Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Mississippi State vs. Alabama State
November 09, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Doug Novak
Q: How did it feel to get this first win under your belt?
DN: "It felt like every other win I have had in my career, to be honest with you. It is just one game. I felt great about our rhythm at practice yesterday. I felt great about the win in our game-day practice. The Hump is an amazing place to play, and I know it's just getting started. What's been done here is a pretty cool thing. I am very humble to be a part of it right now. I'm not trying to downplay the winning part of it because that is what we are out here for and we all want that, but we are fighting for so much more right now in terms of how we're going to play, and the identity and we've shown bits of pieces of it, and we just need to keep it going just a little bit longer. You know, as we face some tougher teams, but it's very rewarding, but when you're in the middle of everything, and right now I feel like we are in the middle of everything, I feel like I've been here for 20 years with this team in terms of how much we've gone through and how much we're working on developing as a team that I don't feel new. It doesn't feel like a new environment. It just feels like we've got a job to do."
Q: Anastasia Hayes has stepped up as number two for you, what do you see from her as coming in as a transfer?
DN: "Yeah, I know [Rickea Jackson] gets a lot of attention and she should and like I said before, she's such a good player that she commands a defender and a half at all times. It's just, to be honest with you, we're not running anything for [Rickea Jackson] right now. It's just the game of basketball and what's appearing. We're putting in some alignments where it is really hard if you are not going to help off of her, one of our guards is going to score a layup, but there are multiple scorers out there and there are multiple passers, and when we're at our best, that ball is humming around and [Rickea Jackson] might get it on her first side and then she might get it on the third side and she's going to be wide open and she's going to be able to make the play for herself or someone else. Again, it's the best players, the best scorers are going to get the most shots. That's just the way it is and that's just the way most good teams are, but you know I've said this before, if we just saw we're going to isolate [Rickea Jackson] against the league and against good teams, she's not going to have any fun and we're not going to have any fun and it's going to be hard for her to make someone else better and that's what she does. She can score it, but she can also make someone else better and then you throw in [Anastasia Hayes] in there. Well, she's doing the same thing, and she made some unbelievable plays in transition. Kicking out for three to [JerKaila Jordan] in the corner. You know, she's a big-time scorer. She could've taken the shot, but she passed it, and so that's what we're fostering here, and we know. We know our roles and we know who can do what and we're trying to play to our strengths."
Q: How good was it to see 23 fast break points?
DN: "That feels good because that's what we want to do and that's part of our identity, but part of it too is winning that possession game, and so we kept it about even with the rebounding like we might have lost that one a little bit and some of that we started leaking out. So, we're trying to seek out those fast break points too much and we didn't secure the ball, but the other part we're going to play fast, and we can take care of the ball, so 18 assist and 6 turnovers that's a big deal because now we're winning in the possession game, so that allows us to miss a few threes, that allows to get more shots on the rim against the opponent."
Q: Did you feel like your players gave their best effort?
DN: "I thought they were pretty good. I thought in spurts it was fantastic. You can tell the defensive intensity. When we started the game, I thought we were a little bit hesitant. I thought we we're reacting to what they were doing. We were kind of guessing, and whenever you're in a reactive mode you're not moving fast and then we started dictating how we're guarding the ball and we started our hands on the ball. We started disrupting their vision and timing and we held them to maybe 8 points the second quarter, something like that, but anyway we stopped reacting, and then there was just a tiny stretch where we started looking at the scoreboard and not really focusing on our standard of play and how we want to execute and all that, and, you know, I hate to say it that is normal. I don't want that to be normal for us. We're up 20, we're down 20 – it doesn't matter. I mean, we want to be so thought that regardless of the score how we play this game matters."
Q: Were there points in this game where you felt like the team was close to the roadmap of how you want this team to play this year?
DN: "Absolutely. There have been some things over the past week, that none of the fans would notice, but they're little things that we've been working on how to make a pass across the floor, how to swing the ball from guard [to] guard [to] forward and it barely touches your hands, and we have cutters coming off of things. There were glimpses of it. I really like [Bill] Belichick with the Patriots; he has a thing that says, 'Do your job'. I add to it a little bit [to make it] 'Do your job as long as you can'. We've never arrived, we don't have it – the three most dangerous words are 'I got it'. We don't. It's just do it over and over again. So, each day, we're trying to do it longer. The stretches we had, I thought we were hard to guard. We were just pests on defense, but how long can we do it? How long can we sustain it? Can it take a hit in the mouth? 52% [shooting from the field], that's a little bit of a hit in the mouth. They're knocking down some shots, and maybe we can have enough defensive pressure, blocking out, or leaking out, we [got that fixed], and then we showed some toughness. We did that for a fairly long time before we started looking at the scoreboard a little bit."
Q: What have you seen from South Dakota State so far and what are you expecting from them here on Friday?
DN: "To be honest with you, I haven't seen a whole lot. We have a coach who has been scouting them for the last week. I will look at them for the first time tonight, late into the night, and then tomorrow in putting together a game plan. I love South Dakota State. They are a fantastic program. Again, I grew up in South Dakota, so I know what that means to them and what it means to the state. I have a lot of respect for their program and what they've been able to do. We take basketball very seriously at Mississippi State and the Hump, well they do too, in a different way, in their venue. It's pretty crazy there too."
