Lady Vols vs. LSU Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"We're excited about the win. Any time you can get a conference win, it's a big deal. But then you go in the locker room, and you get the news about Kobe Bryant and our team, our staff, we were just gut wrenched. It was really tough for me to even address our team. That's a big figure and same thing that Rennia (Davis) said just now, I told the team. You hope it doesn't, but sometimes it takes a big event like that to really put things in perspective. We just played a game, and life is so much bigger than that, and hopefully we don't take that for granted."

More on the Kobe Bryant news:
"I think also for me, you don't just want to hug your family you want to hug your staff and your players. He's a hero to a lot of people, and a lot of those people are on our team. It's just life and we are so blessed, so, so blessed."

On if her team's record reflects her team's ability so far:
"I think every coach wants to say they have underachieved; every coach wants more. It would be hard for me to make that declaration until our season is over, so I can really have a hindsight view of it and look back at our entire season, because right now I'm looking at our team and what we can do and wishing we could play the Kentucky game again. You always want more, you're always trying to find ways to get more."

On Jaiden McCoy's performance today:
"We just needed to shake things up a little bit today with our rotations, and she has been practicing so well. Sometimes it's been hard to get good minutes for more than four post players. I felt that way after the UCONN game. I wanted to get Jaiden more minutes, and she was terrific in practice yesterday. Sometimes these players don't know how important every practice is, and she was fabulous yesterday, so that gave me even more confidence to get her in there more. She came in gave us exactly what we needed today. She was physical, she was aggressive, and had a plus 10 on the day, so that's a good sign."

On what she said to her team on that first timeout when they were down seven:
"We changed our defense. I think that helped us with a little bit of tempo, got us a couple easy baskets. But also, I think our players just needed to settle down a little bit. We felt like we were getting some pretty good looks. We were getting to the free-throw line a lot in that first half and just didn't make them. But our offensive execution was actually okay against a team that makes it hard. Their defense mixes it up so much it's hard to get a beat on what you can do offensively to get more rhythm."

On rebounding being a challenge against LSU and if Tamari Key was ill:
"No, she was fine. There wasn't anything (wrong). I thought she struggled a little bit in the first half. We had some other people to come in and give us some real sparks, and we needed to play them. Obviously late, we put her back in there for defensive purposes. Going into this game, you know this is a really good rebounding team. They're physical, and they're athletic. They were relentless to the boards. We're mixing up our defenses and boxing out. It has to be an area of emphasis that we revisit this week."

On watching Kobe Bryant play:
"For me, he was so skilled, athletic and just loved the game. Growing up, my favorite player was Michael Jordan. Kobe was the closest thing to that that I ever saw. With how he played, how he loved the game, his competitive fire and his drive. That will always be remembered."

On playing three games in a week:
"Hats off to our team, because I think what we just had to do was very difficult. We're coming off of a lot of emotions spent. We had a tough game. We were off on Friday. LSU is coming off seven days. We knew it was going to be a physical game. We had to mentally and emotionally get past that UConn loss to be able to lock in and get focused today. I was really, really proud of our team. I was proud of our staff for helping them get there."

On Jazmine Massengill hitting clutch shots in the fourth quarter:
"I agree. I thought LSU was cutting it closer and closer. We would come up with big shots and big buckets when we needed them. I thought Jaz's two buckets were critical when we needed them. We've been talking to her about being more aggressive. And boy, she had a lot more confidence getting in there and taking both of those [shots]. I'm very proud of her and proud to be able to finish that."

On Kobe Bryant being an advocate for women's basketball:
"Well, it gives you a lot of respect for him. He didn't have to do that. He already has an audience. He has a lot of ears. He has people that look to him. He goes to the women's Final Four. I just read of tweet his this past week talking about WNBA players playing in the NBA. He just said that. I think he was a great voice and a great person to have cheering for you."

Sophomore Point Guard Jazmine Massengill

On her impactful shots toward the end of the game:
"I just had to make a play basically, and whatever my team needed me to do, that's what I did in order to get this win. (It was) definitely a team effort. (We) definitely had to grind it out, but I'm glad we got it done at the end."

On Rennia Davis and her impact on the team:
"Re (Rennia) is definitely a great player. She's so humble. She hit 30 points today and still remains humble. I love Re. The team loves Re. Honestly, we need every single player on this team, including Re. It's just nice to have a player that you can rely on."

