Lady Vols vs. Southern Illinois Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening statement…
"Well, I got to discuss with our team that you never take a win for granted, so we got to celebrate pretty good in the locker room on that one. We knew that Southern Illinois was going to come in and be very disciplined. They had a great game plan. They were very physical, and you know they can shoot the ball. We knew we had a challenge because Jordan wasn't playing. We knew that was going to change the dynamic a little bit for us. Obviously, foul trouble and the injury. I am proud of our team. We had to piece it together the majority of the game. Hopefully, we can grow individually and get a little bit better and build on it."

On Jordan's and Rae's injury update…
"We don't have anything yet. We will have further testing tomorrow."

On why they came into game off kilter…
"Well, I think how physical Southern started the game affected us a little bit, and Tamari with her two quick fouls. I was subbing her out as she was getting her second foul, I think that was a little frustrating. I think it took us a minute for us to find some rhythm offensively with their zone. Defensively, we were not really affecting them. They did a nice job of handling the basketball, not turning it over, finding the open man and they were making shots. For us, we were just trying to hang in there until we could settle down and find some positives."

On if she agrees that it was a bad shooting night…
"You know, I thought we had some good looks, but we missed them. I thought we rushed a few, and we shot it a little bit early in the offense. We were not getting paint touches in the first half. I think we shot nine threes in the first half and only five in the second. That is a better number for us especially if you are not shooting them well. I thought our best offense was whenever we were able to get the ball inside, whether that was inside the post or inside to a perimeter player who was playing the high post areas. I am proud of our team for finding that, and I thought it really helped us in the third quarter when we were struggling a bit."

On the performance from Brooklynn Miles and Sara Puckett…
"I'll tell you; I am not so certain that we don't win because of Sara's three and the two she followed it up with. That was a big bucket. Being a freshman, she may not even know how big of a bucket that was, even though I did tell her after the game. I thought that was huge. She is a kid in practice that when she shoots it, I think it is going in every time. Brooklynn came in and gave us big minutes. Obviously, the 10-second call was a big momentum call for us. I thought she played big minutes for us. The fact that she could get in there, and we could slide Jordan Walker over to the wing, when we needed a scoring punch over there, really helped. I thought Brooklynn showed how competitive and how tough of a player she is. That was not an easy job that we asked her to do, but she came in and did a really nice job for us."

On the one thing they need to work on…
"Our zone offense. Obviously, we were not as fluid as we wanted to be. Depending on Rae's situation, we have to figure out if we are going to have her or not and if we need someone to step up. It may not be one person. I thought the staff was really trying to piece things together tonight. I had someone who was really good on offense but maybe not on defense and vice versa. We got to have people give us good solid minutes on the court."

On Alexus Dye having a double-double every game...
"I think that a double-double is very attainable for her. I think that needs to be a goal for her. She did not have any boards in the first quarter, and we talked about that a little bit. She gave us a spark when she got in there and got on the board. We needed that as part of our offense, so I thought she made an impact there. She played a lot, and I thought she pushed through when she got a little tired. She gave us a go-to player when she was on the court."

On what changed when the Lady Vols ended the game on a 17-2 run…
"Tamari Key. It is not complicated. She was on the court. When she is on the court, she affects the other team. Her minutes were primarily played in the fourth quarter, and that is why the score ended up like it did."

On what this win says about the team with no Rae or Jordan...
"I am really proud of them. They fought and they competed. It wasn't going well, and it did not look good at times. A lot of things could have happened. A lot of things. For them to hang in there and chip away, chip away, chip away and hang in there because it's not pretty, that's a good sign. It really is. I think one of the things we have talked to our team about is playing with adversity. We had adversity tonight. We had a lot of adversity. We had adversity before the game started. I am proud of them for not hanging their heads and cheering each other on. I thought we had some good teammates out there and hopefully we can build on that."

On Jordan Horston's current status...
"She was able to do a few things today, but she is probably day-to-day. I am not sure how much she will be able to go tomorrow if we are trying to get her into the game on Friday so we will see."

On if the freshmen held their own...
"I think they understand that they have to come in and make plays. When I say make plays, that could literally be a deflection. It does not have to be anything grand but come in and do your job. That is making a play. Doing your job. I think they understand that, but I think now it is very clear what we are asking of them and how important it is. Sometimes, when you are a high school player, you might make a turnover and just keep on going. Now, every single play seems magnified to them, and that's a new world for freshmen. I think our freshmen will be able to handle that. I think they understand that."

