POSTGAME QUOTES: Lady Vols 85 ETSU 49

Dec. 2, 2015

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Holly Warlick

(Opening Statement)
"I thought it was a great second half for us. Bridges put on a show. What a great competitor. It was a good win for us."

(On emotional timeout in first half)
"I was just glad I didn't have a mic on me. I will say this. I am not going to coach effort. I'm not going to do it. I am here to teach and make them better as basketball players and young women. I am not going to coach effort. The first two quarters--our fans deserves more. Our former Lady Vols deserve more. As we have talent, we have to play like the house is on fire. I am not going to stand on the sideline and watch us not have any emotion. So, I sat down. Good, bad, I'm not coaching it. As I feel they take a couple games off, I took the second half off. The third and fourth quarters were night and day. They had energy. They were together. It is probably the first time I have seen this team have team chemistry. They like each other. It isn't that they don't like each other, but we have to have that sense of urgency that we had in the third and fourth quarters all the time. They have to find it within them. I can no longer pull things out of them. I know how competitive I am. I know how intense [I am]. I promise you, it was extremely hard for me to sit down for two quarters and half of the second quarter."

(On if she spoke to team at half)
"I did not. I enjoyed some iced tea and watched our assistants step into the head coaching role."

(On reason for better play in second half)
"I don't know if I want to take credit for it, but something bothered them. I think they got my message."

(On Warlick's strategy behind decision to rest)
"It's not risky for me. We are going to play hard. That is the foundation that this program has been built on. Playing hard and playing relentless. That is the only way I know. That is the only way I played it, I have coached it. Like I said, it was hard for me to sit there, and I'm sure a lot of people won't understand it. But, I was trying to get my point across. I thought in the third and fourth quarter, it was a totally different team. It was the Tennessee team that I want to see, you all want to see, people in the stands want to see across the country. That is what we have to be all the time."

(On what she said after the game)
"I told them what you just said, I took half the game off because I refuse to coach effort, hustle, and heart. I refuse to do it. I said they have it in them. I said great job, to the staff, and just reminded them of how it looks when the fans react and you go from shooting 36 percent in the first quarter to the third quarter shooting 58, and the fourth quarter shooting 62 percent. That is generated by your effort, by steals, by layups, ball movement, and playing together. It's playing with a passion. Look how much harder we played on defense. As coaches we keep thinking we're out of shape because we've been getting winded that first two or three minutes of the first quarter. We're in great shape. It's mental for us, it's mental. If we play like we did tonight in the third and fourth quarter. Look at our minutes. Everybody is going to get minutes, because we're going to press, we're going to run. When you do that a lot of people are going to play, but people are not going to come and watch talented people be average, and I'm not going to sit back and watch it as well."

(On Jasmine Jones)
She's way ahead of where she was. Again, I'm not a doctor, but I think she's going to be fine. She's way ahead of when she was hit and had to sit out that long before last season. I think she's ok, and she's going to have to listen to her body. I told her she doesn't have to play another minute for us. I never want her to think I'm putting her health and her future in jeopardy. The doctors have been very reassuring, and our medical staff is not going to put her out there where she's going to jeopardize her long-term health. They assured me that she's good, and I think Jasmine and her mom are cautious and don't want to jump back in. I told her she could take all of the time she needs.

(On how they are going to prepare for Virginia Tech)
I will tell you this. We practice harder than we play. When you watch the first two quarters, you wonder where this came from. We're going to go back and go probably an hour tomorrow. We'll watch film. I think we haven't had time to watch a lot of film and learn. I think with the break we'll have a good opportunity for them to visually see some things that we can correct. We're just going to continue to hold them accountable and make sure that we teach them to do the right things. I mean, a bad shot is a bad shot, and we've tried to explain to them that this is a bad shot, this is a good shot, and I think they now understand an opportunity to get a good shot. A quick shot where you're contested is not a good shot. I think we will continue to identify that. I thought we pushed the ball up the floor more. That was a main focus for us when the game started. We need practice, and we need practice with everybody healthy. I think we'll get there.

