Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Mississippi State vs. Mississippi College
November 01, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Mississippi State Head Coach Doug Novak
Q: What was the message after getting to coach the team for the first time in action?
DN: "Every day gets a little bit better in terms of how we are practicing and how we are communicating. We always want to meet in that center circle and give one final message. Win or lose we are going to put our hands in together. They had some family and friends around, so I wanted them to be able to go enjoy themselves instead of going to a locker room and waiting 20 minutes for a coach to yell at them."
Q: How important will speed in the transition game be once the season starts?
DN: "I think it is crucial. It is not going to be a traditional 1955 Dean Smith North Carolina break where you are reversing it through a trail and sealing across and back screening. All of the fun stuff you can do when you have two bigs. It is more of a bust-out type of team. We have a primary ball-handler in Myah Taylor and Anastasia [Hayes]. They are great point guards. We also have two other bust-out dribblers that can lead a break in Rickea Jackson and Jerkailia [Jordan]. They are really good at making decisions. The floor gets really spaced and some people like to get back in conversion defense. Sometimes teams are trying to figure out who they are guarding when a different person is bringing down the ball. We need to space quicker and earlier to maximize the space that we are going to have within a possession."
Q: How did you assess how Denae Carter carried herself in her first college game?
DN: "I thought that she was outstanding for where she is today. I thought that she did a really good job in the scrimmage that we had last week. She has some versatility to guard some bigger people that we need. She also has the quickness to guard some of the smaller drivers that we have in this league. She has a lot of abilities of both post and perimeter players. I think that we are definitely going to need to develop her along the season. She is a nice surprise. You never know, sometimes when the lights come on, some players think too much. They put too much weight on their shoulders. She is just the opposite. She gets a little bit quicker. She is a great practice player, but when the lights come on, she has a little extra burst and does not get fazed."
Q: Were you pleased with how the team was able to execute the game plan?
DN: "Yes I was. We keep things pretty simple. It was definitely more about us than our opponent. I think that we won the games within the game. Our assist to turnover ratio, hitting some open players down the court, and then defensively. Defensively, we have struggled in the past couple of weeks. In the last three days, we have made some gains. We wanted to make sure that we had some carry over to that. I think that the first unit and a half did a really good job of sitting down and defending without fouling. They were being disruptive and playing some sound basketball."
Q: What did you think of Rickea Jackson's performance tonight and what can she do for this team all season?
DN: "There's no surprise that she's going to be a focal point, not only for us, but for everybody else's defense. The last thing that we want her to do is to have to isolate offensively in a particular spot – we have to be able to move her around and play off of other people. She is such a weapon. I don't know if you saw it quite tonight, [but] where her game has developed so much is as a physical, poster. She gets to where she wants to go. She can get to the front of the rim, and if you want to take that away, she is going to dribble-drive. She has worked extremely hard on her inside-out 3's and she is stick those at a very good rate. Even if it doesn't go in, she's not bothered. She knows that she's put the work in and that they're the right shots. She's very valuable, and the nice thing is that we have some guards that know how to play the game of basketball, so we can spread it and we can move her around. We can't just isolate. It will be hard defensively just to pick on her and put two people on her."
Q: How do you maintain the balance of trying to have your guards rebound while also getting back in transition defensively?
DN: "I would be excited about rebounding too if a coach told me that I could just bust out, get that board, and go get a layup. They're pretty quick. They have a nose for the ball, so they can rebound out of their area, which is crucial. It's no secret that we're small. We are very small, so if you're going to be that you need to be a little disruptive. You have to run down those loose balls. We're going to lose some of the battles just because of height, and we have to keep that close, but we just have to be incredibly scrappy to run those balls down. If they get it and they have some space, they ought to be able to push that thing ahead, and we can get our transition game going."
Guard Denae Carter
Q: Your first college action out there tonight how did you feel out there and what do you think works for you?
DC: "It was a great having our team pick each other up the whole game. It was really fun to be aggressive and get some boards for the team."
Q: The 4 players behind Rickea Jackson that scored the most were all newcomers, what does that say for this team that you all are trying to build this team together?
DC: "It shows that we are all in this together, that we have a lot of pieces. We all have a lot to showcase. It is fun when we mix in the lineups you can see our offense and defense still can flow."
Guard Aislynn Hayes
Q: What are your thoughts on getting to play with your teammates tonight after a tumultuous last few weeks?
AH: I had a lot of fun. Being in the Hump was an amazing experience and I had a great time. We've all been working very hard and playing hard for one another. We're just playing good basketball and it's been very fun."
Q: With a small ball lineup like this, how much of a focus has there been on speed in transition and breaking out on offense?
AH: We know we have a lot of speed on this team and that's a good thing. We know that if we get a rebound, we can turn it around and get a rebound quickly. It definitely makes offense a lot easier.