On the tragic death of Kobe Bryant:
"That definitely hit me hard. I love him. That's definitely my favorite player. My teammates loved him. Everybody in basketball just loved him. You either hated him because he was good, or you loved him because of the kind of person that he was. He loved women's basketball. He supported it (and) had a daughter who was pursuing a career in basketball. He was a great person."

Redshirt Junior Forward Jaiden McCoy

On the physicality of the game:
"It was pretty physical. When I was on the bench watching for the first little bit, I just saw how aggressive LSU was, so my mindset when I came in was just to be as aggressive or even more so I could just help the team."

On getting a gritty win:
"It was a bit of a grind, but the free throws of course didn't help. We just came in at halftime and just talked. We were like, 'We need to get all of these little things done to win,' and we pulled it out and did a good job."

On guarding LSU's Ayana Mitchell:
"She was a bit difficult to guard, but I feel like we handled her a decent amount, so we just had to be aggressive and match her energy. Whenever I went it, I just made sure that I knew where she was, and coach (Harper) emphasized that all of us have to box her out. We struggled with it here and there, but we got on it."

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On shooting a perfect 10-of-10 from the free-throw line:
"I felt like the last couple of games and the last few practices, my free throws just weren't how they should have been. I realized I had messed up my feet, so I fixed it today, and clearly it worked."

On what it meant to have Kobe Bryant as an ambassador for the game of women's basketball:
"It meant a lot. Kobe… he's Kobe. He's one of the best players to ever play the game. For him to kind of reach backwards and try to help women's basketball, which is somewhat behind men's basketball right now, as far as fans and everything... him using his platform to reach out to women's basketball is huge. That was huge for me."

On how much she impacted the game by leading the surge in the first half:
"I feel like tonight, I got easier looks. I was moving a lot without the ball. I got a lot of layups and shots in the paint. I also think my teammates were looking for me when I did get hot and get moving fast."

LSU Head Coach Nikki Fargas

On her takeaways from the game:
"Rennia Davis is one of the best players in our league, and you saw two really good players today go back and forth, and that was Ayana Mitchell for us. We just didn't have enough. We didn't have enough to sustain. She went out in the first half, and we just didn't have enough to push ourselves in the second half. Defensively, it was a great effort on both teams' part. Players made plays. I thought (Jazmine) Massengill had big buckets when we were trying to cut the lead. We hit a pull-up jumper, and then she hit a three. I thought those were big buckets for them in the second half."

On what her defensive plan was against Rennia Davis:
"Obviously none of them worked. She is a tough guard. She is someone that commands the same type of defensive attention that a Rhynne Howard from Kentucky does. I felt like we didn't do a great job at limiting her touches. That was our initial game plan. We had some possessions there that we moved a little more size on her. I thought that was a little bit disruptive. Rennia is a player, and the other thing she did a great job of is filling her stat line. She got herself to a free-throw line. She rebounded. She had some transition baskets. She obviously made some baskets at the half-court setting. She is just a really good offensive player."

On if the passing of Pat Summitt and Kobe Bryant reminds her of how fragile life is:
"It makes you appreciate the time that you do have. Every day we should all wake up and feel blessed that we were able to get up. To lose a loved one, our thoughts and prayers go out to Kobe's family. When you play this game, you try to teach your kids the game of life, and that is the biggest takeaway from coach Summitt. She taught us that you love people, and you treat people how you want to be treated. You respect all (people), and I think with Kobe he left a legacy that will continue just like Pat has left hers. (It's a) sad day for all who know Kobe and the family and friends. It just breaks my heart to hear that. It just makes me want to hold Justice a little bit tighter."

On if this league is still up in the air:
"It is. Your priority is to come into this SEC season with finishing in the top four. It is still anybody's top four right now. We faced Kentucky, Tennessee, A&M, Mississippi State. We faced a lot of the heavy hitters in our league. There is a consistency there, and it is that we are all going at each other. There is no night to take off, and there is no guarantee that you will win at home or on the road. That is the spirit of this league that I love so much. But when you play in this league, you know what you are up against. That is why you decide to come up to LSU or wherever, because you knew how competitive this league is, and it is one of the best in the country."