Lady Vols vs. Colorado State Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"I'm really excited that we played well and came out with a win. I had some concerns going into the game. This was the first game after a loss, and I wanted to see how we would bounce back. Also, Colorado State can make threes; they spread you out. I didn't know defensively how we would react to that. I'm proud of our team. They shot a lot of threes, obviously, but I think they had to rush a lot of those. I thought our defense was solid enough to get us a good win."

On if the team was prepared for her reaction after the loss to Texas:
"I don't take losses really well. I don't deal with it well. It was the first time we had to deal with that, and I made sure they knew that. I felt like I needed to be upfront with them and tell them that I don't handle it well. I wanted to make sure that we never make an excuse no matter what happens. If we lose a game, that's not a good thing. I think they obviously responded well to that."

On Rennia Davis scoring 1,000 points:
"I'm really excited for Rennia. She's a talented basketball player. She can put the ball in the hole a lot of different ways. She's been fun to coach. I thought she had a really good game tonight. I thought she did some other things well, too. I'm really happy for her. It's fun to hit that milestone. It's an elite group."

On what she liked offensively:
"I thought we could've easily come in this game and played it very similar offensively to Texas. For Texas, I thought we quick-shot the basketball. We had a lot of people open early in the shot clock tonight. We passed some shots up. I thought in that second quarter we kind of hit our groove. I thought we shared the basketball and moved it around. We took really good shots from there on out. I'm really proud of our team. I think they were working hard to execute our offense the way we practiced it after our Texas game. We talked about it and watched it on film. They really took that to heart. They wanted to be better, and they really tried to do that tonight. I'm proud of them."

On the change in Jordan Horston's playing:
"I thought she felt good going into the game. I thought she had a lot of energy. Sometimes with freshmen you'll have some inconsistency, so we just have to be patient with her and continue to allow her to grow and help her. We want to help her through any of those freshman hurdles that you might have. She's a talented player. She won't stay in the slump very long."

On Jazmine Massengill's performance tonight:
I thought she played terrific. I thought her game was so solid tonight. They were not guarding her. They were backing off of her. She stayed patient. I thought the first quarter she shot a couple of shots too quickly. The rest of the game, she played the way she wanted to play, not the way they wanted her to play. She moved the ball, she screened, she was aggressive, and she found nice easy shots and took them in rhythm. She was under control and had great game management. I'm really proud of her effort tonight."

On Jaiden McCoy's injury and Zaay Green's absence:
"Zaay went home for a funeral for a family member. She'll be back tonight. Jaiden has a small cut under her eye. We're going to watch that and make sure that she is okay."

On her interaction with Rennia Davis was like after she scored her 1,000^th point:
"Like I said earlier, it's a big deal to reach a big milestone at a program with this kind of tradition. That's an elite list that she's a part of now. I just told her, 'Congratulations.' It's pretty cool to get to do it and to be able to be in the moment. A lot of people do it and then find out a week later. It was cool for her to do it right now, and hopefully she'll put a few more points on the board for us this year."

On what her opinion of Rennia was last year and the leadership Rennia brings to the Lady Vols:
"I think it's really hard for me to make any assessments of her from when I wasn't here. When I would watch her, I knew she was talented. In terms of her leadership, I think her teammates respect her. She wants to be really good, and she wants this team to be really good, and she works very hard at it. She gets in extra; she watches film with the coaches. She puts a lot of effort into being good, and I think her teammates see that and understand that. I think Jordan (Horston) has a really good person to look up to. Rennia is pretty honest with her teammates. When she's patting you on the back, it's sincere, and I think she was really good for Jordan there."

On if she prides herself on being a players' coach who can relate to her players:
"I'm not sure how much I relate to these folks. I hope I do. I try. Sometimes, their music taste is a bit different from mine. But, they need to know that I love them as people first and foremost, and that I care about them. I want them to be happy. I want them to be successful. In terms of being out there (when Jaiden McCoy was injured), I did want to get out there. I didn't know exactly what happened, but I knew she took a pretty good hit. I don't know that I would say I pride myself on that, I just love our kids. We're a family."

On being able to hit the reset button following the loss to Texas:
"I think more important than the win or the loss was the Texas game. The Texas game was important. We needed that. We needed to know where we were and where we stood. I don't think it took a loss for us to see that, but we just needed that game under our belt."

On feelings moving forward against No. 1 Stanford:
"We're still trying to be the best team we can be, but obviously, it's an opportunity. I'm excited to go out there and play that team. They're good; I know they're good. Our NCAA game in the Sweet 16 last year when I was at Missouri State was against Stanford, so I'm very familiar with them. They have a few freshmen who are excellent basketball players. It's a great opportunity, and it's the game you want to be playing."

On exams being over and how much she enjoys coaching when classes are out:
"Technically, we finish up exams tomorrow. But when I was a student-athlete, I loved this time of year. As a student-athlete, this time of year was the best. This was the closest you could get to being a pro. Your brain is a little bit less taxed when you're not in classes and studying like you have to. So, I hope they enjoy it like I did, and I hope they take advantage of this opportunity. It's an opportunity for great growth over these next few weeks."

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On scoring 1,000 points:
"I'm just grateful to have the opportunity to be here at this university and be able to score 1,000 points with all the other great players that came here. Just to be mentioned in that category, that's big for me."

