Postgame Quotes: Lady Vols 68, Wichita State 56

Lady Vols Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening statement:

"We make layups and free throws, and then we separate early. We struggled with that tonight. I thought we shot too many three-point shots, and we needed to get the ball inside. When I say that, it's not just to Mercedes (Russell), it's penetration, so I thought we got a little shot-happy from the three point line. But we fought through and we battled. I was really proud of our kids for doing that. I had four timeouts and didn't use them. I just wanted to see how they would fight through it, and they did. Their defense stepped up, and it separated us. We had 15 offensive rebounds, so it wasn't our best night, but I thought we played hard. We came out at half time and changed our defense and got after it. It was a good win for us."

On if it was nice to have pressure in the second half as the team prepares for the Cancun Challenge:

"It wasn't our best game. We missed easy shots around the basket, and we missed free throws. We fought hard. I didn't play a lot of people, so the nucleus of our group battled. When we needed stops, we got stops. I thought our press was really solid. So we did some good things but not up to our standard… we got a win."

On getting in the position to get easy shots and takeaways from the game:

"I would be concerned if we didn't have good looks. It wasn't just Mercedes. She missed a couple, then we would drive, and our guards and forwards would miss a couple. We'd pass when we should have shot. We'll watch the tape, and it will be a good learning experience for us. We're getting open looks, we just have to knock them down."

On if the team is in a free throw slump:

"We're shooting in the eighties in practice. I think it has been mental tonight. When you get past the mental aspect, it's getting to the gym and getting reps. We'll just continue to shoot, and we'll do some pressure free throws and just continue to get better."

On mainly sticking with a few players to play tonight:

"I liked how they were playing. They were playing hard and turning them over. We were getting good looks, and I liked how they were playing. They were doing a good job."

On letting Jaime Nared play despite her difficulty scoring:

"Jaime didn't shoot the ball well, but I thought her defense and rebounding were solid. I thought her leadership on the court was solid. We needed Jaime out there to calm everyone down, and outside of that, she had nine rebounds, one assist, and didn't have any turnovers."

On recruiting Rennia Davis:

"We got in on Rennia late. I watched her in the summer and she hit a jumper with a kid in her face. She elevated over a kid and made it and I said, 'I have to have this kid.' So I texted one assistant down on the other end (of the court) saying that's the kid we want. I spent a lot of time in Jacksonville, Fla. with my grandmother, so I knew the area, and I knew what high school she was from. I will tell you this, Rennia has an unbelievably solid mother who makes sure she does things the right way. Rennia is a product of her mom's discipline, and there's nothing too small or big for Rennia. What I love about her is she'll ask questions. She's soaking it up. She hasn't even tapped the surface of how good she's going to be."

On if she expected Davis to play as well as she has through three games:

"Just how she's playing, she does some great things. She shoots threes, she rebounds, she can pull up. She's smooth. From day one my expectations for all the freshmen have been high, so I'm not surprised she's doing this, and what's great is she can only get better."

On the competition they will face during the Cancun Challenge:

"(We'll see) three tough teams, three different types of teams. We will be tested down there. Obviously we're not going to look past our first game. It'll be hard with three games in a row. Our style is to press and run, and so we're going to have to see when we'll have a chance to rest our kids. We have to play how we play, and that's up and down and getting after it. We're just going to have to be mentally tough and physically tough as well."

On assistant coach Bridgette Gordon's connection to Wichita State:

"I thought she did a great job scouting. Bridgette doesn't get too up or too down, and that's what I love about her. She brings us energy during practice. She's a great teacher. She didn't indicate that she wanted (this win) more to any of us, but she knew a lot of their tendencies and players because she recruited all of them. I think Bridgette is just glad we got the win. She got to see the (Wichita State) kids after the game tonight."

Tennessee Guard/Forward Rennia Davis

On the struggles of the game:
"I think, as a team, we just didn't make a lot of shots. We had lapses on defense, but the only thing important to me is we came out with a win."

On what caused the game to be tighter than the last two:
"I think we just didn't make as many shots as we usually make and that might have caused the defensive end for us to be lackadaisical. I think Wichita State was very athletic, like a lot of players on our team, and we haven't played a team that athletic yet so, it was different."

Tennessee Guard Evina Westbrook

On what you can take from the game as a freshman:
"As a freshman, these couple of games have been getting a feel for the games. That was basically the first game, but coach always tells all four of us that we aren't freshman. I don't go into a game thinking that. I have to go into a game (thinking) that I'm a leader, and that I have to do what I need to do to for my team for us to be able to win the game. We just need to come out. As Mercedes (Russell) and Rennia (Davis) said, we didn't come out offensively like we should of. Defensively we didn't come out with energy, but we have to keep moving forward and learn from our mistakes."