Q: Is the team looking to be very read-heavy going forward and what does that entail?
DN: "There are a lot of layers that we can put onto it, depending on what their skills are telling me or telling the coaching staff on a daily basis. We can play out of scrambles. For instance, we'll play a lot of possessions where we put them all in one corner, and we'll put the defenders all in the paint. I'll just throw the ball up, and we'll play out of that scramble. A couple concepts would be how do we play when the ball is at the top and somebody is in the corner or how do we play when the ball is on the wing, and we have an offensive player up top. It's just reading that defender. If we have an advantage, we're going to get right to the rim, if we don't, we might bounce it out and get into another action without me calling it. There are some things as we get better, because come crunch time, you have to have a couple actions where you're going to get your best scorers together. I probably delayed that a little bit more than I have in the past because I want them looking over at me all the time for the answer, I wanted them to work on the solution themselves. I think we're getting better as we go in teaching them what to see. There are times when you're trying to see everything that you see nothing. When you look at very little, you can see a lot. We want wide motion, but we have pretty narrow vision of where our gaps are, or where the cutters may be. That's kind of how we do it conceptually. Wide motion and narrow vision, as opposed to a flex. A flex would be narrow motion and narrow vision. Like motion offense, the old Bob Knight stuff, screening all over the place. Wide motion, wide vision. So, you have to be a pocket passer and all that stuff. The game has kind of changed from that. It is a little more up and down with more ball screens. We can set ball screens if we want, or not, depending on how you're going to defend it."
Forward Rickea Jackson
Q: How did it feel to get this first win under your belt?
DN: "It felt like every other win I have had in my career, to be honest with you. It is just one game. I felt great about our rhythm at practice yesterday. I felt great about the win in our game-day practice. The Hump is an amazing place to play, and I know it's just getting started. What's been done here is a pretty cool thing. I am very humble to be a part of it right now. I'm not trying to downplay the winning part of it because that is what we are out here for and we all want that, but we are fighting for so much more right now in terms of how we're going to play, and the identity and we've shown bits of pieces of it, and we just need to keep it going just a little bit longer. You know, as we face some tougher teams, but it's very rewarding, but when you're in the middle of everything, and right now I feel like we are in the middle of everything, I feel like I've been here for 20 years with this team in terms of how much we've gone through and how much we're working on developing as a team that I don't feel new. It doesn't feel like a new environment. It just feels like we've got a job to do."
Q: Anastasia Hayes has stepped up as number two for you, what do you see from her as coming in as a transfer?
DN: "Yeah, I know [Rickea Jackson] gets a lot of attention and she should and like I said before, she's such a good player that she commands a defender and a half at all times. It's just, to be honest with you, we're not running anything for [Rickea Jackson] right now. It's just the game of basketball and what's appearing. We're putting in some alignments where it is really hard if you are not going to help off of her, one of our guards is going to score a layup, but there are multiple scorers out there and there are multiple passers, and when we're at our best, that ball is humming around and [Rickea Jackson] might get it on her first side and then she might get it on the third side and she's going to be wide open and she's going to be able to make the play for herself or someone else. Again, it's the best players, the best scorers are going to get the most shots. That's just the way it is and that's just the way most good teams are, but you know I've said this before, if we just saw we're going to isolate [Rickea Jackson] against the league and against good teams, she's not going to have any fun and we're not going to have any fun and it's going to be hard for her to make someone else better and that's what she does. She can score it, but she can also make someone else better and then you throw in [Anastasia Hayes] in there. Well, she's doing the same thing, and she made some unbelievable plays in transition. Kicking out for three to [JerKaila Jordan] in the corner. You know, she's a big-time scorer. She could've taken the shot, but she passed it, and so that's what we're fostering here, and we know. We know our roles and we know who can do what and we're trying to play to our strengths."
Q: How good was it to see 23 fast break points?
DN: "That feels good because that's what we want to do and that's part of our identity, but part of it too is winning that possession game, and so we kept it about even with the rebounding like we might have lost that one a little bit and some of that we started leaking out. So, we're trying to seek out those fast break points too much and we didn't secure the ball, but the other part we're going to play fast, and we can take care of the ball, so 18 assist and 6 turnovers that's a big deal because now we're winning in the possession game, so that allows us to miss a few threes, that allows to get more shots on the rim against the opponent."
Q: Did you feel like your players gave their best effort?
DN: "I thought they were pretty good. I thought in spurts it was fantastic. You can tell the defensive intensity. When we started the game, I thought we were a little bit hesitant. I thought we we're reacting to what they were doing. We were kind of guessing, and whenever you're in a reactive mode you're not moving fast and then we started dictating how we're guarding the ball and we started our hands on the ball. We started disrupting their vision and timing and we held them to maybe 8 points the second quarter, something like that, but anyway we stopped reacting, and then there was just a tiny stretch where we started looking at the scoreboard and not really focusing on our standard of play and how we want to execute and all that, and, you know, I hate to say it that is normal. I don't want that to be normal for us. We're up 20, we're down 20 – it doesn't matter. I mean, we want to be so thought that regardless of the score how we play this game matters."
