University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols vs. Georgia College (exh) Postgame Quotes
November 03, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper
Opening Statement…
"That was fun to get that game under our belt. There was a lot of excitement amongst our team today. We spent an entire hour at shootaround working on our warmup. We were really looking forward to getting out there and having this 'so called' dress rehearsal, putting a uniform on and playing in front of fans. The environment, even though it was an exhibition game on a weeknight, there is still nothing like Lady Vol fans, and we love having them here. Obviously for us, there are a lot of positives to build on, and there are a lot of things to correct and work on in the next week. It is a good start. We have it on film, and we will have some great sessions this week. I think we will be a better basketball team the next time we take the court."
On the defensive efforts...
"The first thing I wrote on the board before the game was ball pressure. That is nothing our players haven't seen or heard of from us. I think we are just playing with an aggressive mentality, especially defensively. We get after it a little bit. I think Jordan Walker really set the tone to start the game with her pressure, and I think we can do that a little bit more. We had some breakdowns, but I felt like we did a really good job of trying to force the issue a little bit. Trying to take the team and take them not from what they want to do but maybe manufacture some stuff for us as well."
On having a balanced scoring attack and if she expects that going forward...
"I do like having balance, and I think we are capable of having balance. When I look at the stat sheet, the thing that jumps out to me is that Tamari Key has to get more touches. For our post play, we have to get the ball a little more inside. The fact that we have confidence though and everyone is taking shots is good. Obviously, this was an opportunity for me to play a lot of people. That lent Itself to have a little more balance as well. I think going through the season, we are going to be a better basketball team if we have balance. I don't think it needs to be one person. Obviously, Rae led us in scoring and that is going to happen a lot, but she cannot do it herself. She is going to need some help, and she had a lot of different teammates step up tonight and not just score but score with good shooting percentages. I was really excited about that."
On having Keyen Green on the team and the impact that has on younger players …
"We hadn't had Keyen that long last year. It is almost like she has that newness about her too and that excitement of playing a new player, but she is not new. She is a veteran, and we kid that she is not the mama but is the grandmama on the team. I think it is great for not only the freshmen, but it is great for Tamari and all of her teammates to have her out there. She is just a calm voice when she needs to be calm and an excited voice when she needs to be excited. She is very well respected."
On assessing the newcomers tonight…
"It was about like what I thought it would be. I thought they would be a little anxious and a little nervous. Some of their shots reflected that. They will be better the next time out because they got this under their belt. The thing that I love about them is that they have a bit of toughness about them and have a fearlessness about them. They do not play with a lot of caution, and I love the fact that they will go out and stick their nose in and compete. I think we need that from them, and I think when they gain more experience, it will be a real positive for us."Â
On Emily Saunders's availability and what she liked and didn't like about the game…
"That is an easy one, let me answer that question first. Our free throws would be the first thing (she didn't like). I thought in the second half in particular, we got really quick with our shots. We had five straight possessions of one-pass offense, and we cannot do those five times in a row. We can manage once or twice, but we had a few stretches there that I thought we got a little quick. However, I like their coachability. I let them know that I was not pleased with how that was playing and then we got the ball inside at the end of the game and it looked great. So, I love there coachability. For a large portion of the game, we played low turnover, and I thought that was really good. We ended up with 11 and that was really low for us and will be a good number. Emily Saunders had a family illness that she had to go back for. She had to leave town, but she will be back and be with us hopefully soon."
On coaching against brother…
"Honestly, it was really cool for me. May not ever have that opportunity again to play against him. I know his team a little bit, I try to follow them, I pull for them. He knows our team very well. He knows everything about our team, watches all of our games. I'm going to give him a hard time for calling a couple of late timeouts, but I think we both enjoyed being able to do this. My mother was dressed in beige. I don't know if you could go any more neutral than she did. I'm sure that was not fun for her. My entire family was here and that was really cool for us. He's a really good coach. They ran a lot of really good things, and as they continue to grow their program, I think they are going to do well."
