University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Press Conference Transcript (3/22/15)
March 22, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick
(Opening Statement)
"Excited that we are playing. I thought our game was a hard fought game by both teams. We are looking forward to playing Pittsburgh."
(On how Suzie McConnell-Serio has done at Pittburgh)
"I have known Suzie for a long time. I am not surprised. She is a former point guard, she is competitive, I think she is a great teacher. I think she does things right. She played the game with a lot of passion and I think her expectations for her team are to play with a lot of heart and passion and play with a lot of energy. I think her team is a really strong reflection of her, especially her point guard, I think she is outstanding and Suzie has done a great job with her."
(On needed Bashaara Graves to have another big game like against Boise State)
"I think when Bashaara plays the game she played yesterday it does nothing but open up the outside for us. Cierra [Burdick] play was, I told her, she had 11 rebounds and she had big steals down towards the end. It may not have been a typical game for her but I thought she did some great things. Bashaara went to work and we needed her, she did some things, she opened up her game. She can post up, she can now face up the basket. She is strong. She had a couple and-one plays. I think as the game went along and she played the way she did it opened up our outside shooting for [Ariel] Massengale, it opened it up for Andraya [Carter] and it went on down the line. It makes life a lot easier for us when Bashaara plays that way."
(On Andraya Carter guarding Brianna Kiesel) "She will. She is our best defender. She is just a difficult player to guard, extremely quick with the ball, can shoot the three. When you can shoot the three and you can penetrate, it is a difficult guard. I think Pittsburgh plays a lot like us, they like to run the ball, they run through their point guard. She has a lot of opportunities to make shots and get open looks and get everyone open. Andraya is going to have to have a great defensive game."
(On versatile bigs)
"I think that is where the women's game is going. They are very versatile. It just makes for difficult, it is like Bashaara for us, they can post up, they can pick and pop and shoot the three. Your bigs are going to have to come out and defend. I think that is where the game is going. They do it very well. They do a lot of ball screens at the top and pop, move the ball around very well. We have out work cut out for us with the bigs. We don't have the height, they have the height advantage over us. You try to limit people's touches and take them out of their offense and that is going to have to be what we do, deny the ball and try to make them do some other things outside of what they want to do in their set offense."
(On the similarities between Pittsburgh and SEC teams)
"No question. We played UTC, they beat us, as UTC is, they control the tempo, I thought Pittsburgh yesterday did a great job of sticking to their game plan. I think they are athletic like they are in the SEC. I think they push the ball, they run the ball. I think it is going to be like a conference game for us because we are both athletic, we both like to run the ball, we like to go inside. They penetrate kicks, so I think there are a lot of similarities between our team and theirs."
(On if Tennessee's physicality will help in the post)
"I hope it will. We are a physical team. And when you aren't as tall, you have to make up with it by being physical and maybe a little bit quicker. We have to do some things. Maybe different double down, make them lob, put more pressure on the balls--there are a lot of things we can do to negate their inside play."
(On made baskets being the key to moving on in the NCAA Tournament)
"You have to hit shots, you have to make shots. Your defense and rebounding has to be strong. When you look at it in our experience, you tend not to shoot the ball as well as you get deeper into the tournament. You have to get second chance points, and you have to get stops. Defense and rebounding are huge for us. I think in last night's game, we were both shooting close 48, 50 [percent] at half, and we went down to [around] 30 percent [in the second half]. I think as the game goes on and the pressure is on, you tend to not shoot the ball as well. You have to get second chance points, and you have to get free throws and layups. Those should be high-percentage shots. They weren't for us last night, but they should be."
(On addressing the missed shots)
"I think we were rushing a little bit, and you just have to get them to calm down and settle down. Their nerves were high. I'd be concerned if we didn't get good looks. I thought we were getting good looks last night. We were just missing easy shots, and that is just focus. You just have to get them back in and focus. Then, you have to deal with the concern about missing that shot. Cierra [Burdick] was so concerned about her offense. We can't do that. We have to move onto the next play. Unlike these kids--they all are offense driven. There is more to the game than the offense. We preach a lot about scoring off of defense, so I just think we have to come out, be focused. If you're going to miss a shot, you have to go back and stick the next one. You can't worry about the shot you missed. You have to move on to the next play."
(On getting Cierra Burdick to focus in the midst of a tough game)
"You just have to reel her back in, keep her focused and stay focused on the team. You don't want her focusing just on herself. She is an emotional kid. She is tough on herself. At times, that can be hard. We just try to get her to focus on the team and be excited for what everybody else is doing. I know she was, but she was thinking about her offense. You just have to get her to see the whole picture. I think she did a great job rebounding for us last night when we needed it and came up with a big steal. You try to focus on the positives with her and hope she will snap out of it. Usually, she does."
Tennessee Forward Cierra Burdick)
(On her performance against Boise State)
" Well I am an emotional player and last night I let the emotions get the best of me but we got a team win and that's what's most important. I've got to move on, move forward bounce back. I just need to really try and stay positive, my teammates did a great job in stepping up Ariel and Bash both had good games so I don't want to take away from that. You know, myself I just have to continue to stay positive, stay confident, and everything will fall into place I'm not worried."
(On taking satisfaction on defense and rebounding)
" Well at the time I was pretty down and frustrated. Looking back, I did try to do what I could on the boards. I have a passion for rebounding and I think I was able to do that last night so that's definitely a positive. I tried to distribute the ball as best as I could but I made some costly turnovers so I canceled out any assist that I had. I think there are some positives that you can take away from the game, there's also a lot to learn from. So I'm just trying and I'll watch some film and regroup and refocus."
(On passing up shots you could have taken)
"I'll have to look at film to know if I passed up some shots, my teammates where in rebounding position and I was passing them the ball and it was a turnover on my part, it was dumb play and that happened at least twice. I was at the free throw line, which is a usual shot for me so I don't really know what was going through my mind last night. Micky'D wasn't in his usually spot so that threw me off and I didn't get my fist bumps so I was just all out of protocol. I will make sure I get my fist bumps where they're due and that I talk to who I need to talk to before the game."
Tennessee Guard Ariel Massengale
(On hitting big time three's and gaining confidence from that)
"Well I think as myself and as well as my teammates have a lot of confidence. Just being a senior and having that confidence in yourself I'm just trying to exuded it into the rest of my teammates, and when I start making shots, Bash was very confident for us down low Andrea Carter started making shots it makes things a lot easier for us moving forward."