On how key Jordan Walker's performance was...
"I am glad Jordan Walker is on our team. Without Jordan Horston and Rae Burrell, Jordan Walker needs to step up and give us a little bit more punch offensively. I have been looking for her to do that anyway. We were trying to find her some shots in the second half without Rae being out on the court. I think she can handle that. She has played the one and the two so we can slide her when we need to slide her. Her play was big and you could see her out there really competing every single play, and the thing you love about her is she is doing it on both ends of the court."

On tonight's fans...
"I thought there were a few times where I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to have to help our team.' I think when our players get out there and they are just a little bit winded and the fans get after it and show their support and love, it helps. It helps push us through. One thing I appreciate is when Brooklynn Miles gets after it with the 10-second count, and she gets a great applause for that and is rewarded for her effort. I love the fact that Lady Vol fans reward our players when there is great effort. Our fans understand basketball. They know what it needs to look like."

Tennessee Graduate Guard Jordan Walker

On what they think caused the slow start...
"We said in our huddle that we were going to come out strong. I felt like we didn't come out as strongly as we thought we would. That kind of shocked us, and we had to fight back. We finally got the energy, and that is how we ended up winning the game."

On what she told the team at halftime after Rae Burrell went down...
"We were all saying to stay together, talk and communicate. Rae brings a lot to us, so we really wanted to pull this one out for her. She does a lot for our team, and she plays a big role. We knew we had to pull together, and I knew I would have to be out there and lead and be more vocal in order fill the shoes she fills."

Tennessee Junior Center Tamari Key

On ending the game on a 17-2 run...
"We just knew as a team that we weren't about to lose the game. We just had to turn it on. A win is a win. This one wasn't as pretty as we wanted it to be, but we pulled it out in the fourth quarter. We stayed together throughout the whole game, and that is the most important part."

On being able to win the game without Rae Burrell and Jordan Horston...
"We had a lot of people step up today. Brooklynn Miles played a lot of minutes for us today. Sara Puckett hit her shots for us. Snoop (Alexus Dye) crashed the boards. Jordan Walker hit her free throws in crunch time. Tess Darby came in and started for us. I feel like it gave everyone a little bit of confidence boost just knowing, when we don't have two of our leading scorers, we have people that have a lot to bring to this team. That was good for us going into the future; just knowing we can step up when we need to."

Tennessee Graduate Forward Alexus Dye

On getting a win on her birthday...
"It feels amazing. That is one of my greatest gifts: a win on my birthday."

On how big the 3-point shot from Sara Puckett was...
"That was a really big shot. She put us back in the game with that shot."

On what coach told them going into the final minutes of the game...
"Basically, just finish the game off. We just had to finish and keep doing what we were doing, making plays. We had to play our game."

Southern Illinois Head Coach Cindy Stein

Opening statement…
"Wow, that was a great game. I'm just proud of our team. I think we caught Tennessee off kilter a little bit, but man, did they come roaring back. A great second half on their part. We think a lot of Tennessee, Kellie Harper, Jon Harper, what a great job they do. Great coaches, and we wanted our team to come out of this being better. I felt like we got better today. Obviously, as the losing coach, it's disappointing that we didn't pull it out. Man, they are great athletes. The way they score on offensive boards I think is their best offense. We needed to be a lot better on that. I just appreciate the great history here, this was a great opportunity for our players, so just really appreciative of being here."

On what happened down the stretch…
"I would always say that we needed to execute better. There are a couple plays that we've ran a million times, and we didn't run them right. We drew them up a very easy play at the timeout, and we never got to it. Those are things, but pressure will do that to you. Being the first game as well, you're trying to iron out those kinks, and you're trying to iron them out against one of the top teams in the country. It was a little ugly, but proud of our kids going forward."

On new Tennessee players on court and injuries being an opportunity…
"Well, we felt like Tennessee was at least 10-deep, and we talked about that with our team. 'Ok they've got their starting five and the next five are just as good.' I think that's a credit to Tennessee. We knew the next man up was going to be just as good. Obviously, (Rae) Burrell is extremely talented, but I think they've got a lot of really good pieces. I was hoping honestly with the CMA's tonight that the crowd would be really down. I felt like you got two things that can happen, either church service or CMA's. In this part of the country, it's God and country music isn't it. I was just hoping it's one of those two things, Wednesday you've got church right and CMA's. I was hoping the crowd was going to be more in the 1500s."

On struggles being based on Tennessee defense…
"Makenzie (Silvey) really didn't get frustrated probably until the end there. Both Abby (Brockmeyer) and Makenzie (Silvey), people are going to key in on them all year so they better get used to it. We're not going to feel sorry for them. We just told them 'this is going to make you better.' If you can use this to get yourself better, that's what we need to do. It definitely had an effect. We are used to those scoring a lot more because they take a lot of shots."