Lady Vols vs. Presbyterian College Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening statement:

"I would like to start off, since it's Veterans Day, by thanking all of the veterans who allow us to live in this country. (They allow us) to be free and protect this country. It's a great day, and what they do it for is our freedom, so I just want to say thank you. To our basketball team, we really wanted to focus on intensity. I thought we maintained it very well throughout the whole game. We wanted to take great shots, not good shots. We started off a little up and down, but I thought we started attacking the basket and got great shots. Thirdly, we dominated the boards. We had to have a little talk at halftime, but we came out, and I thought we did just that."

On the press defense being a mindset or something they practice:

"It's both. It does go back to practice, and it is a mindset. That's where we want them to be. We play like that, practice like that, every day. This week has been a hard week for them. We have worked on our press, and you're not going to see one of our young ladies often play 40 minutes. Because of our style of play, it's just difficult. What you saw today was a reflection of our practices."

If she was more satisfied with the 3-pointers taken tonight:

"I was. I didn't realize we were 5-of-9. I wanted us to drive to the basket, because I thought it was a higher-percentage shot. Mickey Dearstone informed me that we shot better from the three-point line than the two-point line. I thought the three-point shots today were open shots. They were not forced; they were open, and I'm good with that."

On Rennia Davis and how the team made up for her absence:

"When you have one of your best players out, and it's day-to-day, she and I talked about playing. Our trainer, she advised us to rest her. It's a tribute to our team; to have one of your best players sitting on the bench, and you come in and you make up points she usually gets, get rebounds she usually gets – I love it. I love that they can step in and pick up the slack."

On Evina Westbrook's performance:

"Here's what I love about Evina today: her first couple of shots didn't go for her, and she didn't hang her head. She didn't try to force things. She refocused, and we talked a lot about 'next play,' and I thought that's what she did. I thought she took great shots, and she did run the basketball team. We didn't run a lot of offense, but we attacked the basket, and it started with her. She started attacking the basket, and everybody followed suit."

On halftime adjustments:

"The only way you can rebound is to go to the boards. It's pretty simple – you can't rebound when you're standing at half court."

On improvement at the free-throw line:

"Baby steps, we're taking baby steps. We're going to continue to shoot 500 (a week) until we make a difference. Again, it's mental. We shoot them, we have to continue to get better at them, and we're going to continue to focus on them."

On the comfort of the freshmen:

"I was excited when we signed those four because we knew what we were getting. They play with a passion. They don't care if they start, they just want to contribute. Those four want to win for this program and this team. It's not about their own stats; it's not about them. It's about making this team better, and you can see it, they're relentless. Rae Burrell looked like she was playing like she was running downhill, and I love that."

On keeping the team focused when they're up:

"That's our identity, and regardless of who is playing, that's our identity. If you don't do it, you're coming out."

On some of the players getting rid of jitters:

"I think it's something where you go back and watch the tape and you go back and show them what a great shot is and what a bad shot is and let them understand it. Today, our film will be a teaching moment for those young kids. They understand, they see it, so we'll just continue to work and coach and understand what we want."

On what progresses can be made:

"We had 15 turnovers, getting better shots, moving the basketball, I thought at times our offense was a little stagnant… I'll go back and look at the tape for my opinion in a more educated manor. There's always more room for improvement. We have to be consistent rebounding the basketball. There's always something that we're going to work on. Films don't lie. We'll go back and before practice tomorrow we'll watch tape, and it'll be a learning session for them."

On Zaay Green filling in for Rennia Davis:

"Zaay (Green) is going to do whatever she needs to do to get this basketball team a W. I thought she stepped up and played like she was coming off the bench. She doesn't have a lot of fear, none of the freshmen do. I think that the freshman were a little nervous in the exhibition game, which is why we play them. Now, they've settled in and they're handling the crowd and the expectations, which is outstanding for those freshmen."

Sophomore Guard Evina Westbrook:

On the performance of the freshmen:

"For our first game, I thought all of the freshmen played extraordinary. For them to play this game, and for how all of them played, I thought they played with a lot of energy, and we're all really proud of them. They do great at practice, so it's been transitioning very well."

On her performance and career-high:

"I just had to do what my team needed me to do. I don't come out every game thinking, 'I need to score this many points,' it's just whatever my team needs me to do for that specific game at that time... just getting to the rim and making easy baskets to get everything started."

