University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee vs. Alabama Post-Game Quotes
February 21, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Pat Summitt??
Opening Statement:
???Overall I thought it was a good effort by our basketball team. A lot of energy. That???s been a point of emphasis. We are coming off a game at Vanderbilt where we gave great effort for 40 minutes. To see us come here tonight, we want to close out the regular season that way. We have three games left. I???m just really pleased with what we saw in terms of intensity and effort. Our rebounding, that???s a place that I think we are starting to show better consistency, both offensively and defensively. It was good to get our bench a lot of quality minutes as well.???
On bench play:
???I thought in the first half we had some players come in a little overanxious offensively and not quite as committed on the defensive end. So we weren???t scoring and we were obviously giving up points. In the second half I thought our bench was much better. Much more efficient.???
On Alabama:
???I thought they did a nice job of playing off the dribble against us tonight in their high low action. They got some back doors on us. They are obviously running the triangle offense. I felt like we did a pretty good job of defending them, much better job in the second half. We shut down some things they were looking to do. They did a good job of getting some paint points. Obviously they played hard.???
On triangle offense in women???s basketball:
???I think it depends on your team. We???ve run triangle. We ran triangle back in the ???90s and had a lot of success with it. Obviously the more skill players you have the better it works, because it is spacing and reading. Obviously we run some of it but we run a lot of different sets within our offensive scheme. I felt like for us it was better for us to get more screening action because there are limitations on how much the screen assists are going to be involved in the triangle, at least the way that we ran it.???
On Sydney Smallbone???s play:
???Once she settled down. When Sydney came in in the second half she was really overanxious. She tried to force things a little bit and got lost on defense. I think she???ll have some good minutes to look at in her second half play. I???m just glad we were able to get her as many minutes as we were able to get her in this game. We know she can make shots. I thought our team was very unselfish. We looked for her and they got her some good looks. She has got to grow more on the defensive end and learn. I look forward to watching. She played 20 minutes. I want to see in the next couple of days with her minutes both offensively and defensively.???
On Candace Parker???s play:
???Candace has become much more efficient. I???m really very pleased to see how much harder she has defended. Her aggressiveness offensively has been pretty strong and I think she???s added even more to her offensive package this year. I think the greatest up side for Candace was her defense and that???s a place where she has become a much greater presence and we are a much better basketball team because of her commitment to defense and obviously running the floor both ways.???
On Alexis setting steal record:
???One thing about Alexis, and I knew this when I watched her play in high school and obviously AAU basketball, she???s passionate about playing defense. If she???s not having to defend the ball a lot she takes a lot of risks but I think they are pretty calculated. She has great anticipation. Anytime that you are setting that record in a program like Tennessee with as many great defenders as we???ve had. They first thing I thought about was Nikki McCray. I thought that was whose record she was going to break. I didn???t know Bridget played that much defense. I???ll have to let Bridget know that Alexis went ahead of her. You typically think it happens more from guard play than from front line play. I???m just really pleased that I???ve had a chance to coach Alexis because she???s had a tremendous impact on our team and our program. She doesn???t mind getting down and doing the dirty work. A lot of players are all about offense but her game starts with her defense and her board play.???
On looking forward to young team next year:
???I???m trying to live in the moment. I???m trying to live in the moment. I can???t help but think about it because we???ll have seven freshmen next year. We are going to be young and we are going to be inexperienced. It is going to be completely different. I???ve been very fortunate to have these great players and obviously there will be a lot of challenges. I just want to enjoy this team to the very end. I???d love to see this team cut down the nets and I???m going to do everything and our coaching staff is going to do everything that we can to help them. I???m not thinking about next year but I know when it happens I???ll be thinking about a lot of teaching. There will be a lot of teaching going on.???
On talking Candace out of leaving next year:
???No. No I think Candace had made her decision and as I said in a couple comments about it, she???s a very smart individual both on and off the basketball court. She???s invested in our program. She had the year when she was injured. I think that???s a players decision. If she feels like that???s the best decision for her then obviously I???m going to support her. For me personally I???m disappointed. I wanted to have a chance to coach her another year. I certainly support her in her future as a pro player and at an Olympic level.???
Candace Parker??
On decision to leave Tennessee next year:
???I didn???t really talk to anybody. I didn???t really know it was that big of a deal. I didn???t really think about it that much. I haven???t had a chance to really talk about it that much because we???ve been here and focusing on today???s game.???
On Tennessee???s play:
???We came out and we jumped on them. I???m really proud of Shannon Bobbitt. She ran the team today and gave us exactly what we needed. I think from that aspect as long as every game players are growing more and more. I know Coach has been on her about pushing tempo and controlling and running the team. I think she did a great job of getting everybody involved and taking the shots that she needed to take.???
On talking with teammates about leaving next year:
???Honestly we are people who live in the moment because tomorrow???s never promised. You live in the moment. All of us have next year. We are all going to be doing different things next year. We are just blessed to have each other now and living right now.???
Alexis Hornbuckle??
On setting the steal record:
???Usually I???m only going to get about three or four for the whole game. I knew I needed four but I didn???t expect it to come in the first half.???
