Lady Vols vs. UNCG Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"I'm glad that we got to play another basketball game today, before this Christmas break. I appreciate (UNC) Greensboro for coming over here and playing us on a quick turnaround. I think it's what we needed. We needed to be able to go into this break having spread those minutes out a little bit. In this game, we were able to do that. I thought everybody that was on the court contributed. I thought we did some good things. I didn't ask them to, but they played zone. We hadn't seen a lot of zone. That's probably good for us going into league play, to get some of that game experience. I'm really happy for our team and happy with where we're at right now going into the break. Hopefully, we'll come out of it and be ready for some more basketball."

On Tennessee's post players avoiding foul trouble today…
"We talked about it as a team, to start with. Our half-court defense has been pretty good, if you take away some of those fouls we had statistically in games. We wanted to cut that down overall. Obviously, we've been talking to our posts about it for a while now. This was a good game for them to be mindful of some things defensively. You've still got to guard but take care of some that you can control. I thought we did a much better job of that today."

On how today's game came about on short notice…
"When we find out there are games cancelled, we utilize connections and pay attention to teams that have had to cancel due to COVID, and then in turn, what their schedule is. Even before we have a cancellation, we have an idea of who's out there. We don't have a running list, but you really know. My staff did a good job of making phone calls and getting people the word to make sure we could get this turned around."

On how she would evaluate the team's performance over the past week…
"I think it's been a solid week. Coming home from Texas was a blow. That was tough. We were so disappointed that we didn't get to play that game. If you would have been traveling with us, you would have thought we lost the game because we were so disappointed getting on that plane. We had a day off and then came back to practice. I'm really proud of our team for coming back in and practicing, not knowing what's going to happen the next day. Also, going up to Indiana and getting that win, I thought that showed a lot of toughness on our part, a competitiveness that is really exciting to see for the future of this team. Then to have a quick turnaround, being resilient, being flexible and handling this. I thought we did a good job. We had a few plays we needed to scout, and I thought our team did a good job scouting those few plays. I was proud of them. Overall, I think it's been a good week."

On how she is handling the team's Christmas break with COVID-19 in mind…
"We talked to them, obviously, about making good decisions, continuing the protocols that we have here. There's no foolproof method. I think every team is different. Coaches are going to look at this differently. For me and our team right now, they needed to go home. They need this break. They need to be with their families. I don't know that there's a right or a wrong. We hope that they come back healthy and safe. We'll all try to do our best. Sometimes, I think it's out of your control. It's tough sometimes in these days, but we'll do the best we can. They're pretty committed to playing basketball. They want to be on the court. I think they'll take as many precautions as they can."

Tennessee Senior Center Kasiyahna Kushkituah

On Keyen Green being out and what the post players have to do to elevate their game…
"We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, being aggressive and just being a big presence in the paint. Me, TK, Emily, we all bring different things, and we are the tallest people out there most of the time, so I think just being a big presence in the paint offensively as well as defensively."

On what was working for her tonight after scoring a season-high 13 points…
"I was feeling good, just knowing that once again I was the tallest and biggest person out there. I just thought to be that exactly, and just a big presence on offense whether it is post-ups or scoring strong and knowing that no one out there can deflect it with me being me. So, it was just being that big presence on the block for the team, whether it is rebounding, me getting a double team and kicking it back out to them, or just me posting up to them and scoring."

On what is working for the team on defense currently and how important it is for their confidence with SEC play coming up…
"Our defense has been a big area this year that we've been working on, with posts and guards. And I definitely believe it starts with the guards and their ball pressure, which they did a really good job of tonight, but getting open screens and whatever we need them to do. With post players, it's just us being physical in the paint, being able to deflect passes, and just being a big presence in the paint on the defensive ends. With defense, I am just proud of our team and where we are at, and we definitely are going to continue to improve in that area."

Tennessee Sophomore Center Tamari Key

On how she evaluates her rotation with the other three posts, especially with Keyen Green out…
"We knew when Keyen got hurt that all three of us had to step up, it is big blow off the floor and on the court because Keyen is a positive light that we have on our team, so it is unfortunate we don't have her, but we want to be able to step and just adjust and be there for our team and be there and play for her."

On how much of a confidence booster the game against Indiana was, and how nice it is to go into the holiday break coming off two wins …
"We knew going into the Indiana game we had a lot of confidence, just as a team we knew we could go in and beat them, so that was good for us. And I felt like we played together, we stayed together and competed even when the game was really close and everyone stayed together and we were communicating, so that was really good for us. With this game, we really wanted to focus on the little things like boxing out, not fouling, and making our bunnies, and we did a pretty good job doing that today as well, so I am glad we can go into break with two wins."

On how important it is to have a comfort level with the post players and the point guard and with Jordan Horston's performance…
"It's important for us. She is a pass-first point guard I feel like, and she is always looking for us inside, and we love that she likes to share the ball. She hustles on defense, and she gets steals, so I love playing with her."

UNCG Head Coach Trina Patterson

Opening Statement…
"With such a short turnaround and a call the day of a game, I feel really proud about the progress of our team. That was a moral victory for us. Our team played really hard; we celebrated the small things. That was the goal. We celebrated the small things. We wanted to make sure that we competed. We wanted to make sure that we were able to understand how to handle those valley situations. We were never going to be too down after a mistake, so I thought we accomplished our goals, and I'm really proud of our team's performance tonight."

On how the game came about…
"So, what happened was they needed a game. I guess a team backed out due to the situation with COVID-19, so we got a call on the day we played Elon, which was two days ago, and we were able to make it happen. The thing about COVID is the season philosophy for scheduling games is maximum flexibility. That's what we talk about, we have to have maximum flexibility. This is the second time we've received a call like this. We got a call like this from one of the ACC teams in our state, which is a little closer. We couldn't do that one because we had a game scheduled, but there are a lot of teams that are looking to play games where people have had to reschedule. We actually had a game scheduled for the 21^st and the team backed out, so there was a hole in both of our schedules."

On Tori Powell's performance…
"We believe that Tori Powell and CeCe Crudup, that they're two strong guards. I'm really proud of Tori's performance. She played with a lot of poise today. She's really developed her 3-point shooting percentage. We did lose our all-time leading scorer, and we lost four starters from last year, so about 70 percent of our offense. Tori and CeCe were our maybe fourth and fifth options offensively last year. They had to ride on the coattails of others. They're now having to step up to the plate and make plays, make shots, make the right decisions, use discipline and not turn the ball over. And so, this is good growth for her. She worked on her game, and I'm proud of her effort."

On being able to play in Thompson-Boling Arena and Pat Summitt's legacy…
"I played in this arena as a player at the University of Virginia from 80-87. I played here twice. I coached in this arena when I was an assistant with Tara Vanderveer at Stanford. So, we were here once, and I was able to play against Pat and coach against Pat. We know how special of an opportunity it is to get to play in this arena with such a strong tradition. And everyone here has been super nice and super friendly. I knew it would be no other way."