Lady Vols vs. Murray State Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick

Opening Statement:
"I love the win. We shot the ball well. We rebounded really, really well. Our press was effective at times, but we have got to stop fouling jump shooters; it is a cardinal sin in basketball. We have to get into stance and guard some more. That can be a lot better and our turnovers just seemed like we didn't connect with our passer and receiver. So (we're) just a little rusty. But we did some really, really nice things. We know what we did good, and we will work on what we need to work on."

On how to challenge the team to rebound more:
"I just said (to the players) if you don't go to the boards twice, you are coming out. So I gave them a 'don't-go-to-the-boards free pass' and then they came out. They responded. It is a good thing when you have ten people who can play. I just challenged them. We are really good, athletic rebounding team, but you have to go to the boards to do that, and we weren't doing that."

On how fast the team plays and risking turning the ball over:
"When you press as much as we do, you're going to give up threes and give up easy baskets at times. And when we run the way you want to run, you're going to have some turnovers. I understand that, but we shouldn't have had 23. I don't know if it was because we haven't played with each other in awhile, or we were playing fast, but we have to clean those up. But here's what amazing to me, that we had 23 turnovers and we shot 81 times. That is a lot. I don't think I have coached a team that has shot 81 times. That is incredible. That is good. We probably could've broken a record. At one point they threw it to me, and I was ready to shoot."

On having multiple people scoring in double figures:
"I thought (Rennia) Davis had one of her best games because she was attacking the basket. She wasn't afraid to get blocked or get bumped. She has to do that. I love it. If you can get everybody involved in your offense... it is hard to guard. It is hard to guard five people that are moving and cutting and attacking the basket. And I thought we did that tonight. I thought (Rae) Burrell and Rennia did a great job. Cheridene did a great job at rebounding and getting put backs. We needed that from her."

On if she is concerned about Evina Westbrook and her knee:
"I just think tonight she was just a little rusty. I am not concerned about it. Evina does things outside of the scoring and those type of things. She makes things happen, so I am okay with that. Did I want her to play better the last couple games? Absolutely. But I think a sign of a strong team is to pick up the slack where somebody is struggling. And when Evina struggles, people pick up the slack. I thought Jazmine had a really good game today. I am going to give her (Evina) a pass on tonight."

On how she felt Jazmine Massengill and the freshmen picked up the game:
"I thought they opened up the game for us. The press was really good. They got some steals and easy baskets. I thought when we put them in, they made things happen, and that's what we need them to do. The four freshmen we have, they have to play. It is as simple as that. They have to come in and contribute, and I thought tonight they did come in and make a difference, a huge difference actually."

On what she wants to fix before the start of SEC play:
"Consistency. Just being more consistent in everything that we do. If you're going to be a great rebounding team, be a great rebounding team. If you're going to attack the basket, do that. There's so many things. I know we're not going to play a perfect game, but (we need to) stick to our game plan and do what we need to do to win. But mostly just consistency and being competitive. If you're competitive, great things generally happen."

On Sunday's game against Belmont:
"I haven't watched a lot of Belmont; I will tonight and tomorrow. They're going to spread the floor, they can shoot threes and they can drive. It's going to be a lot like UAB. We'll have our work cut out for us. It's like this team tonight; they were small, but you had a five player that stepped out and our five player had to go out and defend. You don't usually have to do that, and that was a problem for us. What I try to do is schedule teams that aren't like SEC teams so that we get a taste of teams like UAB that play five out. It's just a different style for us than we see in the majority of the SEC. When we get into the SEC, we know what pretty much everybody is going to do. These are the games that are going to get you ready in March, and that's why we play them."

On having an intense week of practice
"I think at about 2 o'clock yesterday they wished they were still back home. It was very competitive. We went up and down, it was hard on them physically and mentally. I generally don't like us playing against each other, because we don't call a lot of fouls in practice and it gets a little chippy. And it did yesterday, but that's okay. They had to push through yesterday, and I think they thought because we had a game today that we were going to just go through the motions, but we got after it and we were here for a long time. I told them that I didn't have anywhere to go, so we were going to get through it, and they did for the most part, they did. I think a bunch of them got into the hot tub afterwards. But we needed to do that. You take five days off and you get out of shape, and I think we've been in really good shape. But we had to do what we had to do, and the reason why we're playing two games in such a short amount of time is players can push through fatigue in games easier than they can in practice, because it's a game situation and we're just trying to get ready for the SEC."

On what she tells the team to make them more efficient at limiting mistakes:
"We talked a lot about our press in our timeouts. I thought we were giving too many passes up the sideline, and we weren't closing our traps. When I watch the tape, I'm sure that I'm going to see that we did some things really well, but we can do better. I wanted us to push the basketball, so those type of things. But we're very capable of pushing the basketball and not turning the ball over 23 times. We're athletic, that's what we're good at, we're good at pressing, and we're good at running. Our main offense, if you look at our points, we score a lot out of transition and we would have scored more if we wouldn't have turned the ball over. We weren't connecting, and I think that's because we're a little rusty. That's my expectation. But we have to get better defensively. We have to get down in a stance and guard somebody. We haven't made that consistent commitment, and in order for us to win, we have to make that commitment. We'll continue to work on it, but it has to carry over into the game situations. We can't give the other team's best player 28 points. So we have to make that commitment on the defensive end."

