Postgame Quotes vs. Idaho State
Dec. 6, 2016
Kohl - Madison, Wis.

Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis
Opening statement:
"I'd like to congratulate Idaho State. When I talked to Seton (Sobolewski) after the game, I thought we set basketball back today offensively on both ends.
 
"When we talked yesterday as a team about Idaho State, we talked about a toughness that they had. That even though they didn't have a winning record, they were really good on the glass. They weren't shooting it great but they just kept coming after you.
 
"One stat that just stood out to me was that they had 17 offensive rebounds and scored 16 points. We had 12 and scored three. I think up and down the board, we talked about how they play defensively, that we had to constantly be in a position where you were ready to attack, ready to shoot is, ready to drive it.
 
"When you have 24 turnovers, you're not giving yourself a chance. Last time I checked nobody's ever offensive rebounded a turnover. In the third quarter when we had the lead and I thought the zone was effective and they worked the shot clock, I thought we weren't strong mentally. I think we hoped they would miss as opposed to contesting it. That starts with me. We've got to be tougher. We've got to put our kids in a position. I'm a big believer that when a kid takes a shot they have to believe it's going to go in. If you have any doubt in your mind it's a disadvantage, it's a disservice to your teammates. They have to think you're going to miss because that's how I expect us to offensive rebound.
 
"I just felt like the entire night we could never get going in transition. A couple of times when we ran actions, we threw the ball into places we've never worked on. We need to do a better job of that in practice.
 
"Understanding how to build upon what we did across the whole game on Sunday at Illinois State has to be carried over. I thought we had a good practice yesterday. I thought we were competitive. I thought we were aggressive offensively.
 
"Tonight we wanted Idaho State to hand us the game. We talked this whole season about getting better game to game, practice to practice. We took a step back tonight after getting a road win on Sunday. They only thing I know to do as a coach is get to the film and work with our team tomorrow and get their heads up and get us ready for Thursday."

On the turnover issue tonight:
"I think today there's lots of different ways you can turn it over and we were pretty good at dipping into all of those. But when you look at the turnovers, some are over-anxiousness. At the end, there when we got the steal, we got a great opportunity with a two-on-one, maybe get an and-one on a great attack there, Avy's (Young) trying to do the right thing there on the seal-off and just took the kid completely across the lane. I think that out in the open that's an easy call for the officials to make, and that has nothing to do with anything besides Avy wanted to give Cayla (McMorris) the best shot possible. 

"Some of the ones, from a passing standpoint, of understanding what our game plan is and knowing when we get the ball high, how they sag to get to the next action, I thought we really struggled with tonight. We threw it in places that maybe one-on-one looked open, but the help-side defense was sitting all around people. When you see that, and it's across the board because everyone who played tonight had a turnover, if everybody can cut those down and give yourself a chance, even when you shoot 25 percent from the field. If one more of those for each person is an attack to even get a foul, then you're at the free-throw line a little bit more. 

"In the second half in the fourth quarter, to go one-for-two from the line just shows that we didn't have an attacking mentality throughout. We worked a lot yesterday on knowing that when we got it in the post, we'd be surrounded and we could go inside-out. We could have different options with things, and to be honest I'm curious to watch the film because I felt like when we did throw it in and get a post touch, that we were pretty stagnant everywhere else on the floor. 

"When there's a physical game, you've got to make sure when it goes back and forth that you don't get that retaliation and I think we got that. So I'd love to say I can pinpoint one thing, but I think there were a lot of areas where we turned it over. At times today, because we weren't aggressive on the initial catch, they overthought it right away." 
 
On if they shut down Cayla McMorris:
"There never should be a game where she has five shot attempts. We tried to run some action late in the game to specifically put the ball in her hands, and that action has got to be what Cayla wants. They played good team defense. It wasn't anything where they limited her catches or anything like that, she got to the line six times, she's an 83 percent free-throw shooter. Knowing how they play defensively it was more of a team effort just on our whole team, as opposed to someone taking her away."

Junior Malayna Johnson
On what it felt like on the floor:
"We just have to play harder. I was just trying to play for my team, but we need everybody collectively to come together so that we can win the game and play harder."