Lady Vols vs. Stetson Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"I'm proud of our team for the win. I thought our team performed better than we performed last week, and that growth was great to see. Our practices leading up this game, I felt, were better, sharper, a little bit more motivated, and it showed in our play. We corrected some things during the game; we made some in-game adjustments that I thought our players handled terrifically. I was really proud of their focus there, and overall, we did some good things."

On how happy it makes her to see so much of her team get involved in the scoring tonight:
"It's good to get production from multiple people. I think it gives us options. If you're getting it from only one or two players, then you may be limited down the road. So, I like to see us sharing the basketball, which we have done. Different people are contributing, and more than just point categories. We've got a lot of focus on making the little plays as well, and that's good to see."

On if she was surprised by the hot start from behind the arc in the first quarter:
"Our three-point shooting in shoot around today was about as bad as you could shoot. We did not shoot well in shoot around today. But they have gotten in the gym a lot - credit to our assistant coaches for that, being there with them and putting up a lot of shots. Our players can make shots. They felt good getting the shots up, and they were taking good and open looks and knocking them down, so I'm not shocked, because I think our players consistently make shots in practice."

On playing more half-court defense and the overall defensive philosophy of her team:
"My philosophy has always been that you have to have a solid half-court defense. I think that's got to be your bread and butter, because there will be some teams you just can't press. And we are trying to get as many reps in our half-court man as we can. We do have some full-court opportunities to press. I think we can do a little bit better job of that. We also have some other options that we will put in games later that will show some different defenses, but as of right now, we are really working hard on that half-court man and our half-court zone. Our half-court 2-3 zone has been really positive for us."

On if the focus for her team was getting off to a better start then last week:
"I thought that our team was much more motivated this game. I don't think it was the opponent so much that motivated us, but for us moreso. Our players wanted to start better, wanted to play better. They practiced better because of it, and I think they understood what happened last week. It wasn't a loss, but it was a learning experience for us."

On being ranked and if she spoke to her team about how to deal with that:
"It was business as usual. I didn't even mention the rankings to them at practice, because we just want to go in and focus on us and what we are doing in the moment."

On her assessment of her team's offense after five games:
"We have done a much better job shooting the basketball. And credit to our players, they are getting in the gym, knocking down shots in practice, getting me more confident, getting themselves more confident, and obviously that's carrying over to games. I think when you rebound the ball as well as we have been it opens it up a little bit. You may be a little freer to take those shots because you know you have got people crashing the boards. So, I think players are just playing with a lot of confidence right now with the basketball."

On the difference in the play of Jazmine Massengill and Jordan Horston:
"I think Jazmine's poise is terrific for her basketball team. Right now, we have two point guards, Jazmine and Jordan, and I think they bring very different things. I think it's a good thing. I think they compliment each other well. I think Jordan looks to make plays. She's going to be flashy. I think Jazmine is a little bit more reserved, a little bit more cautious. I think it's a nice balance. Jazmine has done a really good job of communicating with me during the games, so that's been a positive. I think defensively she's getting better. I think we like her progress on the court."

On Lou Brown's playing affecting others on the team:
"Lou Brown consistently has the highest plus minus stats on the team. When Lou is in the game, her team plays well. Sometimes it's not about making shots; sometimes it's about giving your teammate confidence. Maybe it's spacing. Maybe it's giving a teammate some help. Lou makes us better. I am happy for her that she's getting to play and that she's confident out there. It's the little things with her. She's positive, she understands what we're doing, and she understands the game. She doesn't make a lot of mistakes, and it's showing."

On the history of Thompson-Bowling Arena:
"I think I've said this before, but obviously I'm a little partial to Thompson-Boling Arena. I love this place. It's a great place to play basketball. There is so much history here. We're just glad to be a part of it."

On if she talked to the players about the game against Stetson last year:
"I mentioned it. I asked the players if they remembered the Stetson game from last year, and they all said yes. And when they emphatically said yes, I moved on. I just wanted to make sure that they remembered. I felt like they would. We didn't bring it up after that. I felt like we were pretty locked in. I didn't really need another motivational piece. The only thing I did was go back and check the box score. I didn't go back and watch the film, but I checked the box score just to see who the major players were last year for Stetson in that game, along with seeing how our team performed."

On how important is to have veteran players encouraging younger players:
"I think right now our team chemistry has been really good. I think you see that when you have players picking each other up and patting each other on the back. They support each other through mistakes. It's easy to be a good teammate when things go well. Somebody hits a three, you go high five them. Rennia Davis almost dunks, you'd probably go give her two high fives. It's much harder when your teammate makes a mistake. When your teammate turns the ball over or gets beat defensively, that's when the character shows up. That's when your teammates can be great teammates in tough situations. I think that's been a really great positive for us."

Junior Guard Rennia Davis

On last year's matchup with Stetson:
"Personally, I do remember the game, because I know we were down by 20 at one point. I also remember us coming together at one point and coming back and winning that game as well."

On playing against her former high school teammate, Day'Neshia Banks:
"I did give a scouting report, but it was fun. I love to do that, to compete with people that you grew up with and see the progress they've made."

On almost dunking, and a potential dunk in the future:
"I honestly could have dunked that one, but I thought, 'The game is kind of close right now, so let me just try to get these easy two points.' Because I possibly could have missed the dunk, so I just went with the easy two. I'll try later this season though."

