cheering us on. We will enjoy tonight, but then when Monday comes we will have to get back to work and prepare for Penn State."
Sign up for Michigan Insider to be the first to learn about 2015-16 Michigan women's basketball ticket opportunities.