University of Tennessee Athletics
@LadyVol_Hoops Media Day - 10.29.14
October 28, 2014 | Women's Basketball
On Wednesday Oct. 29, the Tennessee women's basketball team held its 2014 Media Day at Thompson-Boling Arena. Below is the Holly Warlick news conference transcript along with videos and photos of the day's events.
Head Coach Holly Warlick
(Opening Statement)
"How is everybody, thank you for coming, I appreciate it. Let me talk briefly about our team. Really, really excited about them, it is the most numbers we have had, Eric tells me that it is the tallest team we have had. But they are working just extremely hard. I have talked the last couple years about leadership and needing someone to step up and having team unity. We have it. Isabelle Harrison is being a great inside at the post. Our point guards, Andraya Carter, Jordan Reynolds and Ariel Massengale have done a great job. Very pleased with where we are. We are athletic, we are fast, we are strong, and for the first time I can say we have a veteran group. The freshmen are fitting in really, really well. Need to work on some things defensively but I think all in all it is a really fun group to be around and it will be a great group to watch and you all see how we compete. So with that said, I will open it up for questions."
(On tallest team she has had)
"I think so. We added Jamie Nared who is 6'2" and Kortney Dunbar who is 6'2", I am guessing at their height. But I think overall, if you look at our team we are really tall. I think you will see that we are physical as well. Jordan [Reynolds] is big for a point guard, Andraya [Carter] and [Ariel] Massengale are probably what you would consider a number, typically point guard height. But I think we are really a big team and I think at times we are going to take advantage of that and we are going to take advantage of our athleticism as well. We have a lot of options, I can stick different people in different spots. We have a lot of versatility which I love. I think that is, when we recruited, I think that was what we were looking for. We didn't want a one dimensional player. So I think you are going to see a lot of people playing a lot of positions."
(On the depth this season)
"I think we are right now 10 deep. Jannah Tucker is not fully back yet. I am going to give her some time. So she won't be in the rotation early. And Nia Moore tweaked her ankle so she has been out a couple of days. I think right now we could go with 10 people. It depends on different combinations and what we really need. We scrimmaged last week and we threw out a lot of different combinations. Some I liked and some I didn't. Some were really too small which I thought would be more athletic but I think it is a trial and error right now until we get into game time."
(On recruiting versatile players)
"That is a great question. I think that definitely, I wanted versatility. I wanted to be able to run the ball a little bit more and when you do that I want different people to be able to handle the basketball. I wanted different people to play different positions. I wanted to get back to being a little bit more athletic. So I think it played a big role in our recruiting throughout my two years and going into three. You look at Mercedes [Russell] she is obviously a big kid that needs to be inside but I think she has the versatility to step out. Great passer. So those type of things are what we looked for when we were recruiting."
(On replacing Meighan Simmons scoring ability)
"Meighan [Simmons] is going to be a big gap for us to fill offensively. I think Cierra [Burdick] is going to get a few more points, our point guard and I think Bashaara [Graves] as well. We are still going to play the game inside-out, go through our post. I think we added some really good scorers, Jaime Nared is a good scorer, all three of the freshmen are really good scorers. So I think those points and minutes that Meighan gave way to, I think you are going to see more people step up. I think Jasmine Jones has worked on her game this summer, she has really refined her offensive skills. So I think everyone will have the opportunity to get more looks and more shots."
(On Alexa Middleton)
"Alexa Middleton to me is just a utility player for us. I think if we need her she can run the point, she can run the two, she can shoot the three, she has savvy when she comes in the lane, a really good passer. So I think Alexa for us is going to fill in probably some of the gaps where we need help or we need her input. Alexa Middleton is just a competitor. Most of the time, the team she is on wins. I love that in her. She competes in everything that she does. So I anticipate her getting some good minutes. It just depends on where we need her is where she will play."
(On Jordan Reynolds)
"I wanted Jordan to get confident in leading this team. It is difficult when you are a freshman coming in. It is hard to step in and lead a basketball team where most of your players, peers are older than you. Jordan went to a point guard camp this summer, and it was awesome for her. Both she and Andraya, I think it gave them some encouragement to jump in and be a leader and some understanding in how they can lead and what they need to do. I think it was tremendous for them. It gave them a lot of confidence, it refined the game a little bit for them as far a leadership stand point, it went into detail. I think from that standpoint she understands it doesn't matter if she is a freshman or sophomore, she has to step up, she has to be one of our vocal leaders, she has to be a leader by example. She has to lead on the floor making sure what offense and defense we are in. I think just that experience her freshman year and how she ended the season was just awesome. I think it has carried over into how she is playing now."
(On Jordan Reynolds working on her shot)
"I think she just got a lot of reps. It is hard to change a lot of their shot after they are here because they have developed such habits. There are a lot of people who shoot an ugly jump shot but it goes it. All I care about is does it go in? So I think repetition for her has been key. And for all of them, they all got in the gym and got a lot of shots up and hopefully you will see the result of that this season."