Q: What was the message after getting to coach the team for the first time in action?
DN: "Every day gets a little bit better in terms of how we are practicing and how we are communicating. We always want to meet in that center circle and give one final message. Win or lose we are going to put our hands in together. They had some family and friends around, so I wanted them to be able to go enjoy themselves instead of going to a locker room and waiting 20 minutes for a coach to yell at them."
Q: How important will speed in the transition game be once the season starts?
DN: "I think it is crucial. It is not going to be a traditional 1955 Dean Smith North Carolina break where you are reversing it through a trail and sealing across and back screening. All of the fun stuff you can do when you have two bigs. It is more of a bust-out type of team. We have a primary ball-handler in Myah Taylor and Anastasia [Hayes]. They are great point guards. We also have two other bust-out dribblers that can lead a break in Rickea Jackson and Jerkailia [Jordan]. They are really good at making decisions. The floor gets really spaced and some people like to get back in conversion defense. Sometimes teams are trying to figure out who they are guarding when a different person is bringing down the ball. We need to space quicker and earlier to maximize the space that we are going to have within a possession."
Q: How did you assess how Denae Carter carried herself in her first college game?
DN: "I thought that she was outstanding for where she is today. I thought that she did a really good job in the scrimmage that we had last week. She has some versatility to guard some bigger people that we need. She also has the quickness to guard some of the smaller drivers that we have in this league. She has a lot of abilities of both post and perimeter players. I think that we are definitely going to need to develop her along the season. She is a nice surprise. You never know, sometimes when the lights come on, some players think too much. They put too much weight on their shoulders. She is just the opposite. She gets a little bit quicker. She is a great practice player, but when the lights come on, she has a little extra burst and does not get fazed."
Q: Were you pleased with how the team was able to execute the game plan?
DN: "Yes I was. We keep things pretty simple. It was definitely more about us than our opponent. I think that we won the games within the game. Our assist to turnover ratio, hitting some open players down the court, and then defensively. Defensively, we have struggled in the past couple of weeks. In the last three days, we have made some gains. We wanted to make sure that we had some carry over to that. I think that the first unit and a half did a really good job of sitting down and defending without fouling. They were being disruptive and playing some sound basketball."
Q: What did you think of Rickea Jackson's performance tonight and what can she do for this team all season?
DN: "There's no surprise that she's going to be a focal point, not only for us, but for everybody else's defense. The last thing that we want her to do is to have to isolate offensively in a particular spot – we have to be able to move her around and play off of other people. She is such a weapon. I don't know if you saw it quite tonight, [but] where her game has developed so much is as a physical, poster. She gets to where she wants to go. She can get to the front of the rim, and if you want to take that away, she is going to dribble-drive. She has worked extremely hard on her inside-out 3's and she is stick those at a very good rate. Even if it doesn't go in, she's not bothered. She knows that she's put the work in and that they're the right shots. She's very valuable, and the nice thing is that we have some guards that know how to play the game of basketball, so we can spread it and we can move her around. We can't just isolate. It will be hard defensively just to pick on her and put two people on her."
Q: How do you maintain the balance of trying to have your guards rebound while also getting back in transition defensively?
DN: "I would be excited about rebounding too if a coach told me that I could just bust out, get that board, and go get a layup. They're pretty quick. They have a nose for the ball, so they can rebound out of their area, which is crucial. It's no secret that we're small. We are very small, so if you're going to be that you need to be a little disruptive. You have to run down those loose balls. We're going to lose some of the battles just because of height, and we have to keep that close, but we just have to be incredibly scrappy to run those balls down. If they get it and they have some space, they ought to be able to push that thing ahead, and we can get our transition game going."
Guard Denae Carter
Q: Your first college action out there tonight how did you feel out there and what do you think works for you?
DC: "It was a great having our team pick each other up the whole game. It was really fun to be aggressive and get some boards for the team."
Q: The 4 players behind Rickea Jackson that scored the most were all newcomers, what does that say for this team that you all are trying to build this team together?
DC: "It shows that we are all in this together, that we have a lot of pieces. We all have a lot to showcase. It is fun when we mix in the lineups you can see our offense and defense still can flow."
Guard Aislynn Hayes
Q: What are your thoughts on getting to play with your teammates tonight after a tumultuous last few weeks?
AH: I had a lot of fun. Being in the Hump was an amazing experience and I had a great time. We've all been working very hard and playing hard for one another. We're just playing good basketball and it's been very fun."
Q: With a small ball lineup like this, how much of a focus has there been on speed in transition and breaking out on offense?
AH: We know we have a lot of speed on this team and that's a good thing. We know that if we get a rebound, we can turn it around and get a rebound quickly. It definitely makes offense a lot easier.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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/ Women's Basketball
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