Freshman Guard/Forward Rae Burrell

On playing without Westbrook and Davis and what their approach was without them:
"Just trust the game plan that the coaches had drew up for us at the time and trust the people that were in at the time and get the job done."

On how hard was it to get focused after getting back from Christmas Break:
"Actually I felt like it went really well yesterday. We got in the gym, and we went hard in practice. We just came back like we never left."

On what it was like when all four freshman are on the court:
"It feels a little different, but a good different. We are all really close, so I feel like there is a lot of chemistry and connection when we play together."

On the pace and way the team plays:
"Sometimes we do lay a little fast, but I think it is better to play fast. We are going to get turnovers, but we have to get it back on defense."

Sophomore Forward Rennia Davis

On rebounding and dominating the boards:
"Getting out-rebound for us is something we consider unacceptable. In practice, even in games, there are consequences for not going after rebounds. I think tonight everybody went and rebounded better."

On the ball not sticking in anyone's hands and moving it around on offense:
"I think that we are trying to do that. (With) how fast we play, there are times that we are not going to connect. I think a couple times we tried to get it into the post and maybe they were not ready or not looking. I think getting on that same page with who we are going to pass it to that is going to improve our offense a little more."

On the offense sharing the ball and scoring:
"I think that we are very capable doing so every night. Seven people scored in double figures tonight, which is huge for us. It builds confidence for everybody. Everyone scored as well. It is just confidence going down the road and everybody understanding what the can do."

Freshman Guard Jazmine Massengill

On her mindset on offense and if she carries a certain check list of what she wants to do:
"I am big on not turning the ball over. I am very hard on myself, and I am just trying to get open looks to open players. That is kind of my mindset, to be in attack mode at all times."

On her nodding and what made Thursday's practice tough:
"I feel like we scrimmaged a lot against each other, and we are very competitive players. So us scrimmaging against each other led to a competitive attitude, therefor we went harder in practice against each other than we would against the practice team."

On what it is like to see each other (the four freshman) get more comfortable on the court:
"To me it just goes to show how hard we are all working and getting more comfortable as a team. It allows us to showcase our abilities and share the ball evenly."

Murray State Head Coach Rechelle Turner

Opening Statement:
"I'd just like to thank Holly (Warlick) and everybody here at UT for making this an outstanding experience for our players. From the moment we got here, they have treated us with class and our players got to experience a little bit of the Tennessee tradition. I know personally for me, I had to hold back the tears walking on the court to actually coach on the Pat Summitt floor. I just grew up loving and admiring her and everything that she did, and this has been a lifelong dream of mine. Never did I dream that I was going to be a college coach but when it happened, I had to make this happen, not only for myself and my staff but for our players. I know Macey (Turley) came to Pat Summitt's camp as a little bitty girl. We have lots of pictures and we've reminisced about it over the years and even Evelyn (Adebayo) from London, I think she can appreciate Pat Summitt and the Lady Vol tradition. Everybody here has been wonderful to us, and we really appreciate the opportunity."

On Tennessee stifling Murray State's rebounding:
"They're just a lot bigger. They're a lot bigger than Kentucky I think, also. I think you'll see that in the SEC. They're just so athletically superior to us. And that's nothing against our players and nothing against what they're capable of doing, but the rebounding margin was something that we knew was going to be an issue. We felt that if we could control that in itself and not allow them extra chances, we could keep their point total down some, but I think just the fact that they were athletically superior to most of the teams that we play."

On scoring 48 points in the second half:
"Well we knew our spacing was key. We felt like if we got out of the first initial trap and attacked, we could get good shots. We knew that first trap was going to come hard, so we did some adjustments in the way we were spacing the floor and put different people in position to be able to get shots off and that was our goal. If anybody was at our pregame shoot around today, all you could hear me say was shoot it, shoot it, shoot it. We knew when we got in open space we had to be able to shoot the basketball in order to get points. As the game went on and our players started believing that once we got out of that initial trap and we started attacking that we could get good looks, I think that was the difference for us. Guarding them, I think one thing was the athleticism problem. They got the ball at the free throw line and down, it was very difficult for us to guard them. They did make some shots, but I told the players before we got here, if they make a lot of threes we'll deal with that. We've got to have as many people in the paint as possible to rebound."

Freshman Guard Macey Turley
On being here as a camper and playing on the floor tonight:
"Just being here at camp when I was younger and being able to meet Pat (Summitt) was just a blessing. And I really enjoyed it, meeting all the players - Briana Bass, Angie Bjorklund, players like that. Playing now, it's like a dream come true. I've always wanted to play on Pat Summitt's court, so it's just awesome."

Junior Forward Evelyn Adebayo
On if she knows Cheridene Green and her own performance:
"Me and Cheridene have been playing together since Under-14 Level in London. It was nice to catch up with her and play against her at this level on this big stage. Tonight it was really a team effort. I couldn't score if it weren't for my teammates giving me good looks and good passes. I thank my team and the coaches for believing in me and kept feeding me and allow me to do what I did for the team."