(On what she has seen from her team that is likes this year)
"I see we have really emphasized getting up and down the floor and getting involved in our transition and trying to score early and getting the ball out quick. I have seen everybody have that opportunity to do that. I think right now Isabelle Harrison is standing head and shoulders above just about everyone. She is a senior. She has been our go-to player. I think you will see a maturity about her. She has, as well, worked on her game. We are going to run a lot of things through Izzy and we should. As a team as a whole we are right now in great shape, we are getting up and down the floor, but we are really emphasizing that. Our practices are extremely hard, they are physical, they are fast, there are a lot of consequences in everything that we do. There is a winner and a loser. We have really tried to emphasize that this year. We try to make them better competitors and the only way I know how to do that is put them in situations to compete. So hopefully you will see us a little more hungry. We are still a ways away but I think we are developing a trust and we are developing a trust through our leadership and we are trying to get a little more aggressive on defense and trusting we are going to have help behind us. A lot of it is making sure we are together as a team, it is not an individual emphasis on anyone but we are working together. So far we have done that but we haven't played a game yet either."
(On Isabelle Harrison's improvement)
"I think Izzy's is confidence. I think Izzy is confident now in her game. When you put time into your game and you do the work you develop confidence and I think that is what Izzy has done. She has seen success. When she got here as a freshman I didn't really know where her game was going or how serious she was about her game. It was a learning experience for her. I think each year she understands how good she can be. I think last year, especially towards the end of the season, when she was healthy, I loved her being on Tennessee's team. Like Jordan, she has carried that over the summer and onto this fall. She understands we need her to play, she understands we need her to put up points, she understands we need her to play hard and I don't think she is shying away from that, I don't think she is scared of that. I think she is really confident in helping lead this team."
(On the best defender on the perimeter and on the inside )
"Jasmine Jones from the outside, she is just a physical fit young woman, solid, enjoys playing defense. I think Jasmine is the exception to the rule, out of high school, when you recruit out of high school you are recruiting the best offensive threat. Kids don't put a lot of emphasis on defense. I think Jasmine was the exception to the rule. I thought in high school and in her AAU play she enjoyed playing defense. To me that shows on the court. She is extremely fast, she is extremely quick, she gets to the ball really well, has a great stance. When you are quick like her and athletic like her you can defend the ball the way we want it to be defended. I would have to say Jasmine on that end. Probably Izzy and I like Izzy because she has a little volleyball background in her and volleyball teaches you to jump up and not go in the net. I love that Izzy does that. She gets a lot of fouls on her hands but she doesn't get a lot of fouls blocking shots. That is because she has been taught to jump and block shots. So I think as far as inside it would be Isabelle."
(On Mercedes Russell)
"I think Mercedes has not even tapped what she can do. I think she came in with two pretty bad wheels and we didn't realize it until the season started and we are running up and down. All fairness and credit to Mercedes, never once complained about her feet but it was obvious they were affecting her. We just wanted to finish out the year. She never missed a practice because of how her feet were. If you don't have a strong base or your feet aren't solid in basketball you are just not going to get things done. We could have done the surgery and she probably could have come back in January but I just didn't think it was fair to her. She came in her freshman year in the second semester because she graduated late, this past summer she missed the whole summer for rehab so I don't think she has had the opportunity to refine her skills and refine her game because she hasn't done a lot of individual work. So my thought was to sit her out and she will have, I don't know this for a fact, but January on to do individual work, has next summer and then you will see a young lady who will have three years of college basketball, which I love. I just didn't want to sell her short of her college career and just have a half of a year this year and she really had half a year last year because of her foot problems. That was my rationale. You haven't even seen...Mercedes hasn't even tapped the surface of how good she is going to be."
(On Mercedes Russell)
"Absolutely. She is a highly intelligent young lady, she has a great basketball sense and I think when she gets healthy she is going to do everything that all our expectations are for her."
(On post depth and playing more four guard lineups)
"I think so. We are going to see how Nia Moore transitions. I think right now, before she got hurt, she was doing really, really well. Nia just needs minutes and reps and getting in game situations. I see that. We are going to have to be mindful of staying out of foul trouble, that kind of last year got us into trouble at times. So we can put Cierra and Jasmine at the four. Our four player is really a perimeter player for us at times. So I see a lot of people going into that four spot. We could possibly play four guards and one post. So it is just a matter of how the game is going and are we in foul trouble, are we not. We have experimented with that too so understand that we don't have a lot of depth but we have to be mindful of how they are playing and foul situations. We are putting people in that spot just in case. Kind of what we did last year before Massengale got hurt, we really worked Andraya and Jordan at the one. So when she went down they just stepped right in and took over. We worked them and got them ready at that spot. That is what we will do at the four spot as well."
(On Kortney Dunbar three point shooting ability)
"She shoots long range threes consistently. I thought with Meighan going out I thought we needed someone who that is their specialty and that is her specialty. She has the ability to get the shot off and is very consistent. I am pleased with that. And she knows that, we signed her because she is a specialty three player and that is what she does. I am trying to get her to rebound, just a little, just get past that three point line to rebound a little bit."
