University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Lady Vols 58, Vanderbilt 49
January 21, 2016 | Women's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick
(Opening statement)
"It was a great win for us. We didn't establish a new record by losing three in a row, so I'm pleased with that. We had two great practices and it carried over to the game. I thought our defense was solid, obviously until the fourth quarter. We got a little lax, and Vanderbilt did what they needed to do, penetrate and get us to foul them and stop the clock. So, we have to be a little bit more mindful of the fourth quarter. But, really, really pleased with the overall team effort."
(On Te'a Cooper's performance)
"Te'a's defense was outstanding. I mean, outstanding. I think we kind of simplified our package for her. I think she took makeable shots. She only took one 3-pointer. She's really good at getting inside the defense. I don't think she went too far into the lane. I just thought she played heady and smart. I think she took good shots. She didn't rush a shot, probably until the end. She's got to get better with watching the clock and getting a better shot off when the clock's running down. But, I just think she was solid and probably the most focused she's been in a long time."
(On if she was concerned Te'a Cooper had lost her confidence)
"I think probably all of them have felt that, about losing confidence in their shot. We've been shooting a lot. We've been talking about it. I can't recall tonight too many bad shots. It helps we kept our turnovers down. That gave us more opportunities to get shots at the basket. We had 15 assists, so I think we distributed the ball well. I don't recall us really quick-shooting the basketball."
(On if she expected Vanderbilt to get the ball to guard Rebekah Dahlman at the end of the game)
"I thought Dahlman had a great [game]. She's a competitor. She's solid. Stats were outstanding. They were going to go to her. We just wanted to make sure that we stayed on her. We didn't want to give up a three. We didn't want to foul when they were penetrating, but we did. That's the part we have to get a little bit more disciplined. But I thought the last three minutes, we were solid. I thought Dahlman was going to get it and she did."
(On if she was unhappy with anything down the stretch of the game)
"We just fouled. We fouled. To be disciplined for three quarters, and then towards the end, just be undisciplined and foul. To Tennessee and all of us, it may not look like a foul, but officials call it. You've got to live with it. You don't even give the officials the opportunity to get near somebody to call a foul. That's what I'm saying. We weren't very disciplined. You've got to be mindful of how they're calling the game down the stretch. Either we're bumping them or hitting them and hey, it's called. Our kids can give us an expression or say 'I didn't foul,' but it's called. So yes, you did foul."
(On the decision to use the full court press)
“We have pressed every team except Notre Dame, they had such strong outside long range 3 point shots. It’s been our thing, and we decided to go with that. Once they adjusted to that, we went to a 3/4 press and a 1-2-2 press. That gives us the energy and gets us going, I thought it was very effective. We saw how they handled it and then that’s how we want to play, we want to turn you over and play fast.”
(On building off this win over a rival)
“Any win is a great win. Especially when we stick to the game plan, and our kids played hard. I didn’t have to coach effort, energy or heart. We aren’t going to play a perfect game, we will make mistakes. I will say, tonight the mistakes we made did not affect how we played the game. We played as hard as we could on the defensive end. I am excited about that, and this game correlates our last two practices. We have been focused, attentive, and focused on the game plan. We watched a lot of tape and got a lot of shots up, and the opportunity to get shots up has helped us a lot as well.”
(On going back on the road after a home win)
“We’ve lost two games at home, that’s unusual for us. To get a game here, and to get success is key. Vanderbilt is a hard team to play, and hard to beat, so it is a great win. Now that gives us a little bit of momentum to go to Kentucky and to go to Mississippi State, and it’s always a dogfight there. We are going to have to be solid, and make sure our defense isn’t the 4th quarter defense from tonight. It has to be the first three quarters defense. I like how we feel right now, and this is a tough stretch for us. We have to stay solid.”
Tennessee Guard Te’a Cooper
(On being fouled by Marqu’es Webb)
“She had no idea I was coming because I came from the backside. You usually swing and try to get the ball so I don’t think that it was intentional, she didn’t mean any harm.”
(On getting out of her slump)
“It was frustrating, and I think being mentally strong was very important. I had great support around me and I just knew I was capable of getting out of there. I didn’t think that was the kind of player I was so I was just determined to do better.”
Tennessee Guard Diamond DeShields
(On shutting down Vanderbilt’s shooting game)
“In general we have pretty good perimeter defense around the three point line defending shooters. It’s just when teams begin to penetrate on us, that’s where we’ve been struggling this season. I think we’ve been pretty consistent from the three-point line with our defense all year but like I said before we just had to work on our one-on-one drill penetration defense and knowing our personnel and who to help off of. I know two of my blocks were from the help side so really just knowing who you were on, and who you could help off of.”
(On the importance of Te’a Cooper making jumpers)
“They were huge for us obviously. We were struggling at that particular moment in time and for her to be able to step up and hit that many shots back-to-back it was just huge. I’m just happy for her because being in the slump that she was in; I was really proud that she was able to step up. It showed that she still is that player and she’s still capable.”
