Postgame Quotes: Lady Vols 104, Alabama State 51

Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening Statement:
"It was just a solid game for us. Our goal s was to turn them over. We forced 23 turnovers. Let me say this Freda (Freeman-Jackson) does a great job. They are young, and they continue to battle. We could've lost our focus with the score, but I thought we stayed focused and we played hard. That was one of our goals as well, regardless of what the score was. Probably the best stat that I can tell you all is our goal today was to have 11 turnovers and we had four. So, that is awesome."

On Mercedes playing with two fouls in the second quarter:
"(Mercedes Russell) needed more minutes. I trust Mercedes. Her second foul was not very smart. We talked about that. She needed more minutes. She needed to get up and down. We need to establish a presence with her on the inside. Mercedes Russell is a smart player. She knows. I think she figures out what she can and can't do, so I trust her."

On this team's mindset compared to previous teams:
"It's about us. We want to get better every game. We want to get better every practice. We set team goals. I had them set individual goals. We are just trying to get better every game. We don't look ahead. We learn from what we have done. This team does not look ahead, and they don't lose focus. I was really proud of them today. They did a great job at staying focused, and I think they played hard. That's hard to do."

On whether she talks to the players about their personal goals:
"I didn't today. I just told them to keep it to themselves. We have (in the past). We sat down and talked about their personal goals, their roles and those types of things."

On Meme Jackson's performance and goal today:
"Meme's goal is to get four steals every game. We talked about that before the game. At the half we discussed her only having two steals. She did get another one. Meme is pretty good at setting her goals. Hers are always defensive driven, and I love that. I think it's great because it takes away from Meme's focus - and I don't mean that in a bad way - from the offensive end. She really focuses on the defensive end and goes out and makes plays on the offensive end. She doesn't worry about making or missing shots, she just plays. I think it has helped her game."

On Meme's confidence:
"It's off the charts. She shot the ball well. She is being a great leader for us. I am trying to get Meme to rebound a little more, because she is a great rebounder. She has just continued to get her game to the level where I think she needs to be."

On the team's performance:
"I love that we shot in the 50s. That's great. We talked a lot about getting 75 percent of our shots in the paint. I don't have my calculator up here, so I don't know if we did that, but I think we did good with 56 points in the paint. I think that's about three quarters of the shots. I just really wanted to focus on taking good shots. I know we did. The turnovers were huge for us too."

On the teams rebounding:
"It's so hard to predict rebounding, especially offensively. If you shoot a high percentage in the fifties, you are not going to have high offensive rebounding. You take a percentage there. I'll have to go back and watch the tape. For the most part, we did a good job. Rennia did a great job going for the boards, and so did Cheridene. Cheridene rebounds out of her area and not too many players do that, meaning she goes and gets the basketball."

On the teams play and the younger players getting playing time:
"We didn't press as much as we usually do. We had two solid quarters to work on our zone defense. I am going to take advantage and focus on us getting better at what we have not done well (in the past). We have not worked a lot on our zone defense. I have great film for our players to watch. The turnovers, I'm really proud of us only having four turnovers. We didn't lose focus. We kept talking about when we don't have our starters in and how it doesn't mean we aren't going to coach any less. We are going to put these young ladies through the same stuff as the people who start. We just continue to coach them like it is the beginning of the game. I think it's important, because when the games are close we are going to need some of these kids. They are going to be ready."

On Meme's leadership role:
"She leads by example. Meme is going to joke around. She plays hard during practice. Here is what's solid about Meme: you can give her a hard time, say whatever you want to her, and she takes it. She understands that I am trying to make her better. I give Meme a hard time. I am pretty tough on Meme. It's because my expectations are so high for her. I see it in her I have seen it in her since she was a freshman. She is now coming around into a role that she has accepted and is excelling in."

On Kasiyahna Kushkituah status:
"It's day to day. She hasn't practiced so she wasn't going to go today. I think she is getting there."

On her teams play:
"We watch the tape. I promise you there is a lot of stuff that we did wrong. There are a lot of things that we have to get better at. There are a lot of things that we did great. Our practices are going to be competitive. It's going to be hard. We are going to grind it out. We are going to put in the time. We are going to continue to keep doing what we are doing whether we are playing a team that is ranked or not. Every day is an opportunity for us to get better. That's how we see it. We are young, and every day is a great experience for us and is a learning experience."

On how this game was scheduled:
"On our non-conference schedule we try to schedule teams that have won their conference, and they are competitive. Alabama State has always been competitive. She has 10 new kids on her team. When we schedule, we schedule two years out. I can't anticipate that she is going to have 10 new kids on her squad. We schedule the teams we do because they are competitive. It allows us to see teams that we don't normally see. At one time I think they had five guards in at the same time. We don't see that. (Like with) South Dakota, we don't see many teams where everyone can shoot the three. We play teams that down the road might give us a hard time outside of the SEC."

Redshirt Senior Center Mercedes Russell

On going back into the game with two fouls:

"That normally doesn't happen to me. I didn't think I was going to go in until the third quarter, but they put me back in in the second quarter, and they just old me not to foul. So I just tried my best not to, and luckily I didn't."