On creating more shots for herself and shooting more:
"I think I can score the ball, but each game requires something different out of me. I don't think I really need to take 20 shots a game every single game. I think there are some games where I can get my teammates involved a little bit more. It just depends on the competition, but I just try to take what the game gives to me. I don't really focus in on the number of shots I've shot throughout the game."

On what Coach Harper is like after a loss:
"She's different. I'm going to just leave it at that."

On how important it is to continue to defend the 3-point shot as the season continues:
"Just staying locked in. I think tonight we knew they were going to come in and shoot some threes, but the quality of their threes was what we were trying to alter and not give them so many open shots. If teams want to shoot threes, all we can do is contest and make them put the ball on the floor. Once they put the ball on the floor, we just need to be able to guard them."

On looking forward to playing top-ranked Stanford:
"I'm very excited. It's going to be a challenge, but we can come together and really be able to do something out there."

Sophomore Guard Jazmine Massengill

On whether Colorado State's 3-point attack was surprising:
"We knew this was a 3-point shooting team, but I did not know it was going to be rapid fire like that. I knew they were definitely going to put up some threes."

On if she was aware her assist led to Rennia Davis' 1,000th point:
"I really wasn't trying to force the issue. I realized it, I mean it's pretty cool to give a person their 1,000th point. I was happy for her, but we couldn't really express it at that time, because we're in the game. I feel like our teammates were supportive of her, and we're happy that she had her 1,000th point."

On what Coach Harper is like after a loss:
"Strictly business. Different attitude, different mindset, different practice, just a different attitude in general."

On what was different about the team offensively:
"We just took what the defense gave us. Basically, if the shot wasn't as open as we wanted to be the first time around, we just did the same thing, and the second time around it was more open. We shared the ball, and we played more as a team tonight. That's what was the biggest difference between this game and the Texas game."

Freshman Guard Jordan Horston

On if she has been focusing more on rebounding:
"I figured my offensive game was kind of off, and I just want to provide something else. Crashing hard is something that I do well, so I want to focus on that."

On what made her more comfortable against. Colorado State compared to other opponents:
"Honestly, I'd have to say the conversation me and Rennia [Davis] had kind of inspired me to want to do better. She just motivated me. Even when I do things wrong, I can find something else that I can provide to the team."

On what Coach Harper was like after the loss to Texas:
"Something that we don't want to see again."

Colorado State Head Coach Ryun Williams

Opening Statement:
"We shot a lot of threes, didn't we? I liked our execution. A large part of the night offensively, we had to probably shoot the 3-ball well in order to give ourselves a chance. (We had) a lot of good shots, just really a very difficult night shooting the ball for us. If you were going to tell me we were going to have more shots than Tennessee, I don't know if I would have taken that before the game. (It's) fun to compete here, obviously. Tennessee's a solid team. I wish we could have given them a little bit of a closer game, but it's fun to compete here."

On how he liked the team's shots during the game:
"I think early on, they were a little rushed. We were fairly wide open, and maybe the excitement of the game or what have you, maybe we rushed a few, but then it just kind of snowballed. I think we needed a few to go in early for it to become contagious. It became contagious the wrong way tonight."

On how the game was scheduled:
"They were looking for a game. This was a guaranteed game for us. Obviously, you look at this opportunity. If they're looking for a game, for you to bring your team to Tennessee to play in this arena on Summitt's court. That's a really cool thing for a program and for a team to do, so it was just two teams looking for a game."

On Rennia Davis and her game and 1,000-point milestone:
"She's a great player. They have a lot of good players. Zero (Rennia Davis) is very, very special… very aggressive. Twenty-five (Jordan Horston) is really a talented, talented player. Athletically, size-wise, they're different than us. I think she's a very special player. Congrats to her. I wish they would have stopped the game longer and given me more of a timeout and presented her a ball. Come on, Tennessee. We need time to rest."

On shooting more 3-pointers than usual:
"That was obviously a big part of our plan. Their size is going to be very disruptive if we threw it down there. We got so many good looks early, so we kind of got into that motive of shooting a lot of them. Then, they went to the zone late, and we shot a lot. That's what we do. Megan's (Jacobs) a really good shooter. Jamie Bonnarens is a really good shooter. Taylor Mole's a really good shooter. As a coach, we were going to live with those tonight, to be honest with you. Let it fly."

On how Tennessee was shooting:
"We were trying to take the paint away from them and limit their touches in there and played some percentages in there a little bit. Some kids had good nights for them. If they were going to hurt us, it was going to be from the perimeter and not from the inside."

Redshirt-Junior Guard/Forward Megan Jacobs

On letting shots fly and what that means to her:
"I don't know if you guys know, but I transferred here. To be able to have that opportunity to hear those words, it really means a lot and puts a lot of confidence in my game. I could have hit some more for us tonight as a team, but I'll just continue to let it fly and improve."

On the team struggling to make 3-pointers:
"They definitely have some length, but we were getting the shots. It was just knocking them down."

On what she takes away from the game:
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'm grateful that CSU and Tennessee put this together for us to play down here. I've been playing basketball since I was six, so this was a really good opportunity to have my friends and family come and watch me play. I'm just grateful."