University of Tennessee Athletics
@LadyVol_Hoops Report (2/25/15)
February 25, 2015 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Head coach Holly Warlick and Andraya Carter and Bashaara Graves visited with the media about #6/6 Tennessee's SEC road game against Georgia on Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern. The broadcast will be shown on the SEC Network and the game will be carried on the radio by the Lady Vol Network.
UT and Georgia will meet for the second time this season and 63rd occasion overall in women's basketball. The Lady Vols head into the game after losing a close competition with #2/2 South Carolina on Monday night. UT will look to spring back with a win, which would improve on its mark of 13-8 in games played in Athens and 47-15 overall mark vs. the Lady Bulldogs.
TENNESSEE TRAVELS TO ATHENS
Looking to bounce back from their first conference loss of the season, the Lady Vols will hit the road to face Georgia on Thursday night.
Tennessee (23-4, 13-1 SEC) will try to complete the sweep of the Lady Bulldogs (17-10, 5-9 SEC) after defeating them in Knoxville 59-51 on January 25.
Despite falling short in the clash of conference unbeatens Monday night at South Carolina, guard Andraya Carter is not concerned about the team losing focus for the final two games of the regular season.
"We definitely don't want to lose two more games," Carter said. "We didn't want to lose to South Carolina, so we definitely don't want to lose two more. We have Georgia, who played us pretty close at home. These are big games. You want to finish off the SEC strong, get momentum going into the tournament. I don't think we'll have a problem refocusing."
The Lady Bulldogs have struggled since their visit to Knoxville, having lost their past seven games. In its last time on the floor, Georgia scored a season-low 26 points in a loss to Auburn. Despite Georgia's recent slide, Carter is expecting a tough matchup.
"I think they are going to play hard," Carter said. "I think Georgia always plays hard against us. I feel like when we play anybody, we get [the opponent's] best game. I wouldn't be surprised if they come out swinging and play really hard. It's on their home court. They probably have a lot of energy. They want to get a win. I think they are definitely going to come out strong, and we have to hit them."
Head Coach Holly Warlick acknowledges that her squad did not play well in the last game against Georgia and that her team better be ready to compete Thursday night.
"They are smart," Warlick said. "I think Coach Landers is good about preparing his team for game situations. We didn't play really well when Georgia was here, and we can't overlook them. They have lost a couple in a row, and they are out to prove that they are still a winning basketball team."
For the Lady Vols to avoid a loss in Athens, they have to do a better job of limiting transition points. The Lady Bulldogs were able to score 13 points off 18 turnovers in the first matchup against the Lady Vols. Forward Bashaara Graves acknowledged that in order to bring home a win, they must do a better job of defending in transition.
"I do remember it was a close game," Graves said. "They beat us in the transition a lot, so we definitely have to stop the ball early. That will help [our] transition game."
LADY VOLS GET BACK TO BASICS
After coming up short in its toughest conference test of the season at No. 2 South Carolina, the Lady Vols look to regain part of their identity--rebounding.
Despite hanging tight with the No. 2 team in the country, an evident weakness during the game was rebounding. Tennessee gave up 46 rebounds, a season high, against the Gamecocks. The Lady Vols also allowed South Carolina's Aleighsa Welch to get 14 rebounds, the second most individual boards by any opponent this season.
Head Coach Holly Warlick believes that a flaw in her team that showed against the Gamecocks is a lack of boxing out from the Tennessee guards.
"Izzy did probably hide a lot of our faults in not boxing out from the guard position," Warlick said. "Now, we can't do that. We have to do a lot better job of boxing out from the perimeter, and it showed."
Forward Bashaara Graves knows that UT struggled to rebound Monday, but she thinks her team will learn from the mistakes and move on.
"I definitely think we weren't rotating enough to get the boards that we wanted," Graves said. "We had some offensive rebounds that they [got] that were just easy. That is just not making contact. I definitely think we need to work on that during practice and get ready for Georgia and the future [to] box out anybody we play against."
CARTER'S STEALS ARE A TEAM THING
Redshirt sophomore Andraya Carter has been described as one of Tennessee's most athletic defenders by her team and coaches. Already, Carter has 11 more steals than she did in last year's campaign. But if you ask Carter how she is so successful in stealing an opponent's basketball, she won't credit herself.
"It's funny to me because with steals a lot of the time you view it as a personal stat, but it's definitely a team thing," Carter explained. "My teammates, knowing they're behind me and that I have help side and that my posts are behind me, I can put a lot of pressure on the ball. Believe it or not, I do get beat a lot. The few times that I do get beat, my teammates are always right there to help me.
"I know I can put pressure on the ball because they're right there behind me. They've got my back. When I'm off the ball, usually my teammates are putting pressure on the ball and I can get in the passing lane just creating hard passes in tough situations. It's an overall team thing. They have my back so I'm ready to go out and go for it."
Her 67 steals this season are an SEC best, by six. Carter never tries to force a steal but rather studies her opponents to figure weak spots or opportunities where she can make her move.
"A lot of times it's just putting pressure on them, trying to stay between them and the basket," Carter said. "A lot of times I don't go for steals unless I'm in a passing lane. When I'm on the ball, it's getting all on them, giving them constant pressure making them uncomfortable and then waiting for an opportunity to come. I really don't try to force anything to come unless I know I have an advantage and that just comes with watching film."