Tennessee Center Mercedes Russell

On not putting Wichita State away:
"I would definitely agree with Rennia (Davis) that against JMU (James Madison University) it seemed we were just hitting everything. Tonight, we were missing a bunch of layups and a bunch of jump shots. I think that really causes a bunch of lapses on the defensive end. Every night we aren't going to hit shots like we did against JMU, so we are really going to have to rely on our defense to win big games."

On seeing more zone in upcoming games:
"I think in upcoming games we will probably see a lot more zone against multiple teams. We work on that in practice. I think we will definitely be ready."

On staying positive when the easy shots do not fall:
"That's the biggest thing, just staying positive and telling everyone that it's going to be okay. Then just getting it back on the defensive end. We had a couple big steals and big plays; I think that really just helps our energy."

On being tested early in the season:
"I think it was helpful for us. We are going to have a tough week coming up playing three games in a row, but I think Wichita State is a very athletic and talented team. We wish them the best of luck with their season. They were a good game for us tonight, and it was good for us, and it was a good win."

On playing in Cancun:
"It's definitely our first road test, though technically it's a mutual court for both of us. I'm just going to have to lead the freshman as best as I can. I think they have been doing well these past couple of games. They will be just fine."

Wichita State Head Coach Keitha Adams

Opening Statement:

"Hello, everyone. Right now, we're a team that's trying to find ourselves and get better. We felt like we played a perfect first half in terms of what we wanted to do against Tennessee. They are a very athletic team that really wants to play up-tempo. They've got great size. I thought the young ladies really executed the game plan in slowing it down. We really worked the clock, and we didn't want to take quick shots. We wanted to show a lot of patience. We wanted it to be a slow game, instead of a fast game. We did exactly that in the first half, played the zone. It's the first game that we've played zone this year. We've watched film on them, and we felt like we had mismatch issues going man-to-man, and also, they're very good out of their man-to-man offense. So, we went to zone and slowed it down. Third quarter, I thought they picked up their pressure and their defensive tempo. We didn't stay disciplined in our press-breakers and had some costly turnovers. Then, we had some shots that we left, that didn't go in, that we got in the paint on, but they just didn't fall for us. So, it was a combination of some turnovers and shots not falling that really hurt us. I thought our team battled, and I thought they played hard. I was extremely proud of the effort that the ladies made. We just have to find a way to be a 40-minute team, instead of a 30-minute team. We've had that, where we've had one bad quarter, and that's been hurting us right now."

On an 0-4 start to the season:

"We've played some really good teams - Oklahoma State, they shot lights out. I know Tennessee and Oklahoma State are going to play. That's going to be an interesting matchup. We've played some good teams, and we've only had one home game. We're the road warriors right now. I think that as long as we stick together and we learn from this, we're going to come out as the better player in the race. We will."

On coaching against Bridgette Gordon:

"Bridgette's a wonderful person. We all feel that way about her. I think we hugged Bridgette before the game started, multiple times. As coaches we've spent time on the road recruiting and had many conversations. Today we went to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and (our players) were all taking Bridgette's picture. I told Bridgette that. There's a lot of love there. That you can tell, from the players and Bridgette."

On Wichita State's zone giving Tennessee trouble:

"I just think the tempo of the game (affected them). I think, sometimes, that tends to slow it down. Their size is really a mismatch, like their guards. Their front-line, they're big. We felt like we just really had to go zone from the jump, because of the matchup issues."

On her team's transition defense:

"On defense, our first thing that we had on there was transition and getting back and us having two safeties. Their guards can really get in the paint. I think the other thing (that hurt us) was the free throws. They were penetrating and drawing fouls. (They had) 34 free-throws to our six. That's tough to beat. That's been a stat for us in our games right now. We've got to figure out a way to get to the free-throw line more than our opponent. We've got to cut out fouling and draw more fouls."

Wichita State Guard Diamond Lockhart

On what encouragement to take away from nearly upsetting Tennessee on the road:

"I think it's a lot of encouragement. It gives us a lot of confidence that we can show up and play with the best teams in the nation. We've just got to go back to practice, learn from this and just get better."

On going up against former assistant coach Bridgette Gordon:

"It was fun. It was good. She's our ex-coach for us. We just wanted to go out there and just compete, play hard and do what we do."

Wichita State Forward Angiee Tompkins

On shaking off an 0-4 start to the season:

"(We have to) go to practice, work on what we need to work on and just bounce back. (We need to be) a 40-minute team. Like she (Coach Adams) said, you've got to play the whole 40 minutes, defensively and offensively."