Lady Vols vs. UNC Asheville Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening statement:

"(It was) a game of spurts. I thought our rebounding was solid. Our 1-on-1 defense was probably not where we needed it to be. Our energy level was kind of up-and-down. I had to step back and realize we are a young team, and we are not there yet. So, we are going to continue to work. We did some good things, but when I watch the tape, I am sure there's going to be some things that I understand we need to go back and work through."

On how she approaches a game like this:

"It is not so much (about) what is happening on the court, whether we make a shot, but it is our effort and our energy. I thought it was very low, and when we have low energy, we are not very productive. We just have to be more consistent... and I wasn't happy about that."

On how the team can adjust to the zone:

"I thought when we ran what we wanted to run against a zone, we were solid. When we did our own thing, we stood a lot. It was our first time seeing a zone very consistently this year, and I think people are going to zone us. It is something we work on every day in practice, and we are comfortable with it. I thought we would cut in gaps and then fumble the ball. We would get the ball inside and miss an easy look. It was just a little bit of a snowball effect, and it is good we got tape to watch and (we can) learn and continue to get better."

On how she how deep she is going into the roster:

"It depends on how we are playing. If we are playing the way we want to play, we are going to go deep. If we are not getting the results with pressing, then I might not go as deep. We had five guards in at the same time today, and I didn't have any problem with it. I just have to get five people that work together at the same time and play hard. I don't care who it is, I really don't, but I want high energy and in the third quarter we didn't have it."

On if a game like this is a good reminder for the freshmen on energy:

"Don't stop at the freshmen; it's good for all of us. It may not go our way. We may not get a steal every time. We may get a turnover. We talk a lot about refocusing. Good or bad, you have to refocus. I thought we didn't do that tonight. We let a turnover or we let not switching or talking affect us. That is the first time I have seen it since practice that I haven't seen high energy. I don't know why, but we will go back and figure it out."

On Rae Burrell's added value:

"She just figures it out. She plays the game, and she plays it hard, and that's what I love about her. She just puts it out on the line there every game. She had some great rebounds out there tonight, some great drives, and that's just how Rae Burrell is. That's what I love about her."

On the size difference between the two teams:

"We have to take advantage of it. I thought today that we didn't take advantage of our height. Getting the ball inside more, wanting the basketball, demanding the basketball inside, making sure we throw the ball inside where our post can catch it... just so many different things that we'll watch and then come back and be able to tell you. I think our height comes into play with our pressing and with our rebounding, but we have to take a little bit more advantage of it on the offensive end."

On the end of second quarter run with four freshmen on the floor:

"I think we had eight straight trips down that we scored on. Not so much the first shot, but (we got the) rebound and put it in or the steal and put it in. So, the freshmen can do great things, but they can also turn around and do freshmen things. That's the stuff that we have to understand and live with and teach them to get better at and more consistent with. But they give a great boost off of the bench. I'm going to play them because they play hard. I keep telling them that I'm going to play the players that have the most energy. In the third quarter, I was searching for a little bit of energy out there. They're young, but we'll get it right and figure it out."

On Rennia Davis' fourth quarter performance:

"She was an up-to-the-minute decision on whether or not she would play. Her foot was sore, and I thought she was a little hesitant. She's missed practice, and I thought that hurt a little bit. But I think when she settled in and just decided she was going to play basketball. That's what I told her to do, just to play the game like she knows how to play, and she started attacking the rim and rebounding, and that's what gets her going. Then she hit that mid-range jumper right in front of our bench, and that got her going as well. She just has to get comfortable playing and get past that injury."

On the difference that it makes to have Rennia Davis on the court:

"She's our go-to player. She's one of our best rebounders; she's the returning leading scorer, so we need her. We need her scoring ability; we need her ability to play defense, rebounding. She has to do everything for us, and that's the kind of example that she has to set for these younger players too. And I thought she did struggle for the first couple of quarters, but I'm really proud of her for refocusing and coming out in the fourth quarter and just playing. Sometimes I think they just need to play the game. You see an opening? Drive. You see somebody open? Throw it to them. It does sound simple, but when you're out there it's a little more difficult. But I thought she came around and did a good job."

On Kamera Harris' injury:

"I think she's fine. She just bumped her knee, and we took her out just as a precaution, but she's going to be fine."

Tennessee Freshman Rae Burrell:

On breaking down the game:
"It was a lack of consistency from us. A big thing that we emphasize is playing all the way through the game, and I don't feel like we played the full 40 minutes as hard as we could have tonight. That was as simple as it was."

On her comfort level and toughness on the court:
"When I step on the court, I just try to give 100 percent to whatever I'm doing. Whatever coach is telling me to do, I just try to do, because I know they know what is best for the team. So, I just want to do what is best for the team (even) if that is playing at the five and getting some rebounds, or just going 100 percent and doing whatever I have to for the team."

On their struggles in coming out of the half:
"I did feel a difference in energy, but you kind of just have to play hard and go 100 percent with whatever you're told to do. So, I was trying to go 100 percent with whatever I had to do."

Tennessee Sophomore Rennia Davis:

On how she felt tonight:
"I did pregame today with the team, and I felt fine. And then when we warmed up, I felt fine as well, so I got back out there. First quarter, I would say I was a little bit winded, because I haven't been out there in almost a week. It was a little tough, but my teammates kept me uplifted."

