Lady Vols vs. Furman Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"Overall, tonight, we did some good things. Obviously, we shot the ball well. I thought we shared the ball well. I'm really, really proud of that. We've worked hard on our offensive execution. It's good to see that pay off. Defensively, I thought Furman's 3-point shooting early caused us some issues. We gave up a three to start the third quarter, but we settled in and took away a lot of those easy ones. I'm glad our team was able to make that adjustment at halftime. Overall, I'm proud of our team. It was a good win."

On Rae Burrell's leadership through scoring and getting teammates involved on offense…
"Rae is playing terrifically. She is practicing terrifically every single day. She is really making this look very easy right now. She's still playing at a high pace, with a great motor, with great aggressiveness and great attack. She obviously knocked down shots today. She's been knocking those down in practice. That's not anything unusual. I thought she did a good job defensively. I've been really proud of her. If you ask anybody on the team, anybody who's been in practices all fall, that's what we've seen."

On the team's defense in the win over Furman…
"I thought the adjustments we made at halftime - trying to get out to 3-point shooters better - we did a better job of that. I was pleased with the adjustments there. When you're able to take away the primary way that they scored in the first half, it causes them to do something different, and they weren't able to make those shots. I think part of it was that we really bought into our game plan in the second half. We switched to a zone a little bit in the second half. I thought that was good for us – a good changeup at that time. It allowed us some opportunities for steals, rebounding missed shots and then running on the offensive end."

On how important this win was for the younger players on the team to contribute to success…
"I think that was really good. We're coming off a game where the crew that was in there at the end didn't get a lot of minutes at West Virginia. I was really pleased that we were able to get them those minutes today. They weren't just minutes. They were productive minutes. That was really good. That's going to really help us and help them. As you play every year, you never know which player is going to be the one that needs to step up and make plays for you. You never know who that's going to be. To be honest, this year, it's probably more important than ever. At any point, you may lose somebody or a few people. You've got to have a lot of people that are able to step up. I was pleased with their play. I thought they came in and played with great poise. I think watching that back is going to be fun for that crew."

On if she believes the team can sustain this level of success from the 3-point line…
"I don't know of many teams that are going to sustain 58 percent from the 3-point line. If we can do that, that would be pretty impressive. I do think that making open three's is very sustainable for us. I don't think that's asking a lot. I think that if we are taking good three's in rhythm, we can knock those down. I only remember one that was quick. I think most of them that we took were really good. I think that matters. Moving forward, I don't know that we can always count on a 58% performance, but I think we can count on people stepping up and knocking a few of them down."

On what specific adjustments the team made at halftime and how the team will take advantage of the school semester coming to a close…
"Exams are over, and we have more time. The players have more time to dedicate to basketball. They spend a lot of time already with basketball, but now that really takes a big load off of them. It enables us to be in the gym a little bit more. With our defense there late, I was not happy with the number of three's that had been taken and made (by Furman). At halftime, what we wanted to do was really limit those. They came out in the third and the first thing they did was make a three. I was pretty upset. One of the adjustments that we made was just being a little bit more alert and not being so low on our closeouts, so that on the catch, we could be there a little bit quicker. We talked a lot about technique at halftime."

Tennessee Junior G/F Rae Burrell

On getting ready to face No. 23 Texas on the road…
"I think we need to just continue working on our weak spots and strengthening our strong spots. We just need to continue to rebound and play good defense and take good shots."

What they can take from tonight's offensive performance that will help them in future games…
"I think just playing how we played today, just with patience and moving the ball around and getting good shots within our offense. I think that will help us moving on."

On how much of a relief is it for the team to be finished with exams…
"I think it was a big stress relief when I turned in my last assignment yesterday. Now we can just really lock in on playing basketball and even getting into the gym more."

Tennessee Redshirt Junior Jordan Walker

On how starting out by taking a charge and hitting a 3-pointer affected her momentum...
"You know, defense usually always gets me going. So, when I can make a good defensive play or I'm playing good defense, that usually gets me going offensively."

On closing out the game with an 18-0 run...
"I think that our defense was a huge focus on our last game, and it was just a carryover into this game. We've been talking about it in practice, how our defense just needs to be a priority, and I really feel like we put that up there today."

On hitting 14 threes as a team...
"Honestly, I think I attribute that to just unselfishness, being willing to share that ball and move it. We've talked about when we kick it out, good things are going to happen. So, it's just doing that and carrying that over."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Tennessee Junior G/F Rae Burrell

Tennessee Redshirt Junior Jordan Walker

Players Mentioned

Rae Burrell

Jordan Walker

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