Nov. 3, 2013
Recap | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey
Opening Statement
"(I was) very happy with the win for our team. I thought for the most part we played really well. Some people gave us key contributions. Michala (Johnson) coming out for the first time, really showed what she can do. And Taylor (Wurtz) coming back from her injury, she’ll play much better.
I was happy with Taylor, even though her stat line was a lot different than what it usually is. She’s going to get back in game shape and really do some damage. With those two leading the way and everyone else taking up the slack when they need to, we’ll be fine."
On the performances of Wurtz and Johnson:
“They are natural leaders, they lead by example with their play but also in the classroom. They are very good examples for what we would like our players to be. On the court, with Taylor’s shooting ability, she’s able to separate herself from the defense and really get her shot off. It wasn’t falling for her as much tonight as it usually does, but this was her first game back from a major back surgery. I’m proud of Taylor, just to come out and get back into the swing of things.
“With Michala, I already knew that she could do this. We’re happy to have her. I know that she wants to play, and we’re going to play her, as you can tell. She can do a lot of things out there—not only at the block but also at the high post area and running the floor. When we rebound like we need to and she gets out and runs, that’s hard to stop because there’s nobody in front of her.”
On whether this team enables her to play her preferred offensive and defensive styles:
“We’re closer than last year, obviously, with all the injuries we had last year. When we were able to pick up the pace tonight, you saw what we can do. When you have a block presence and some players who can hit threes, (that’s tough to defend).
“But (Winona State) was a hard team to guard. Sometimes with smaller teams there are a lot of players who don’t match up well and it benefits that team and not necessarily us (as the bigger team). Since we’re bigger, you have your bigs switching out on guards, that’s not typically what you want.”
Winona State head coach Scott Ballard
Opening Statement: “We knew this was going to be a big challenge. It was our second Big Ten game in five days, and we felt pretty good about the way we played the first half. We only had three turnovers, we controlled things as far as tempo, we didn’t allow them to get in transition.
"In the second half, Wisconsin started switching on all screens and that bothered us for the first 10 minutes of the second half. We had 10 turnovers in the second half and they got out in transition and were able to use their speed, which we had controlled in the first half. We had three layup opportunities during that span where we didn’t make them, and they got some run-outs off us.
“We played 15 people and seven of them are freshmen. We learned a lot more about ourselves tonight. Against Minnesota, it was more of a power game that we had to play against. Tonight it was a speed game that we had to play against. Both of them are big challenges because of the differences in size and athleticism, but it makes us better. It makes us learn how to make adjustments on the floor, and it helps us learn a little bit more about ourselves and what we need to work on in the next week before our regular season starts.”
On whether his smaller Winona State squad caused matchup problems for Wisconsin:
“It’s probably tougher for their post people to guard, because they’re used to guarding somebody who stays close to the basket, maybe doesn’t shoot the three as much as we do or drive as much. We felt like it would be difficult for us to score inside 15 feet.
“We learned that we had a few more opportunities (than we thought) in the lane in the first half that we didn’t take advantage of. When teams are doing a lot of switching like Wisconsin was in the second half, we missed mismatches (that were open). We’ll look for those next time.”
On Michala Johnson’s play:
“She got a lot (of her points) in transition. She’s an athlete. She can run the floor like a deer, and she’s very active. We kept her under control in the first half because we didn’t let them get out and run since we made a few more shots. But she’s going to outrun most post people just because of how athletic she is. You’ve got to give her credit for giving the effort to get there. Once she gets fed and gets some easy scores, it just encourages her to take advantage of it more.”