(On defeating Vanderbilt)
“I think it’s just an eye opener for us. We matched their intensity throughout the entire game. When they went on their runs, we went on ours and in the past it hasn’t been that way. The other teams that we’ve lost to or even beaten; when they go on their runs we kind of deflate. Tonight I really believed that we had that fight in us to keep going and we were determined to win the game.”
Tennessee Guard Andraya Carter
(On the team’s approach to the game)
“I think the press is just a result from our coaches, they’ve spent so many hours watching film and it’s just a credit to them. Dean was the scout for this game and he spent a lot of time watching film. He just told us that we were going to press them to start. He didn’t think that they had seen the type of pressure that we are capable of bringing with our athleticism. We have really mobile post as well, so with them in the back and just putting in lineups that we thought would really bring the pressure that they haven’t seen this season. I think it affected them early.”
(On guarding Rebekah Dahlman)
“She was definitely one of our main focuses. They have very capable shooters all along their perimeter. They have a very good team and they’ve worked to get her a good shot. We knew that she was a player that we really had to stop, she’s very efficient. It says a lot to her that she was able to get 17 points off of 9 shots. Hats off to her but we did a pretty good job. I think some of the shots she hit were really tough and the fact that she only got 9 shots says something about our perimeter defense.”
(On turnovers during the game)
“If you look at the games that we’ve lost we’ve had 20 plus turnovers. That’s in almost all of our losses but in particular our last three losses. Turnovers have been very troubling for us all across the board with all of our players. It was really a focus in our practices this week; we were running sprints for turnovers in practice. That’s something that you don’t see very often but our coaches really had to stress how important it is to take care of the basketball. Every time you turn it over that’s an opportunity that you’ve missed to put points on the board. It puts pressure on your defense, which in turn puts pressure on your offense, and you get into a cycle. I think taking care of the ball was huge and it shows because we won.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Melanie Balcomb
(On tonight's strategy)"To win. That was it."
(On planning for Tennessee's defense)
"Yeah, we've worked a lot on press break obviously. We had the same issue at
Ole Miss. They pressed us and pressured us, but we have been getting better. We have to go against it everyday in practice, and I was pretty confident that we could handle it. But, I think they came out so aggressively, they had just lost three straight and were mad. They were going to fight hard, and I thought they were very, very aggressive, very active, and turned us over quite a bit right away. That was really the difference in the game; points off turnovers. Everything else was pretty equal."
(On the change in the fourth quarter)
"Well, we went small. We've been working a lot of different lineups. We have a lot of depth right now. Our players said, 'give us different things'. So, we have a lot of options and answers to go to in different games and different match-ups. One of the things that we decided to do when we weren't getting in the paint, was just to go small and try to get points off of defense, which has been our go-to all season. We are highly ranked defensively, and we've created a lot of energy and been able to make runs from our defense. It loosens up our offense a little bit."
(On unforced turnovers)
"I think our kids have gotten better and better, and improving all of the time. Last season, we turned the ball over probably more than anyone in the league. Right now we've been taking care of the basketball, and doing a better job. I thought their press affected us early. They were so fast, but down the stretch we were really just going too fast and rushing, and we haven't been successful in those situations, but I have all of the confidence in the world that we will. We will keep practicing, and next time we will execute."
"I'm really proud of our team tonight. To come back against a team that is fighting the way they did, I can't ask anymore from them. Yes, we had two possessions we did not execute to win the game, but it was right there. That's all you want on the road."
(On the difference Te'a Cooper made)
"She hit big shots. That's one of the things we need to do a better job of mentally. When we know somebody is hot and they hit two in a row we can't give them three and four. We were there and we contested the shot, but we had talked about not giving her that shot. It's a set shot and it takes her a while. We shouldn't have let her get those shots off when she was hot. Just like they were not allowing Bekah to get the shot off, and force her to drive."
(On predicting the SEC)
"I'll tell you, I've been in this league for fourteen years, and there is no way I could predict what was going to happen. I'm really focused on our program and our team and getting better, and taking it one day at a time. I haven't been looking around a lot. The more I can keep my team's eyes on their own progress and not worry about what everybody else is going to do. I do think it is a wide open race, that's when you have to really focus in on yourself. You can do special things. I think anybody can do that in our league this year."
Vanderbilt Guard Rebekah Dahlman
(On what Tennessee did to Vanderbilt defensively)
"They came off pretty aggressively, but in the third quarter our whole team struggled. We had maybe a couple of points in the third quarter. That's what killed us. For me personally, my shot was falling tonight. I just was aggressive to the rim, and made some shots."
(On Tennessee putting a lot of emphasis on defending her)
"On one possession I probably should have gone to the rim because we did not have a lot of time left on the clock. It was a poor decision on my part."
Vanderbilt Guard Rachel Bell
(On how their press stressed Vanderbilt)
"I feel like their length. They are quick. They send all five of their players up at once. I thought we were kind of surprised. I think they got to us a little bit."
(On what's next)
"We're just going to get back to work. Coach always says no loss or win is going to make us go either direction. We're going to stay level and get back to work."
