Lady Vols vs. Kentucky Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"Obviously, I'm really proud of our team's performance today. Right now, people are getting to see what we can do. I think we're putting together a pretty good resume with three top-15 wins right now. I think our style of play is fun to watch, and our team is locked in. We're playing hard. Tonight, I thought we won on the defensive end. Our focus was excellent. Our execution of the gameplan was really solid. Our staff did a really good job of preparing our team. I'm very pleased with this one."

On the bounce-back win and dominating Kentucky on the glass, 56-25:
"I wasn't as excited about where we were going into halftime, but coming out in the second half, one of the things we talked about was, 'Let's go into the second half and do all of those little things.' We had watched some of those missed offensive board opportunities against UConn. We gave up some offensive boards against them. It was an emphasis in our film session. Our players have come out of our losses better because they've been specific in practice about what they're working on and locked in in the very next game. I'm really excited, really happy and proud of our team because, again, following a loss we came out better. I think sometimes that's hard to do, but I'm really proud that we were able to do it."

On Tamari Key's 19-point effort on 8-of-10 shooting:
"Tamari has been playing so well and right now, what she needs is opportunities. We're continuing to find ways to get her the basketball. She scores around the basket. She's playing with so much confidence right now. I'll give you an example - she caught the ball in the second half and was about to go score. She saw a double team and very calmly and casually kicked the ball out to Rennia Davis for a wide-open three. Right now, the game is coming to her pretty easily. She's seeing the floor. She knows what she can do. I think defensively, she's been locked in as well. Her teammates are playing with great confidence in her. We've got to continue to get her the basketball."

On how Rennia Davis and Tamari Key make her job as a coach easier and how the team can clean up their turnovers:
"Good players make coaches look good. I can't really take credit for teaching Tamari Key how to be 6'7". I can't take credit for telling Rennia to jump up and grab the rim. They are very talented young women, very talented. What I'm really excited about is their focus, their effort and how much better I feel like they are getting. I feel like our turnovers, overall, for three and a half quarters were actually ok. We had a few. We'll try to clean those up. The last few minutes we got a little casual with the basketball. Our spacing wasn't great and caused us to have a few too many. For the majority of the game, I thought us taking care of the basketball was really key."

On what factored into the Lady Vols out-rebounding Kentucky by 31 and scoring 19 second chance points:
"I thought that was critical. I thought we looked very confident. I think it gives you confidence to shoot the basketball when you know we've got an opportunity to get in there and work to get that board if we miss it. I tell players in practice, 'You've got to shoot that, because we're going to get the rebound.' If we have that mindset and we have the effort and focus every game, I think it does give you a little more confidence on the offensive end."

On how special it was to see former Lady Vols Kyra Elzy and Niya Butts coaching on the Kentucky sideline:
"Somebody grabbed a photo of us before the game. I love those girls. I love them. They were awesome teammates and are people that I pull for. I pull for them, and I want them to do well… other than maybe two or three times per year. They're fantastic people and Lady Vols for life."

Sophomore Center Tamari Key

On team's mindset on a big SEC matchup:
"We just wanted to bounce back. We played well. We had great effort against UConn, we just didn't finish out the game like we wanted to, so we really used that as our motivation today."

On how the rebounding margin helped them:
"We work hard on rebounding. I think we are number two in the conference with offensive boards. That is something we really take pride in. We just want to continue in every single game to get as many offensive boards as we can and to make sure we are out-rebounding opponents every game."

On what lessons from the UConn game helped them today:
"Our two biggest things watching film were boxing out on defense and crashing the offensive glass. We had a lot of success crashing the offensive boards, so we wanted to carry that on to this game today."

Senior Guard/ Forward Rennia Davis

On her rebounding performance today:
"That's what my team needed me to do today. We really emphasized not letting Kentucky get second-chance points, so I really tried to crash the defensive boards. Plus, someone from home challenged me to get 15, so I had to get a little more than that."

On how she was able to get 20 rebounds:
"I think rebounding is similar to defense, it's just kind of a mindset. When you crash and go get the ball, it pretty much comes to you. It's just about effort in that area, in my opinion. Tonight, I just gave a little more effort in that area."

On how her team responds in games following a loss:
"It's very crucial for this team. Many steps have been taken in the right direction for me personally and for this team. In previous years, we could lose one game, then it would turn into two, three, four, and five losses. This year, I feel like we have really been emphasizing in the locker room not losing two games in a row. That second game after we lose, we just end up coming out playing so hard for 40 minutes."

On how they can build on better second-half performances:
"Third quarters have been our worst quarters, in my opinion. Just to come out and dominate that quarter and the majority of the second half, that speaks volumes about this team. It speaks to what this team is trying to do, the areas we are improving, and we just want to keep growing and learning in those areas."

Kentucky Head Coach Kyra Elzy

On where her team will go from here after this afternoon's loss to Tennessee:
"You know, we got knocked down tonight. Hats off to Tennessee, they played well. They were aggressive offensively and defensively. We did not match their intensity nor their energy, so credit to them. But where we go from here is where we got knocked down, and it is a long season. We get back up and go back home. We watch the film, and I will reevaluate myself along with the staff, and we will watch as a team and fix our mistakes."

On how Tennessee's size affected the game this afternoon:
"Well, I am going to give credit to Tennessee tonight. They played very well. Like I said, they were extremely aggressive. We got out rebounded by 31, which I told the team was just unacceptable. We have to be better in that area. And yes, they do have size, but we have played them before with size, so that is not an excuse. We have to be willing to box out consistently for 40 minutes, and that is just a matter of going back to work and making sure I demand that with my staff so we can move forward from here."

On how missing shots contributed to tonight's loss and how she can make adjustments as a coach to prevent that in the future:
"Well, that is where you hang your hat on your defense. You do not know if your shot is going to go in. You hope that you shoot the ball well, but there are going to be some games that you do not shoot the ball well. So, I thought if our defense could have hung in there a little bit longer, we could have generated some points by scoring easy buckets, because tonight was not our night in the half-court. So, just continuing to put our back against the wall and practice is how you can continue to create mental toughness with battling adversity. And sometimes that is going to happen, but you have to remain resilient and unfortunately, tonight we weren't. But like I said before, we are going to learn from this game, and we will be a better team because of it."

On the positives she can take from this afternoon's loss to Tennessee:
"It was not the outing that we wanted to have. It was a disappointing showing. There is no other way to describe it besides that. We got knocked down, and the positive is that we have another game. The next game on our schedule becomes the most important. We learn, and we grow, and you have to remain resilient. One thing we talk about is you can never get too high or too low. We stay steady, we put our heads down, and we go back to work."

On how special it was to be back in Knoxville with Kellie Harper and the impact of Pat Summitt's legacy:
"You know it is extremely special. I love… we call her KJ, but Kellie has done a great job at Tennessee. We all have sisterhood and love for each other, and when we are not playing with each other, we do root for each other. But I know that Coach Summitt is smiling down to have four head coaches in the SEC representative from Tennessee, and then all the assistant coaches that are in the business. We are everywhere, so the sisterhood and the legacy of Coach Summitt continues."

University of Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Sophomore Center Tamari Key

Senior Guard/ Forward Rennia Davis

Kentucky Head Coach Kyra Elzy

Players Mentioned

Rennia Davis

Tamari Key

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