Q: Were there points in this game where you felt like the team was close to the roadmap of how you want this team to play this year?
DN: "Absolutely. There have been some things over the past week, that none of the fans would notice, but they're little things that we've been working on how to make a pass across the floor, how to swing the ball from guard [to] guard [to] forward and it barely touches your hands, and we have cutters coming off of things. There were glimpses of it. I really like [Bill] Belichick with the Patriots; he has a thing that says, 'Do your job'. I add to it a little bit [to make it] 'Do your job as long as you can'. We've never arrived, we don't have it – the three most dangerous words are 'I got it'. We don't. It's just do it over and over again. So, each day, we're trying to do it longer. The stretches we had, I thought we were hard to guard. We were just pests on defense, but how long can we do it? How long can we sustain it? Can it take a hit in the mouth? 52% [shooting from the field], that's a little bit of a hit in the mouth. They're knocking down some shots, and maybe we can have enough defensive pressure, blocking out, or leaking out, we [got that fixed], and then we showed some toughness. We did that for a fairly long time before we started looking at the scoreboard a little bit."
Q: What have you seen from South Dakota State so far and what are you expecting from them here on Friday?
DN: "To be honest with you, I haven't seen a whole lot. We have a coach who has been scouting them for the last week. I will look at them for the first time tonight, late into the night, and then tomorrow in putting together a game plan. I love South Dakota State. They are a fantastic program. Again, I grew up in South Dakota, so I know what that means to them and what it means to the state. I have a lot of respect for their program and what they've been able to do. We take basketball very seriously at Mississippi State and the Hump, well they do too, in a different way, in their venue. It's pretty crazy there too."
Q: Is the team looking to be very read-heavy going forward and what does that entail?
DN: "There are a lot of layers that we can put onto it, depending on what their skills are telling me or telling the coaching staff on a daily basis. We can play out of scrambles. For instance, we'll play a lot of possessions where we put them all in one corner, and we'll put the defenders all in the paint. I'll just throw the ball up, and we'll play out of that scramble. A couple concepts would be how do we play when the ball is at the top and somebody is in the corner or how do we play when the ball is on the wing, and we have an offensive player up top. It's just reading that defender. If we have an advantage, we're going to get right to the rim, if we don't, we might bounce it out and get into another action without me calling it. There are some things as we get better, because come crunch time, you have to have a couple actions where you're going to get your best scorers together. I probably delayed that a little bit more than I have in the past because I want them looking over at me all the time for the answer, I wanted them to work on the solution themselves. I think we're getting better as we go in teaching them what to see. There are times when you're trying to see everything that you see nothing. When you look at very little, you can see a lot. We want wide motion, but we have pretty narrow vision of where our gaps are, or where the cutters may be. That's kind of how we do it conceptually. Wide motion and narrow vision, as opposed to a flex. A flex would be narrow motion and narrow vision. Like motion offense, the old Bob Knight stuff, screening all over the place. Wide motion, wide vision. So, you have to be a pocket passer and all that stuff. The game has kind of changed from that. It is a little more up and down with more ball screens. We can set ball screens if we want, or not, depending on how you're going to defend it."
Forward Rickea Jackson
Q: What does It mean for you guys to get out here and get a win for Doug?
RJ: "It means a lot because the first day Coach Doug coached us in practice, it felt like he had been here forever. It did not feel like 'Oh he is new'. He came in and he is vocal. I feel like everybody noticed he had a great basketball mind from day one. It was not like 'Uh, let's do this' it was like 'Here like here'. He knew what he was doing from day one, so it just felt like he has been here forever. So, it just means a lot and we know how hard he works. We are his first female teams, so I know we are stressing him out. It means a lot definitely to get him this win."
Q: Doug has talked about finding identity, and what exactly is that identity that he wants to find in your aspect?
RJ: "I feel like we have to create it ourselves, but we have to do the little things. We have to find it within ourselves. No one can come up and say you have to be this type of team; we have to do it on our own. I feel like there are different identities within a team, but I feel like we have not figured ours out yet. I feel like as the season progresses, we will definitely figure it out. I know we want to get the ball off the floor for sure, but on the defensive side we are still leaning it and finding it. I feel like it will come quickly."
Guard Myah Taylor
Q: They shot 52% at the half and finished around 30%, what do you think the team did in the second half on defense to change that?
MT: "I think we huddled up and said we need to tighten up. We were over helping and a lot of different things took place. Credit to Alabama State, they shot the ball well. We just made sure to focus on our defense more and once we did that, we saw a big change."
Q: Coach wanted to get out and run, how were you guys able to have so much success on the fast break?
MT: "We focused heavily on defense this week by working on denying, helping, and high-low. We are really trying to find ourselves on the defense side. Our defense leads into our offense by getting the ball out and pushing the court. I'm glad he gives us the chance to make reads and have an opportunity to make those kinds of reads. We are really trying to get our chemistry together."
Players Mentioned
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