University of Tennessee Athletics
@LadyVol_Hoops Report (1/7/15)
January 07, 2015 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Head coach Holly Warlick, sophomore guard Andraya Carter and senior forward Cierra Burdick visited with the media Wednesday about #7/9 Tennessee's 7 p.m. Thursday showdown with #9/8 Texas A&M. The SEC Network will have the telecast.
The Lady Vols bring an eight-game winning streak into Thursday night's match-up after going on the road and securing a 57-49 win over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym on Monday night. Tennessee has not lost since dropping back-to-back road games at Chattanooga (67-63) on Nov. 26 and #6/9 Texas (72-59) on Nov. 30.
Tennessee has been victorious in 13 straight games at Thompson-Boling Arena, including nine in a row this season.
Texas A&M brings its own streak into Thursday's tussle with Tennessee, winning its last three after dropping back-to-back contests vs. #3/3 Texas (67-65) and Washington (70-49) on Dec. 21 and 29, respectively.
The Texas A&M game is part of the Coke SEC 5-Pack, which includes the five marquee SEC games: Texas A&M, LSU (We Back Pat), Georgia, Kentucky (Live Pink) & Vandy (Senior Day). Tickets are available on UTTix.com.
The first 2,000 fans and first 250 students will receive a 2015 Lady Vol Basketball calendar, while the first 200 students also receive an $8 concession voucher for free food and drink.
ANOTHER TOUGH TEST FOR THE LADY VOLS
Tennessee (12-2, 2-0 SEC), picked to finished second in the SEC race this season, meets up with the team that was chosen to finish right behind it in the preseason polls. UT Head Coach Holly Warlick believes the Aggies (14-2, 2-0 SEC) present an interesting challenge to the Lady Vols because of Texas A&M's similarities to her own team.
"Both teams love to run," Warlick said. "Both teams focus on the defensive end, press. Both teams rely on our defense to create some of our offensive points, especially second chance points.
Guard Andraya Carter looks forward to the game, but she realizes that execution will be critical in order for the Lady Vols to defeat Texas A&M.
"I think we're going to have to play really solid defense," Carter said. "They like to run the ball. They're really athletic, so I think it'll be an up-tempo, fun game to watch. It'll be exciting. We just have to execute our game plan."
Forward Cierra Burdick believes the UT defense must stop A&M's dynamic offense to have a chance to win.
"I think their strongest offense is their transition offense, so we definitely have to stop the ball early and match up as quickly as possible," Burdick said. "We have to key in on their transition offense and make sure they are not getting easy layups and easy buckets."
While the players credited the Aggie offense, Warlick acknowledged the stifling defense that they bring each night.
"They are extremely tough on the ball," Warlick said. "They are very active. They make you turn it over. You have to protect the ball. They get their hands on the ball a lot. They play in the passing lanes. If our turnovers are up, it's not going to be good for us."
Thursday's duel with the Aggies will mark the fourth top ten opponent this season for the Lady Vols and the third in the last five games. In its previous three games against top ten opponents, Tennessee is 2-1 with wins over No. 7 Stanford and No. 10 Oregon State.
Tennessee's only loss against a top ten foe is a 72-59 defeat at No. 6 Texas. The Longhorns, the only common opponent between Tennessee and Texas A&M, also beat the Aggies 67-65.
CARTER EMERGES AS OFFENSIVE WEAPON
In the last two games for the Lady Vols, redshirt sophomore Andraya Carter has proven herself as not only a defensive threat but also as an offensive weapon.
With a (then) career-high 16 points against Missouri and a new career-high of 19 points vs. in-state rival Vanderbilt, Carter notched the best back-to-back scoring games of her career in her last two starts.
Carter credits her coaches and teammates along with extra work in the gym for her offensive success.
"I really think it's not thinking so much," Carter said. "My coaches, teammates and everyone around me has been so encouraging. I can't say that enough. With the new year, I wasn't happy with my offense the first half of the this season so I just got in the gym extra and really worked with Holly [Warlick] and Dean [Lockwood]. It's paid off."
Rather than focusing on taking quick shots, Carter is emphasizing the mechanics of her shot such as remembering to make sure her index finger is the last one on the ball.
"I've really focused on my form and technique instead of the amount of shots that I'm taking extra," Carter said. "I really focus on the type of shots that I'm taking, the way I shoot the ball. Holly and Dean really helped me fix some things. When I shoot extra, I focus on those little things."
Head coach Holly Warlick enjoys seeing Carter's success offensively and believes it comes from one thing: confidence.
"I think it's confidence for her," Warlick said. "It's just confidence. She has gotten confident and has worked on her game. When you do that, you see your shots go in and you shoot them over and over. It's repetition. You draw confidence from that. She's put in a lot of time outside of practice and has gotten a lot of shots up. She worked on her form and skill. In the end, she's the one who has to do the job during the game, and I think she's done that."
Even with her scoring abilities being shown statistically, Carter isn't willing to see her role as the leading defender for Tennessee diminish.
"I definitely love my role as defensive hustle first," Carter said. "I think that's something I can bring. My high school coach always labels defense and hustle as controllable factors. So no matter how I'm shooting the ball or how my offense is like, I'm going to bring those elements to the game as my role. I definitely want to be more of a threat on offense. I think that helps the team. I definitely want to be more of a complete player."
With a solid start to conference play offensively, Warlick chooses not to focus too much on it when it comes to keeping her in the starting line-up. Carter leads the team defensively with 37 steals in 13 games, averaging nearly three per game.
"I'm not going to take her out because she's not scoring," Warlick said. "If I preach defense then I wouldn't be honest if I took her out because she wasn't scoring. She's our best defender. We need her in there. She makes things happen. She creates steals. She creates havoc. At times defense starts our break. Having her on their best player, having her disrupt is big for us, so I'm going to keep her in the starting line-up."
CONFIDENCE IS BUILDING
There's a lot for this Lady Vol team to be happy about, including an eight-game winning streak.
Since losing back-to-back games to an unranked Chattanooga and #3/3 Texas, Tennessee has become defense driven, with opponents averaging just 49.5 points per game over the last eight contests, and it has become patient with shots taken on offense.
Senior Cierra Burdick feels the confidence and is looking forward to taking on the Lady Vols' third top-10 ranked team at home.
"I think we're feeling extremely confident right now because we've put in the time," Burdick said. "We've put in the work, and we've had success. We have a tough A&M team coming in tomorrow, and we know that. We respect them as a ball club.
"We just have to come in for a great day of prep today, have a lot of energy, high focus, prepare as best as we can. We have to come out and play hard tomorrow and play the game we know we're capable of playing. I think that's going to help us be successful."