Redshirt Sophomore Diamond DeShields

(On the effect of Holly Warlick not coaching the second half)
"She always is like, 'This team is so talented. We're so talented. We're this, we're that. I don't know what it's going to take. What's it going to take?' I think that's what it took. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Seeing her get that upset really changed us, especially in the second half. [Warlick] said it was like night-and-day. We all felt that way too. We're sorry it had to go that far, but maybe that's what it took."

(On why it took something dramatic to change the team's performance)
"Just an effort thing, that's really it. You see what happens when we really put our best foot forward. We're able to turn the game around in a half. Even in a quarter. The third quarter was awesome. Really, we've just got to play with 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time. I think we can do great things this year."

(On if recording seven steals showed her defensive ability)
"I find it funny, because I haven't really been doing much offensively this season. Last game I had a good offensive game, but that was really it. I think Holly [Warlick] is just trying to ingrain that in me early because my identity is as a scorer. So I think early on she just wants to see me play on both ends of the floor. I think putting me at the front of the press was really helpful in accomplishing that goal."

Redshirt Sophomore Mercedes Russell

(On if she had seen Holly Warlick that angry before)
"No, I think this is the first time I've ever really seen her like that. I think it was just how we were playing that made her so mad. We were pretty stagnant on defense, and then we picked it up. But yeah, I've never really seen her like that before."

(On how she feels when the team makes outside shots)
"Oh, I love it because they've been triple-teaming, double-teaming me lately. When the guards hit shots, they've got to go out and guard them, so that relieves a lot of pressure from me on the inside."

Freshman Te'a Cooper

(On the effect of Holly Warlick not coaching the second half)
"I think it motivated us. We felt like we disappointed her and we just wanted to get out there and show her that we're capable of doing what she wanted us to do."

ETSU Head Coach Brittney Ezell

(Opening Statement)
"I have a lot of opening thoughts. First of all, congratulations to Tennessee. Coming here to Thompson-Boling is a difficult place to play. We tell our kids before we walk into the gym `Don't lose by looking at the banners. Be engaged with what's going on. Be in the moment. Enjoy the moment.' And what we told them prior to the game is that `This game does not define us, it develops it.' I thought we did a good job of developing some young players tonight. I am extremely proud of the way out team competed tonight from the tipoff to the buzzer. Very proud of our effort, a lot to build on. But again, congratulations to Holly [Warlick] and to Tennessee."

(On how proud you were being up against Tennessee in the second quarter)
"I'm always proud of them. There is never a moment I'm not proud of them. I tell them that all the time. My job is to put them in positions to be successful, and their job is to embrace the moment. That's what they did, and I couldn't be more happy with them. Clearly, if we had won I would have been happy. You take in the circumstance. You take in each individual kid. You know what they are going through on a day-to-day basis and how hard it is for them. And I don't know if I could be more proud. It's fun to watch them grow. I told Sadasia [Tipps] during one timeout that I think I found myself a four player. Last year she was playing at Hickory High School, and today she's playing the Lady Vols at Thompson-Boling. We still have a lot of growth that we need to do. If you take [Shamauria] Bridges and [Chandler] Christopher off the floor for us, no player in a blue uniform played more than seven minutes a game last year. We're young. We're naive. We don't know all the things we don't know. But they do know how to play hard. They care about each other. They are great teammates. I'm always going to be proud of them, I don't think that is ever going to be a question."

ETSU Forward Sadasia Tipps

(On being undersized but going to the free-throw line ten times)
"We already knew they were big. So we practiced head fakes. You just have to go out and play hard. You have to do it for your team. I wasn't intimidated by size, because you're doing it for your team, you want to win for the team."

(On taking in the moment and not letting the game define you)
"This just prepares us for what we want to do in the conference. It was a learning moment for all of us."