Lady Vols vs. Alabama Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"I'm glad we were able to find a way to get a win. That's a pretty tough basketball game that we played tonight. They made a bunch of shots going down the stretch. I'm proud of our team for hanging in there. It was tough. It's the first game we've had like that, where you just had to gut it out. Hopefully it will be a learning experience for us. I told them at halftime, 'It doesn't matter if it's pretty. It doesn't matter what it looks like. If we get a win, no one cares.' I'm really, really happy we're walking away with a win."

On what she was thinking when Rennia Davis made the game-winning shot:
"I'm thinking that it took that shot to get the win. It took that shot to get the win. I thought the horn had gone off, so I thought the time was up. It was really loud. I told Rennia, 'You do know I'm going to go in there, and I'm going to tell them that's exactly what we drew up. I want you to dribble it around, do a step-back three from the volleyball line, and by the way, shoot it so high that there's no time left on the clock when it goes in.' I'm just thankful she made that shot."

On how often Rennia Davis practices the shot she won the game with:
"She does shoot that. She does practice that; that is the truth. I can't say she practices it live during practice, because I probably wouldn't appreciate it, but you'll see her out there shooting before or after practice. You'll see her take those shots. If anybody's going to make that, it's going to be Rennia."

On if she shoots it in practice with as much arch as tonight:
"She shoots it with pretty good arch, maybe not quite so much arch, because remember she had to get the time off the clock, so they wouldn't have time left. That's what I said to do, obviously."

On if Rennia being face-guarded was a first for this season and how difficult it was to overcome that:
"Our ball movement was stalled out, and our player movement got stalled out. It's not the first time we've seen a faceguard. It's the first time we've seen the diamond-and-one, or the box-and-one. Our players were just out of sorts, and I think Rennia's a really talented player. I felt like we were kind of looking for her during those moments and not being aggressive ourselves. I thought we did some good things, though. We kind of talked through and worked through some things, made some nice plays and made some nice adjustments. Our ball movement definitely got stalled out. You can see that with our lower assists tonight."

On her team's composure late in the game:
"I thought our composure late was excellent. I thought they were coming back to the huddles with the right attitude, saying the right things. They were playing off of each other really well and really understanding what we needed to do. Rae's (Burrell) short jumper on the left side and then the two free throws were critical. Kasi (Kushkituah) had some put-backs that were critical. Jordan (Horston) had a jumper there that was critical. We had to score, because they kept putting points on the board, and we had to keep pace with them."

On the close win being a boost for the team moving forward:
"Absolutely. I think we are going to come out of this, and it is going to be a big boost for us confidence wise. You're right, that game could have easily went a different way, and it's a completely different tone. One basket changes that. That's the beauty of sports. I'm hoping that just the learning experience of a game like this where you have to gut it out… You don't get to play the way that you want to play, you're not as fluid, but you find a way to win. I hope that will give them some confidence."

On 'We Back Pat' week:
"I was talking to someone about it today. The We Back Pat Game, for me as a coach prior to me coming to Tennessee, was always important to me. It was a big deal to me, personally. Here, it is just different because it is more important to everybody. I just want young girls who didn't get to watch or know what Pat was all about, I want them to know that. I don't want to ever lose that. I understand it is for a cause right now, but I want her legacy to continue to live on. She affected so much more than me; she affected everybody. I have often thought, 'Where would our game be without her?' We wouldn't have all these opportunities without her. I just hope all these young players are taught the history of our game, and as we get further removed, I think that it is more important."

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On her game-winning shot and what was going through her head:
"It was somewhat what we drew up, but the step-back is kind of my shot. So, I just was looking for that shot. I knew my teammates were looking for me to shoot the ball. I knew they were all getting ready to rebound, so I was just trying to make a play."

On if she knew how deep her game-winning shot was:
"No. Not before the shot. No."

On if she thought her shot was going in:
"I kind of did think it was going in. I had practiced this shot enough, even though it was 30 feet from the basket. It's actually a shot that I practice. I was just grateful it went in."

On what this win means:
"This is a really big game for me and for this program. I think just knowing that Alabama has beaten us the past five times. It's like a sense of pride that comes with that. Today, we were able to get it done, and I was really proud of this team for that."

On the feeling of a game winner and how it compares to others she's shot:
"Every game winner is big. I've only had a few, actually. That one is biggest just because it happened today, so to this date, that is my biggest one. When I hit another one, that is going to be the biggest one of that time."

