Lady Vols vs. Texas A&M Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"I think after a close game you can pick up a stat sheet and find many areas that you could've won the game. It's easy to do. The other side is, I'm proud of our effort. I thought it was one of our best games in terms of 40 minutes of effort. I think we can build on that. You've just got to clean up some of those stat sheet items. You've got to keep giving focus and effort like that and give yourself a chance."

On if the missed free throws were simply due to a lack of focus:
"I don't think it's anything fundamental. It's just a lack of focus. You miss a couple and then you start worrying about them. I think we've got players that can make free throws. They do it consistently in practice. When you get in a big game like this, you've just got to focus, have confidence, step up there and knock them down."

On if Rae Burrell's consistent effort was the reason for her third consecutive start:
"We're just trying to make some decisions that our best for our team. We are trying to help everyone along the way. We wanted to try that lineup again. We wanted to try to give that an opportunity. Obviously, Rae plays hard. Rae plays hard, and we're going to get that from her every night."

On if there is anything more she can do to try to limit turnovers:
"There's not a whole lot, I don't think. We watch film. We try to help teach. We run for every turnover in practice. We try to focus on it, do a lot. At some point, it's just stepping out there and taking care of the basketball. I get that we're never going to be spot-free. We're not going to have zero, but we've just got to cut down two apiece (between Jordan Horston and Rae Burrell). It's a big deal."

On if she wants to see more scoring from her bench:
"I think right now we've had either Jordan (Horston) or Rae (Burrell) coming in off the bench. I think that we've got to get a punch there. I think we've got to get some of our post players to step up and give us some buckets. We had several people score at LSU, just not a lot, just a basket or two here or there. I do believe that players came in and gave us good minutes, without necessarily putting up a lot of scores. I thought Jaiden (McCoy) had 14 really good minutes. She played so hard, got some scores, got some boards, and then did a good job defending."

On the game with Arkansas coming up and the team's sense of urgency in terms of securing a spot for the tournament:
"What we talked about is that every game gets bigger and bigger this time of the season. We're trying to focus on what we can correct and what we can build on. The team that played today… if we can be that team, be that consistent team, then I'll like my chances. I get that's not always easy to do, but give us effort and focus and give yourself a chance."

On fouling late in the game and if they meant to foul sooner:
"We were trying to get a steal. We were trying to go for some traps and get ourselves a steal first. We could've been in a little better position, I thought, to get that. We just didn't want to foul Carter. We probably had an opportunity to foul somebody else. We were trying to put ourselves in a position. Jaiden (McCoy) breaks on a pass, and we're close to getting a steal, if it's the play I'm thinking of."

On learning curve for players in the SEC:
"We knew there was going to be a learning curve. I'm new. My terminology is different for everybody. All freshmen have to go through that. So, I think everybody is a little bit different. They process things differently and learn at different speeds. I don't think it's anything that's shocking."

On if she thinks her team can continue to improve over the rest of the season:
"I think it's very realistic, and I am so hopeful that coming off of this game that we are going to do everything we can to try to correct some things and build on it and try to duplicate some of that, because I think that will give you an opportunity. Playing like this will give you an opportunity. There was a year, it was 1997, and I remember Pat (Summitt) walking into practice one day and she said, 'Alright, we have two weeks, and in two weeks we have to be a better basketball team.' And I don't know what the magic was, but we were. Two weeks later we were a much better basketball team, so it is definitely possible this late in the season to get better."

On how that improvement can happen:
"I think we have to be mature, and I think practice has to continue to be tough on them. They have to be able to fight and push in practice and find success when its hard. I think practice is really the key there, and then we all have to stay bought in. We all have to continue to move forward not looking at the season stats and the number of losses. You have to look at how we are playing and focus in and be the best we can be that day. So, to me, it's the little things. Next time, maybe if we can duplicate what we did (today) and shoot free throws a little better (we win)."

On the impact of the crowd today:
"My pre-game speech was about the crowd. It was about using them, letting them push you further and help you. (The crowd) was awesome. What a great environment for a big-time game. And that's what this was today, and that's what these players signed up for. That's Tennessee basketball; that was fun."

Sophomore Guard/Forward Rae Burrell

On if she approached this game different being in the starting lineup:
"There's not really a different approach. I just try and bring the same thing that I always do, which is go hard, get rebounds and what-not."

On her offense and scoring:
"I felt good. My teammates were giving me good opportunities to finish. So, I was just trying to finish what they were giving me."

On guarding Chennedy Carter:
"I feel like I really didn't have that difficult of a time guarding her. I just tried to stay in front of her and sometimes she flops."

Redshirt-Senior Forward Lou Brown

On the crowd:
"I just want to say quickly that we had 12,738 people in Thomson-Boling, and we really felt that. It was pretty incredible. I think they definitely played a huge part in the momentum of this game. It was awesome."

