In the past two press conferences Merchant has expressed how appreciative she is of her team's hard work.

“It’s been punch after punch, injuries, the departure of Jasmine (Lumpkin) … This team stayed in every fight. It’s not like we lost and were embarrassed about it,” Merchant said.

The seven Spartans, who are healthy and able to be on the court to play, have been on court almost 40 minutes, the entire game’s length.

Sophomore Tori Jankoska is one of the players who is on the court almost the full game, if not the whole time.

“We do what we need to do, but coach doesn’t overload us with practices and we’re big on recovery,” Jankoska said.

Another player who has been key to keeping MSU in every game is redshirt sophomore Aerial Powers. She has scored double-figure points in all 18 games this season.

“We have to keep our weight up and stay consistent,” Powers said. “We’re not worried about the minutes … (we’ll) stay there until we get the ‘W’.”

Five of the Spartans’ 12 players are injured or sick with the flu.

Due to those players incapability to be active, the team had to borrow senior Kelsey Kuipers from the volleyball team to keep MSU eligible to play. This extra “practice player,” according to Merchant, is just another “insurance policy” to keep the team from getting distracted.

“I hope I don’t need to call her number, not to be mean but because she’s just a body,” Merchant said. “I say it, because I believe wholeheartedly: that team will never quit. They have a lot of heart and fight. They’re busting their butts to get through it.”

Just like Merchant believes on the 12 girls she picked for her team — injured or not —, the Spartans make sure they’re doing their part to stay on track.

“We know she’s never going to give up on us, and we as players never give up on each other,” Jankoska said.

Senior Becca Mills said that the teammates have team dinners and hangouts to make sure they are always supporting each other, even when it is not about basketball.

“A lot of people on this team have the personality to push and do better,” Mills said. “We’ll get there, I just hope it happens soon.”

Despite the 9-9 overall record (1-6 in the Big Ten) or what other bumps the season has, Merchant and her team have to continue putting up a fight in every game.

“There’s reason the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror: you keep looking forward,” Merchant said. “I’m proud of this team.”