Freshman Guard Jordan Horston

On Alabama's defense and why some offensive looks were passed up:
"I wouldn't say (we) passed up shots. I feel like we always try to find the best look. Sometimes the shot that we passed up was the best look. They were boxing in on Re (Rennia Davis), and I was just happy that we were able to hold it down."

How the team kept its composure during Alabama's 7-0 run in the fourth quarter:
"Coach always tells us that great teams make runs, so we've just got to be able to respond when they make those runs. It was all common. This is what I love basketball for—the back and forth and the 'oohs' and 'ahhs.' It just makes me love the game even more."

Redshirt Senior Forward Lou Brown

On what was going through her mind when the shot went in:
"I went in to rebound, and I was like, 'That's going in.' We really wouldn't want the ball in anyone else's hand in games like that. I feel like she's made for that."

On Alabama's zone defense:
"I think this was the first time, as they've said, we've seen a box-and-one where they kind of face-guarded Re (Rennia Davis). We're used to our offense going through Re's hands a lot, so we had to adjust to that a little bit. It was a little different for us trying to pick that up. As they said, sometimes you've just got to find a way, and I think we did that tonight."

On how much this win means to the confidence of the team:
"It's huge. We know not all games we play are going to be pretty. Sometimes, they are going to be ugly, and we know teams are going to bring their best games to us, especially here in TBA. This is huge for us to be able to get this win. It was one of our closer games that we've won. To be able to grind that out shows a bit of our character and who we are. We're tough. That's what is going to take us to win a lot of ball games, so it was good to take that step for us tonight and pull this one off."

Alabama Head Coach Kristy Curry

Opening statement:
"Amazing effort by both teams. That was tough to lose that one. I thought our kids really showed a tremendous amount of character, toughness and grit and just kept coming back. We were down by about nine, and we just stuck with the game plan. We knew what we were doing. I do want to credit Tennessee. I just want to congratulate coach (Kellie) Harper on her 300th win. I know there are many more to come. Again, it was just a great SEC basketball game."

On how she felt about the last-second shot:
"Credit to (Rennia) Davis on making that shot. She could probably go out there and shoot 10 more and not make one. I don't think it came down to that. I thought our kids did everything we wanted them to do. We would like to have forced her left, but I thought we made her bobble it. She just made a big shot. It is tough. I'm not sure we are disappointed in the shot that we gave them."

On if she talked about the defensive strategy and how they were going to guard Rennia Davis:
"I thought it was effective, because I thought it mentally took them out of (the game) and made them think a little more. It was exactly what we wanted to have happen. She has just really improved. When she touches the ball, good things happen. We have to do a better job at Alabama at not letting their best player have career nights. We just want to make them shoot over us and not by us. I thought we gave them a couple critical threes in the third. We weren't even near or we were halfway between, and we can't be eight or 10 feet off. That is what we adjusted. We were just explaining in the huddle that we don't want to give (Jordan) Horston or (Jazmine) Massengill threes, and we were. I thought we did a nice job on Rennia. To hold her under average (was good). We just gave up a couple uncontested threes in the third that I thought really caught up with us."

On how different Tennessee looks compared to last year:
"I think what makes them a little bit different is obviously that Tamari (Key) gives them another combination inside that kind of replaces Mercedes (Russell). They have double bigs with Kasiyahna (Kushkituah). But I think the difference is (Jordan) Horston gives them another scoring option. She just really gives them another perimeter option. I mean, you can ask Jasmine (Walker) on how much I was emphasizing how important it was to defend her, and I think we gave her too many open looks. I think Horston truly made a huge difference as a scoring option and giving them another opportunity to have another perimeter that can score. I think she has really made a difference for them. They are playing hard. They are executing. They are older. They are a year wiser in their experiences. Then they add a couple of new faces. You can't leave (Jessie) Rennie open, but she didn't get an open look tonight. I thought Lou Brown shot the ball really well in the first half. Between Key, Brown, Rennie and Horston, that is just four new faces that just gives them an opportunity to score in a multitude of ways maybe they didn't have a year ago."

Junior Forward Jasmine Walker

On what the game says about the resilience of their team:
"As a team, we always work for what we want. So we weren't just going to lay down and let them take it. We knew we had to fight. We knew we had to do the small details. We knew we had to give a little more. As a team, we had to play our game."

On how tough the opening SEC play has been for them and how they can balance it for the rest of the season:
"We did have a tough season to start out with. As a team, we can't let us defeat us. We play every game the same. If we played like we did tonight, it looks like a good season to us."