University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE VS. VANDERBILT - POST GAME QUOTES
March 25, 2002 | Women's Basketball
March 25, 2002
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Postgame Quotes
NCAA Midwest Regional Finals
Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt
March 25, 2002
TENNESSEE
Coach Pat Summit
(opening) "It's extremely exciting to be going to the Final Four. This has been a special group to coach. They have been a fun group to coach. We played old fashioned Tennessee basketball. We played a great defensive game. (Michelle) Snow had some big buckets down the stretch. A lot of people made plays. I'm really happy. This team deserved to get there. They earned it."
(On not starting Michelle Snow) "I think a lot of people place too much emphasis on who starts. Michelle didn't play well in both Vanderbilt games. I told her if she got in that I wanted her to rebound. We left her in down the stretch because of her offense. I like what I saw in Michelle's eyes. She was playing with a lot of emotion. She also did a good job defensively."
"It doesn't matter that I came off the bench. I looked at it two ways. I could sit and mope or accept the role given and contribute."
"We wanted to deny and pressure the ball. Get offensive boards and execute our game plan."
"I thought we made it hard for them to run their offense. We made them play off the dribble and forced 10 turnovers in the first half. I thought we did a good job.."
(on Final Four) "It's so exciting, to come in my first year and make it to the Final Four it's exciting. I had confidence in this team and I knew they could do it."
"Making it to the Final Four is so exciting. We knew that Vanderbilt wasn't going to give up and we had to play them tough. We will have to play our best in the Final Four."
"It was a great physical battle. Michelle was ready and focused and we tried to get the ball to her. The Final Four is going to be a lot of fun. UCONN will be a great challenge."
"This is unbelievable. I feel confident with this team and going to the Final Four. We are playing with a lot of confidence right now. A lot of people on our team our stepping up. The Final Four will be tough. UCONN is the team to beat."
VANDERBILT
Coach Jim Foster
"We didn't space, we didn't cut. We just weren't in sync with it."
(At the end:) "Snow made some big shots. We were behind her and we should have been in front of her."
(On UT defense:) "It was the same way they've been playing all year."
(Could Anderson have done more:) "She could have been in front of Michelle [Snow], and she knows that. She's her biggest critic."
(Difference in game:) "Our lack of movement in the first half. We weren't moving to get opportunistic baskets by people other than Chantelle and Zuzi. Our cuts would have created opportunities for others in that first half."
Chantelle Anderson
"We picked up our dribble a lot and you have to keep your dribble to keep the pressure off you. We just didn't execute in the first half."
(Halftime deficit:) "It wasn't too big of a hole. Nine points is never too much to come back from, but I think our first half hurt us."
Zuzi Klimesova (On Snow:) "She got the ball where she's best with it. She got the turnaround and scored. It was a miscommunication on our part."
Ashley McElhiney
"It's a forty minute game. They played forty minutes, and we played about fifteen. They played man defense, they played zone defense, and they ran their usual offense. It comes down to execution, they executed for forty minutes and we broke down in areas."
(On season) "We've accomplished things that many teams haven't, but we didn't want our season to end tonight. We got here last year, and we wanted to take the next step this year. We just didn't come ready to do that."
Jillian Danker
(On playing in Ames) "The people at Iowa State have been great hosts. We have had a great time playing here."
"Our preparation for this game was great, our coaches had us ready. The execution just wasn't there."
"We've accomplished a lot this year, but we just wanted to keep playing."