On playing a lesser opponent the same as a big opponent:

"I think we definitely take every game seriously, especially tonight. We knew it was really important for us to work on ourselves offensively and defensively. But every single game, we know the other team is going to give us their best shot, so we have to play our best no matter what."

On the guards continuously getting her the ball:

"I'm definitely loving the guards. Evina (Westbrook) is a terrific passer. Her drive-and-kick game is incredible, so I have to have my hands up and be ready at all times."

Freshman Guard Evina Westbrook

On not turning the ball over in the first half:

"I don't think really anyone knew until halftime when coach told us that we hadn't had any so far. Definitely in the second half we made it a goal to keep it at as low of an amount as possible. Four total for the game was pretty huge for us. We average a lot (of turnovers), so especially in games like this, we focus on ourselves a lot, so it was good for us to lower our turnover count."

On appreciating the history that a program like Tennessee has:

"As a freshman, I still get excited about playing in this gym. I feel like it's a lot of people every game, but they tell me it's not as much as some games. I think sometimes we may take advantage of it a little bit, just because we're used to it, but we love our fans at the same time."

Junior Guard/Forward Meme Jackson

On the fast start defensively:

"We talked about playing the passing lanes and switching to force steals. That boosts our offense to get transition buckets, so we really just started playing the passing lanes."

On grading her overall performance:

"I feel like I played pretty well, but it could have been better. I was really just trying to let my defense help my offense."

Alabama State Head Coach Freda Freeman-Jackson

Opening Statement:
"Their guard is 6'3" or 6'1", or what have you, and my centers are 6'2" or possibly 6'3" at best. We had a problem coming into the game matching up as far as length. They pretty much did what they wanted to do with us as far as out on the perimeter. I thought we would have done a better job matching up on the inside because I have girls that are some wide bodies. And (Mercedes) Russell, she's an excellent player, but she's thin, so I figured we could bump on her some and get her out of rhythm. That didn't happen. We played a tough team. We played a great team, so I thought my girls did the best that they were able to do under the circumstances."

On how the relationship she has with Tennessee's coaching staff:
"We have a pretty good relationship. I'm sure everybody knows, my daughter plays for South Carolina and they were in the hunt as far as recruiting my daughter. We came on a visit, and that's why I know the staff pretty well. Also, one of the assistant coaches used to also work at Alabama State. We just established a relationship throughout the year, and then by them recruiting my daughter, it made things even tighter. That gives you an idea of how much class the coaching staff here at Tennessee has. My daughter went to South Carolina, but they still always had a great relationship when we were on the road recruiting this summer. They were very cordial, no animosity or anything like that, so they are true professionals, and I really appreciate that."

On if the game came about from conversations while her daughter was being recruited:
"No, it wasn't orchestrated in that fashion. It was a situation where South Carolina, you know we opened up with them and they're going to play us all four years, so I guess they figured if South Carolina will play us, we're pretty decent and will give them a match. I think that's the reason they probably decided to play us this year. I thought it was a great experience for my girls, not just as far as basketball-wise. Any time you have Coach Pat Summitt, my girls had an opportunity yesterday to go to her statue, and it was just really a great trip for us to see how things are done on this level. A lot of girls dream to have had an opportunity to play for Tennessee. I was able to see how they reacted when they walked up to the gym. It was amazing to them. I don't know if you all remember, I think (it was) around 2003 or 2004, we had an opportunity to play Tennessee for the opening round of the NCAA tournament, and I recall very vividly when they were announced what I was doing at the time and the things that were going on in this world. I'm not a person that really likes to fly and I said, 'Yes!' Everybody looked at me and said, 'Are you crazy? They're the number one team in the country.' It was good for us, and this is the second opportunity for my players to play in this gym, and it's really good for our players as well."

On being without freshman guard Amber Hunt on this trip and if the team could have benefited with her:
"Yes, she's known for being a great three-point shooter, so we missed her, but at the same time it's basketball. You have things going on, and the next person has to step up."

On the similarities between Tennessee and South Carolina:
"Both of them are huge and caused major problems for us when we were trying to guard them. Everybody knows A'ja Wilson is a different type of ball player, and (Mercedes) Russell can get to the basket. She's a little better ball handler. It's going to be interesting when they play one another. I think at this time, with South Carolina having so many girls out, Tennessee right now on the perimeter must be a little better than South Carolina. I think they're a little longer than they are."

Alabama State Junior Forward Mya Milner

On her success against Tennessee and confidence moving forward:
"As a freshman, it gives me a lot of confidence. It helps me out, because like Coach Jackson says, I make freshman mistakes. But I feel like I did a very good job today, and she has confidence also."

On if Tennessee's legacy means something to her:
"Yes, because Candace Parker used to be one of my favorite players when I was little. When I walked in, the first gate that I saw was Candace Parker's, and I used to love Candace Parker when I was little because when I was playing, I wanted to be number three. That meant a lot."