Liz Shimek Quotations

We didn't want to go out this way. It hurts a lot right now. Duke is just a great team and they had a great balance.

We've seen every team that's out there. We've seen the best of them, and that can only help us prepare for the postseason.

She was wide open. You have to run up and hope what you do is good enough.

She's a hustler, she's a beast on the boards and she can take over a game if she wanted to, but I think right now, she's just putting the energy where we need it.. In our defense and attacking on offense, she can be an unstoppable force.

What we were doing in the last minute we should have been doing for 40 minutes. To be able to score that many points in that little time, we should be able to take a lesson from that.

It all started with our defense letting their go-to players get the ball and take wide-open shots. Purdue just really brought it tonight. They dictated (to) us.

I think what I can bring to a team is my work ethic -- whatever the coach and my teammates need. I want to make a difference.

Kristin is an awesome person, more so than a basketball player. But her leadership was just phenomenal. She was so quiet but you just wanted to play harder just because of her actions. Whether it was getting that extra steal or playing blue-collar defense, you would just look to Kristin for energy and she would give that to you.

Over the years, it's been a lot of fun. But the best part, to me, is March. There are a lot of memories created.

Lindsay was in attack mode. I have all the faith in the world in her.

It does hurt, obviously. Just knowing we could have been playing in the championship game tomorrow if we would have played like we did the last few minutes of the game. We just didn't have the right mentality. We didn't have the right fighters making smart decisions. We didn't play Michigan State basketball for 40 minutes.

That wasn't the Michigan State team that showed up that day. We weren't intense; we weren't all there. We're excited about the opportunity to play them.

I was proud of how we came back, but it was definitely frustrating when their go-to player gets that many points. We know she loves that left block. We gave her too many open looks.

Wherever the court is, that's where we're going. Wherever the opponent is, that's where we're going. Yeah, Duke is a great team. But we've played a lot of great teams here. We've been along for a phenomenal ride.

You always pack your suitcase full. All the clean socks I own are in that suitcase. I'm taking enough clothes.

We haven't played Duke, but we've played a lot of teams like them. It's just a matter of putting together a complete, 40-minute basketball game.

We were just talking about our first NCAA tournament this morning at breakfast. This is the last time we are here.

We played with a lot of determination, everyone on the team. We played teams that were more talented and had better players, but we were the better team. We just played real well together.

This time of year, it's do-or-die. There are 16 teams left in the nation. It's a matter of who's more focused mentally and physically.

You can look at it both ways. It definitely motivates you. You can only be optimistic about it and just take the lessons that you learn from it. You can't change what happened in the past.

This team still needs to grow. It's all about the fight in us. But when nothing else works, Lindsay really takes over. She's not afraid to pull the trigger.

We were letting their go-to players get the ball and get wide-open shots. That's pretty much it. It's all in our defense.

You dream big and hope that'll happen, but you don't have any control over the future. All you can do is work hard and get a little luck along the way. We've done that. And our time isn't over yet.

Ever since summer, we have been dreaming big - Final Fours, pursue championships in everything we do. It's not a surprise to us because we have worked so hard all year and over the course of the years. We know we belong here.

There's something about the chemistry on this team, that, when it's time to turn it on, we're going to turn it on. We're just going to play our hearts out until the buzzer sounds.

I've played physical and attacked, but for us to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, the whole team is going to have to attack. We have to get the ball to the player with the hot hand. We have to be smarter with the ball and kick it out when there's two players on you.

Definitely, this gives us some momentum. We didn't do some of the things we wanted to do defensively, and there's a lot of time between now and the Big Ten Tournament. We've got a lot to work on.

Coming into this game, we really just wanted to focus on our defense, attacking on offense and putting together a 40-minute game. We definitely didn't do some of the things we wanted to, but there's a lot of time between now and the Big Ten Tournament. We're just looking at getting better, focusing on the positive and moving forward.

That's just something that kind of comes with the package. As a freshman, I came in and said one of my rules was to rebound. But that's what it's about here, everyone doing what they can do to win.

They did play a great game. They are a tall team, and they're very physical inside.

It's kind of a blur. I hoped we could maybe play it over. Maybe I could back into her, push her down -- I don't know -- do something different.

It was a lot of fun, just being able to be out there with our team. I mean, 28 assists ? we were just hitting whoever was open. We really just attacked as a team.

It was a lot of fun. It was the experience of a lifetime.

It's not over until it's over. We're fighters.

It makes me feel pretty good just looking back on it, but it's not going to hit us what we've actually done at Michigan State for a while yet. Today, it hurts and all I can think about is what you could have done.

That's the future. You can't control the future... You have to stay in the moment. You can't think about the future.

It kind of opened our eyes that we were one of the best teams in the country. We can do it as long as we believe.

No, it was the 28 assists. We were out there playing for each other. We were going after it as a team.

It won't hit us -- the impact we've had -- for awhile. At least, that's what everyone tells us. But it's been a blast. I'll never forget it.

It's neat to look back on our four years and know that every time we played Michigan, we came out on top. We don't really think about it a lot. But it's pretty neat.

Any accolade comes with your role on the team. When teams succeed, individuals succeed. It's a great, awesome honor but it's all about team here.

I'm really excited about everything ? how much I'm going to learn, how much I'm going to grow. I've never lived outside the state of Michigan. I've never really lived on my own before. It's going to be fun.

I'm just really excited. A loss for words, really. I'm looking forward to a new era in my life... I'm just really excited for the next few months and years.

I never really thought about it as being one of my goals. It's just something that comes with your role on the team and how you're supposed to help the team out. With team success comes individual accolades.

I just remember them lobbing it to No. 50. But you can't base the whole game on that play. It all came down to our defense again. And that last play was a blur.

I look back on it now and how tough it really was last year and as a team how hard we battled. All the struggles we went through were all worth it in the end.

You know the ball's going over your head, and you know she's 6-5.

You've got to do whatever it takes. Lindsay and I have played together for more than four years now, if you count AAU ball. And I know she's going to do something to help us win. She pulled those 3s out of nowhere.

All the experience that we did have last year and in the Big Ten this year is really paying off.