https://gophersports.com/documents/2019/11/5//01_MSU_Quotes.pdf
Minnesota Head Coach Lindsey Whalen
Opening Statement:
“Obviously a tough one for us but give them credit. You can see that is a team that returns 10 from a Sweet 16 team. Other than that first quarter, I thought we played better, but now we got down 13 at the start of the first quarter. Then down the stretch they made the plays that you would think a team who had been in those situations would make. They made every free throw. They had an answer for every run we had, but I like the resiliency of our team. This is a game that we will learn a lot from.”
On if Taiye Bello’s two early fouls changed the game:
“There’s no question. Two early ones for her, and in the second half, too. She had two fairly quickly when we were on a run in the second half, as well. We talk a lot about defending without fouling. One was an offensive foul on a moving screen, I believe. So, all things that we will need to keep working on and keep learning from.”
On playing higher quality non‐conference opponents:
“Every loss you learn from. You want to learn from wins, that’s more fun, but no question we will watch the video. We felt like last year when we got to the Big Ten, we had a start because we felt like maybe the non‐conference didn’t have as many games against a team of this magnitude. We have some tough challenges for sure. That’s why we have to come ready every practice right from the start and every
game right from the start because if you don’t, you’ll be down 13 really quick to a really good team.”
Minnesota forward Destiny Pitts
On the cause of the team’s slow start:
“I’m not really sure. Whether it’s the first game or not, we have to come ready to play. I just don’t feel like we came with the energy in the first quarter. That set us back for the rest of the game. I just feel like we need to come out and punch them in the mouth rather than get punched in the mouth on our home court.”
Missouri State Head Coach Amaka Agugua‐Hamilton
On the first five minutes of the game setting the tone:
“That’s something that we talk about in the locker room, and we always want to punch first; that’s our game plan. We knew this was a great team, you know it’s a Big Ten team, and that they were going to punch back, but we need to handle the adversity. It’s not going to be a perfect game, but we just have to keep punching until we knock them out.”
On the raised court:
“We didn’t focus too much on the raised court to be honest. I don’t know if it affects the players as much as it affects the coach because you know you can’t really get to your assistants too well and you can’t get to your bench too well, but we didn’t talk more about that. It’s more about the depth perception with the arena being so wide and shooting is a little different than our arena, so we got shots up and pretty confident in that regard, but knowing the Big Ten, and being in the Big Ten eight years out of my total coaching career was definitely helpful in preparing them that way. But coming off the Sweet 16 they were excited and prepared to play a Power Five team.”
On the foul trouble of Taiye Bello:
“It changed it tremendously. She’s a great player and she’s a monster on the boards and their forcing side. We keyed in on her and Destiny Pitts for sure, especially Destiny Pitts, she’s a phenomenal shooter. We wanted to make her work for everything she got, but Bello getting two early fouls wasn’t by coincidence and was definitely part of our game plan. We got at her early because we knew they didn’t have anybody like her on the bench, so if we can get her in foul trouble she has to come out of the game. I thought we did a good job of going at her early, and tried to go at Destiny Pitts early, but she did a good job not fouling, so we weren’t able to get her in foul trouble, but with Bello, we were successful.”
