Despite Purdue win, women's basketball risks NCAA Tournament play
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A lot has changed in one week, as the MSU women’s basketball team (17-10 overall, 9-5 Big Ten) enters the final week of the regular season tied for third place in the conference after beating No. 17 Purdue on Sunday, 67-52.
Thinking back to MSU’s earlier 67-49 loss to Purdue on Jan. 23, head coach Suzy Merchant said Sunday’s game was personal for her team.
“I definitely think that (we had to win), I think, for a lot of reasons,” she said. “If you look at every game we played, that (first game against Purdue) was our worst 20 minutes in the first half, so (we had) a little bit of a redemption and revenge mentality. But in the bigger scope of things, in order to keep moving forward and to put us in a position where we want to be — that was a big game.”
Merchant recognized the play of freshman forward Becca Mills, who came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points and kept the team afloat during a scoring lull in the second half.
Mills said the uncertainty about the team making the NCAA Tournament has motivated her to take her game to another level.
“This game meant a lot for our team; we’re trying to play in March, and we’re not giving up yet,” she said. “They came out with a mock bracket, and we just missed it, so we had to get this game because we want to make a run in the tournament.”
“Right now it’s one of the things on the front of my mind. Our coach talked to us about how none of us really know what it’s like not to be in the tournament, … and I was just thinking that if I was a senior, I would want to play in the tournament, so I was going to do everything that I could do to get our seniors into the tournament.”
“Ki” to victory
After struggling through a late season slump, Kiana Johnson has started to rediscover her game, averaging 10.5 points, seven rebounds and six assists the past two games — both MSU wins.
But it was her play against Purdue on Sunday — where the freshman guard played a career-high 45 minutes and held Purdue guard K.K. Houser to 10 points and 3-for-14 shooting — that stood out to her head coach.
“I think your freshman point guard mentality (is) your job is always to deflect and to set people up, but right now with where we’re at, she’s got to do a little more than that,” Merchant said.
“She went through a phase where she was just sort of out there, wasn’t really taking charge and being in control. … Kiana’s been very, very aggressive at the point guard position the last two games, directing and leading.”
Johnson said she had struggled with thinking too much on the floor, and a conversation with senior guard Porsché Poole helped her get back on track.
“(Poole) tells me all the time, ‘Just play, just play’ so that’s what I had to do,” she said. “I feel like sometimes I get caught up in trying to make sure everybody else is happy instead of just playing and making everybody happy. … That’s what I do. I play defense, and I take pride in it, and it was vital to the win.”