On what they have learned as a team through this tough stretch and what they need to do moving forward:
"I think this stretch has really exposed our weaknesses. I think we are still learning as we're going. A huge thing for us, especially after our last game against LSU, is playing hard throughout the duration of the 40 minutes. Tonight, we showed that we can do that. I think that in itself is a huge step for us."

On her last four regular season games at Tennessee:
"Honestly, these next four games, I just want my team to play competitively. (If we) play hard, that itself makes me feel better about the situation. Just going out and this being my last couple of games, as long as we play hard and play together and put together a strong couple games... at the end of the season everyone is 0-0, so anything can happen then."

Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On bouncing back from a tough four game stretch:
"The past four games have been tough. A competitor doesn't like to lose. I feel like tonight was good for us. I thought we played harder then we have played in a while. I also felt like it came down to free throws. I think that's mental. We just have to focus and hit those. They also shot double the amount of free throws we shot, so we have to get to the free-throw line a little bit more and knock those in."

On turnovers and missing free throws:
"Like we said earlier, that has been our problem all year. The turnovers in particular. I think we have cleaned up a lot of them. Sometimes, it's just a disconnect between player to player as far as turnovers. Free throws, like I said, is a focus thing, in my opinion. We just have to focus in and hit those. You miss the first one, you've got to tell yourself you have to make the second one."

On guarding Chennedy Carter:
"I started the game off guarding her, so I knew it would be a challenge. She hit her first shot. The next few she missed, and then we went zone, and I think a lot of the time we were not aware of where she was. Even if we were, I don't think we connected on a lot of the defensive stops that we could have got on her, just as far as knowing where she was and knowing that we had to bump off a bit quicker or just get here a little bit faster."

On urgency to finish season strong:
"I hope everyone saw the urgency tonight. I thought we were a lot more urgent. Arkansas is another big game for us. It's at Arkansas, so that's going to be huge. It's really going to show what this team is about if we're able to build on tonight. I thought tonight wasn't bad. Of course I don't like to lose, but I didn't think tonight was horrible."

Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair

Opening Statement:
"Tennessee should be commended for having a great Sunday crowd. When you can drive up two hours before, and you can see all the moms and dads walking their daughters over here, you know you're in the right sport and you know how much tradition there is on Sunday afternoons in Knoxville. When you have 2,000 folks lining up waiting to get in, you want to sell concessions an hour and 30 minutes earlier, because you could have sold a lot of concessions, and we have the same problem. We don't open our arena up until an hour or an hour and a half before. We draw family crowds. We need those kids to experience what a Sunday afternoon in Knoxville or a Sunday afternoon in College Station is all about.

"Obviously, we controlled the tempo of the game. We kept them from getting a lot of run outs. They had a couple and got some and-ones at the end, but we were very patient on offense. We were trying to milk the clock, knowing that we were not scoring inside in this game, and we knew we wanted to do it with mid-range shots and open threes. The shot right before half that my little point guard hit was huge. It gave us some momentum. That was the same momentum that we had at Mississippi State when were up by 11, but we couldn't finish it.

"Somehow, in the third quarter we played them even, and I thought they were doing some better things in the third quarter. But the last quarter, we showed a veteran team that knew how to win a game instead of worrying about stats. We missed a couple shots, easy shots underneath with N'Dea Jones and Kayla Wells. Those are the shots we want to take every time. They didn't go in, but they will go in Thursday night in Athens. My guard play was outstanding today, sharing the ball and running our zone offense and a little bit of our man offense."

On if he is managing Chennedy Carter any different after her injury:
"She is just like (Rennia) Davis. She is full-go at all times. I had to manage the foul situation, because she has a problem at reaching and making some mistakes and putting us in a bind. I had to play offense and defense a little different. I thought Chennedy had a great game. That is expected with her. She has teammates that set her up really well, because we knew we were going against the shots early in the midrange because Key wanted to come out of that paint. So, we were trying to shoot the midrange shot early, which we did. Other than that, I thought Chennedy had an outstanding game."

On how Chennedy Carter has helped her teammates develop after having back-to-back good games:
"We were up by eight against LSU, and she went out. We had to look at ourselves in the mirror. I had to become a better coach, and the players had to take ownership when a player goes out. It took us a while until after we finished the Kentucky game, which was the next game after LSU, before I thought we started playing Aggie basketball and quit looking over our shoulder for when she would come in.
"You guys aren't old enough (to remember), but I was looking over my shoulder in 2008 at the Elite Eight, when (Candace) Parker was coming in and out with her shoulder. Pat (Summitt) was looking over her shoulder of when she was going to come back. And she came back or else we would have been the Cinderella team. So, sometimes you have to play through injuries and that is what Tennessee did when they won that National Championship, and that is what we did right here."