On getting back in a groove:
"A couple of times I missed some shots, and I was like, 'I'm not sure why I'm missing these shots,' but (it's) just understanding that the flow of the game comes, and there are ups and downs to this game, and just staying within myself."

On what she could learn from her UNC Asheville performance:
"I definitely do think that some things that they did will help us. I remember when we first started watching film, they had a player that would get out in the passing lanes a little more. They sent their best player to guard me, and she was pretty aggressive from the initial start of the game. So, just me personally, getting adapted to a team that is going to guard me like that will still help me."

UNC Asheville Head Coach Brenda Kirkpatrick

Opening Statement:

"...with all of those things, and in addition to Holly (Warlick) adding some full court pressure and speeding people up and turning people over, they are going to be real good. I do think that they deserve the No. 12 ranking. For us, coming into this game, we had a lot of small quarter goals within the game. One was to turn it over less than four times in the quarter, another was to keep the spread at six or seven points, hold Tennessee to 38% of their misses and to take a charge. We did a nice job taking charges. We also had a challenge to keep them from getting an offensive rebound from the free throw line. I think we gave up a couple of those. That was our focus, to try to shorten the game. I think we did a great job at that in the third and fourth quarters. We did not do a good job at boxing out in the first half, and we missed open shots. I was probably a little more conservative with our offensive rebounding because they have such a great transition game. If you watched them against PC or Carson Newman, they were out and in quick. We sent three back; we changed that in the second half. We had to send people to the glass. We had to get second shots. We have to get second shots, so we got a little feistier there. We should have been a little more aggressive in the first half like they were. They are a great transition offensive team. All in all, I think it made us better in just preparing to play Tennessee in the three practices we had. I think we are better for playing this game. Sometimes you go into thinking that you might regret scheduling a team like this, but I don't regret it at all. It was an honor to play here. I grew up about a hour and a half from here in Waynesville, North Caroline. I followed the Vols and have tremendous respect for them. I coached at Florida. Coming back here was a great opportunity for our girls to play the most storied program in college women's basketball."

On how this game came about:

"The game came about because Holly (Warlick) and I have a friendship, and she is friends with one of my assistant coaches, Honey Brown. Honey is a Tennessee girl. She grew up coming to Tennessee camp and went to high school around here. We have a relationship there. Tennessee has come and used Kimmel Arena in Asheville for their closed scrimmages for the last two years, so there is a relationship there. We just started talking about a game. This is a guarantee game for us, and we like getting paid well, and she worked a good deal with us."

On the game almost getting away from them at halftime:

"We got after it a little bit. I was not happy, and they (the players) were disappointed as well. There were some controllables that we didn't control. When you are playing a team that is athletic like that, even though they are more talented than us, there are still things that you can control against a team like that, and we weren't doing it. We needed to consistently battle and fight. We needed to wipe the score off. We knew it would be difficult to come back, but it wasn't about winning at that point, it was about getting better and doing what we know we can do against a good team. We adjusted some strategic things as well. We played more zone and things like that."

On going to a zone:

"I think that had something to do with it. They hit some threes, not all of them were against our zone. I think at the end of the game we were going to go man on misses and play zone on makes. We couldn't score in the first half so we couldn't get in our zone. We had planned on zoning them. The thing about zoning Tennessee is that you have to box them out. They are so aggressive getting to the glass; they are not lazy on the glass. You might get them to take a low percentage shot, but you wont keep them off the glass. I think the other difference is that I think we did a good job on our press breaks. When you are Tennessee and staying in that press, but you aren't getting any food from that like easy buckets, and spending all that energy, it wears on you. They are great players, but that tempo is going to wear on you, in particular when you are not getting any juice from the easy steals and layups they have got off their early opponents. We turned the ball over 20 times, but I think we did a good job breaking the press."

Senior Sonora Dengokl

On adjusting to play Tennessee in the first half:

"(It was) not so much adjusting, because we have been under the spotlight before. I think the biggest thing was that we were not being intentional about the things that we could control. We thought we were boxing out when we weren't. We were in the gap, but we weren't taking the charge. When Coach Mock came in and talked to us, we said that we were going to wipe the score off and the only way that we were going to win possessions was by focusing on the little things like being strong on the box out, taking a charge and keeping the energy. At this point is wasn't about winning anymore, it was about getting better. I think we came together and played for each other and played hard. I think we had a lot of fun in the second half. Of course, you always want to come out with a win, but I think we did get better."

On holding Tennessee to only six second chance points in the second half:

"We just focused on the small things and were intentional. We have a habit of turning and looking and actually going to put a body on someone and push them back. I think they were hitting more in the second half, so we didn't half to box out as much. Going forward that is a big focus for us. Boxing out and pushing them back to where they are not in range to get the board."

On playing where Pat Summitt coached:

"Growing up, I loved watching Tennessee play, so it was an honor to play here and be in front of the crowd. I think it's a good thing to say how well we fought against them. That's the main thing coming into things like this, you may feel like they are bigger and stronger, but I don't think that that phased us. Coach Mock said to let Tennessee know who they played and letting them know that they played UNC Asheville. We frustrated them a little bit. They are a great thing. Playing against that competition will get us ready for who we play in the Big South."