On the importance of having a point guard like Jazmine Massengill on the court:
"I love it. I feel like every scorer loves to have a point guard that's willing to pass the ball. She knows that she has teammates that can put the ball in the basket. That's not to say that she can't, because clearly she can, but I feel like she always has her teammates as the first option. I just like playing with a point guard like that."

Sophomore Guard Jazmine Massengill

On the team scoring six-straight threes to start the game:
"We just try to make all our shots. No team wants to come out here and miss all the shots that they take. We just prepared and were ready to shoot the ball in this game."

On her level of comfort and playing the way she wants to play:
"I feel a lot more comfortable, especially with this team, and Coach Kellie makes it a lot easier to be comfortable with this team. She lets us know what we need to do and what she wants us to work on and different pieces that we need to do to put this team together."

On being an all-around player:
"I just try to do whatever the team needs in order to win, whether I hit zero points and have 12 assists, or 10 rebounds and zero points. I just try to do whatever I need to do in order for us to get a win."

On her reaction to Zaay (Greene) getting hurt and how she approaches playing now:
"Personally, I just feel like every player has to step up. Some players might step up in a different way in different games, but not necessarily just one person could fill in Zaay's spot. I feel like everybody all around can fill in and help fill Zaay's spot."

On Jordan Horston's contribution to the team:
"She's a hooper. If you can hoop, you can hoop. We don't have low expectations for anybody on the team. We have high expectations for everybody on the team, so we expect the best from everybody who laces up."

Freshman Guard Jordan Horston

On how much of an emphasis was put on handling the ball and having fewer turnovers:
"It was really big for us. I think up until the fourth quarter we only had eight turnovers, so that was really big for us. I think we had a stretch close to the end of the game where we turned the ball over a couple of times in a row, but overall, I think we did really good taking care of the ball."

On how much she worked on her outside shooting in the offseason
"We all stay in the gym working on our craft, so that's something I really took pride in and wanted to get better at. I put a lot of time into extra shooting."

On if she is surprised that her three-point shooting has been as good as it has early in the season:
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised, because when you're in the gym everyday, it's going to pay off. But it's just about repetition, so just getting those reps."

Stetson Head Coach Lynn Bria

Opening statement
"I thought we competed in regards in the first quarter. I thought it got away from us a little bit in the last run in the half. We just quit scoring, and they went into a zone. I thought our man (defense) was going really well. It kind of stifled us a little bit. We just took some bad shots and quick shots, which is not what we wanted to do. I thought up to that point, we were doing what we were supposed to do. They came out and (started) hitting those threes, which was kind of the game plan. We did not want to give them the paint. We wanted to limit the points in the paint. I felt like we did that most of the game. I just feel like we had too many empty possessions offensively."

On Tennessee coming out and scoring 18 points from beyond the arc:
"That is not typically what they do, but they did. We had to make an adjustment. I thought we did a better job of taking that away, especially in the second half. They started to rebound and get transitions on us. You have to play consistent with them to really be in the game. They are (still) coming off a big win against Notre Dame, so they have a lot of confidence. They are playing very confident, and they are doing the right things. They seem to be getting better. I watched their East Tennessee State game, from the first game on to Notre Dame to Tennessee State, I think they are just getting better and better. It is probably just starting to flow more for them. Plus, they are on their home floor, so we felt like we kind of had to pick our poison, and that is what we were going to do. They go outside the arc and they start making all these threes, but we felt like we had to really guard the paint."

On how much Tennessee's length at guard impacted what Stetson was trying to do:
"It is hard to score. That was my biggest concern, was how we were going to get points on the board. It is very difficult to score against them, especially when they go to a zone and pack it in a little bit. We are typically not a great three-point shooting team, but I thought they did really well. And our players who do shoot threes, they (Tennessee) knew who they were. But their size, it makes a difference. You can't just come down and pass it one time; you have to move the bigs around. You have to actually pull them out, and I think they are effective because of their versatility. If you pull them out, then you can be much more effective in getting space to get around them. There is just no way if we try brow beat and throw it in there and be able to score. They are big at every position."

On if she thinks that Tennessee has improved defensively compared to last year:
"I don't know. I think they don't gamble as much. Last year they pressed us more. And I remember when they pressed us, they extended their defense to 94 feet, and we would score against their press. This year, they didn't do that. They didn't extend their defense. They made us play in the half court and made us score against their size. If they extend it, we would probably prefer that being the smaller team. This year they did not do that. They did not get up and press us. They played a straight man-to-man and played a very effective zone. They didn't let us get second or third shots. At that point, you are shooting a contested shot every possession. That is hard to score when they have three to four inches on us."

Junior Forward Day'Neshia Banks

On what it felt like playing against her former high school teammate Rennia Davis:
"It was kind of bittersweet because we played at the same high school. But at the end of the day, we both are out there to compete on the court, so knowing she was my teammate in high school, I just knew I had to come out and play and keep our friendship off the court."

On her battle against Tennessee and if she is ready to play again at home:
"Of course it is good to play at your home gym. Traveling has been a little tiring, but at the end of the day, you just have to play through it and get a win. Scoring on the court, I just knew I had to be aggressive. I knew they would probably scout me from the inside and outside, so I just had to think of counter moves and different shots to score."

On if Rennia Davis made an impression on her when she was defending her:
"Not really. I see her as any other defender out there. I knew if I could get the ball I could get past her, and I could shoot off the screen. But she came out aggressive, and I just had to bounce off that."