On recording seven steals and the team's collective defensive pressure:
"I really owe it all to my teammates. Without them I wouldn't be able to get as many steals as I did, or we all did as a group. To have them pressuring, and us pressing as a collective group, it just made it easier to get all those steals. I think everyone would agree that our pressure and our intensity on defense the whole game was pretty good."

Redshirt-senior forward Cheridene Greene:

On the team's success with full-court press and how they were energized from the steals:

"I think it definitely helped everybody pick up a little bit of energy. It made me want to go get some steals, and it helped everybody else as well. I think that was the goal from the jump start was to go get some steals."

On the team's mindset of going to get the ball on the press:

"This was a physical team, so I think no matter whether the whistle blows or somebody rolls up the court, that we want it regardless. We're going to do whatever we can to get it."

If she could sense that Presbyterian was getting worn out from the press:

"I can only speak for myself, but when we get one stop, we know we can get another one. We just keep going. I don't really look at the team getting tired, because they could be tired and not showing it. I don't know how to look at them; I just know that as a team, we just need to keep attacking until the quarter timeout. That's what I want to do personally. I don't really look at whether the team is tired or not, we just go – because they may not be tired, and we just need to attack either way."

Freshman point guard Zaay Green

On when she found out she would be in the starting lineup:

"I found out before the game. At first, I was mainly excited, but just ready to play. I wasn't thinking about just starting, I was just ready to play."

On if she was surprised of her performance and what she feels like she needs to work on:

"Yes, I know what I'm capable of, but my defense is really what I want to work on. Once I get my defense, my offense will come by itself."

Presbyterian Head Coach Alaura Sharp

Opening Statement:

"I think there are some things that we can be proud of as a basketball team. I love our grit and fight that we had in the first half. We have worked really hard on our rebounding as a team. I think last year as a team we only averaged 25 or so rebounds per game. We have made that an emphasis in our practices, and I am really proud of that effort in the first half. It was like a complete twist in the second half. I think Tennessee did a really good job at responding out of halftime and crashing the offensive glass. We just did not own the boards or win the rebounding battle in the second half. I saw some toughness; I saw some grit. I think our team has bought in. I think we are headed in the right direction. I am very proud of Shamani (Stafford). I think for a freshman, she did not play freshman minutes. I am very proud of her buy-in and the effort she puts in every day. She puts a lot of time in the gym shooting the three-ball. We really challenged Shamani to be more than just a 3-point shooter, and I think you saw that today. There are a lot of things that we need to work on. Obviously, Tennessee really tries to speed you up. Our game plan was to slow it down and use the clock. We got some 10-second calls, but we told our team that we would prefer a 10-second call over a turnover because we cannot transition into defense. I am proud of our kids. We have a long way to go, but I think we are headed in the right direction."

On Tennessee's press:

"I think that we learned a lot about ourselves. I think that their length is really hard to play against, even with a great game plan. I think that our guards executed okay. There are many places where you can go on the floor and not find yourself in a trap. We tried to keep the ball in the middle third the best that we could. I think that the biggest thing that is hard to see on film is that it wears your guards down mentally and physically over time. Tennessee has great athletes and they play extremely hard. I think it eventually wore on us over time. It is very hard to prepare for that; it is hard to simulate it in practice. I don't care how many practice guys you stick on the floor. I think that we had some stretches where we handled it very well and some where we didn't."

On how this game came about:

"I actually got this job in April, so I inherited this game. I didn't call and schedule this game. It was one of the first things that I found out when I got the job. Pat Summit was an idol of mine growing up. I have read every single book. I have coached at Louisiana Tech and the tradition with Tennessee back in the day was just awesome. What a great experience for us to be able to play here. Moving forward, I think it gives our team an idea that we can rebound with people bigger than us, and that it teaches us how to be more gritty and a little tougher. Hopefully, we can grow from this. We don't have a lot of time to work on things because we are on the road Wednesday at UNC-Wilmington. We have to get prepped quick and turn around and work on things, lace up and get back on the court."

On if Tennessee's length made breaking the press a challenge:

"There is no doubt about it. The other thing that that length does to you is that you never get in a flow offensively. You never get to take the ball out and inbound it easily. You constantly have to screen and cut hard. It mentally wears on you, not just physically. They definitely have cranked it up on how much they are trapping and getting after it, as they should. They have great athletes."

#23 Shamani Stafford, G

On coming into the game:

"I know Tennessee has always been a really good team. I knew I could not come in with fear or they would see that and come at me. I tried to talk to the team and bring that energy and get us going."