On what you can take from game against Division II team and what was learned tonight…
"One of the things that we stressed to our team is this was not about Georgia College; this was about us. We needed to do some things that are going to be good habits. In other words, let's not get the rebound because we are bigger, let's get the rebound because we box out and we're technically correct. We missed some of those. Let's not just score because we can score over them in one pass, let's move the ball and actually have a good offense. I don't know that we did that enough for me tonight. There are several takeaways that we can look about what we need to do better. We'll do some things defensively, we'll talk about some of our techniques defensively. We can sure up some of our ball-screen defense. Some things that maybe we haven't practiced against, we need to work on. When you look at it, it's not so much about them; it's were we doing it correct. When you look at it that way, there's quite a few things that you can take away from this game."
On Jordan Walker…
"I'd say I think Jordan Walker is playing well. She's one of those kids that you need on the court. She plays with confidence, we can move her around, she can play point, she can play wing. I think she shoots the ball well, obviously she did tonight. She defends well, she's one of our best rebounders. Don't look at the size because statistically she's going to be one of our best rebounders. She does so many positive things for us. I think scoring is something that she'll be more comfortable with this year."
On hustle late in the game…
"I think you know our entire team will play hard, and I think our entire team at any moment will be on the floor for a loose ball. I think it's that important to them. I think they take this very seriously. They love what they do, they have fun doing it. They play hard. It wasn't abnormal. That's what they've been doing. I think that's really exciting. I talked a little bit about they have an aggressive personality, that's just kind of who they are right now. I think we're going to love that style. When I say we, we the coaching staff, but I think our fans are going to love it, I really do."
On Sarah Puckett and her late play…
"She does so many things well that you don't think twice of. She can make routine plays better than anybody. She doesn't overcomplicate things. She didn't shoot it as well, and she didn't finish some layups. She's going to finish those I am not worried about that, but she's got all the skillset. Part of it is innate for sure, but part of it is she has worked really hard on her game. Before she got here, since she's been here, being good is important to her. She really puts in the time and the effort. For her coming out of this game, one of the things I am going to stress to her is she is really good. I don't know if the stat sheet reads that way or not, but she's really good. I'm proud of her, and I have a lot of confidence in her."
Tennessee Senior Guard/Forward Rae Burrell
Â
On all five players on the court on the ground fighting for the ball…
"I mean we are just gritty. We are going to go for every single loose ball. We are going to try to get every 50-50 ball possible. We are going to work hard and give it our all, whether that is on the floor or grabbing a loose ball."
Â
On the younger players and the chemistry of the team…
"I think we are gelling really well. The younger players, they really work hard, and they really want to be out there. They listen to what we have to say, they are just so young and full of energy. I think we are meshing very well with them, and they are doing really good just giving their all."
Â
On this being her senior season and what it means to her…
"It felt great. Like I said earlier, it's good to be back to normal. This is a great group of girls, and I love playing hard for them, and they push me to play hard. I had a lot of fun, and I'm ready to start my senior season."
Â
Â
Tennessee Graduate Forward Alexus Dye
Â
On playing in front of fans for the first time as a Lady Vol…
"It was good. In the beginning, I was really nervous, because I'm a nervous person. After I scored on my first play of the game, it made me excited. It felt good to be out there playing for Tennessee."
Â
On scoring quick and how it either fires you up or settles you down…
"I can't really explain it. If I miss the first basket, my confidence kind of goes down a little bit, because I don't want to make mistakes. If I make my first basket, I know I'm going to be on a roll. Me making my first basket, that got me going with my first game, because I was very nervous."
Â
Tennessee Graduate Guard Jordan Horston
Â
On stressing defensive efforts and pushing the pace…
"I feel like we did a great job at getting deflections and finding ways to help each other. I mean there is a lot we still must work on, but that's one of our goals we have. To start the game off by playing aggressive on defense, and find deflections, and find ways to help our teammates. I feel like we did a great job with that, but at the same time, we still have some things to work on. We'll be back to that when we watch film tomorrow in practice."
Â
On all players scoring and the importance…
"It just shows we have so many pieces to our team that can be valuable. Like you said, everybody scored, so now everybody got their feet wet, they got their first college points. Now, we got the ball rolling. We have so many pieces to this puzzle, and we are just ready to put them together."
Â
On being a consistent outside threat…
"It always feels good to make a basket for my teammates, but I feel like I have just been doing the same stuff, getting in the gym, and putting up shots. I have just been doing whatever the team needs me to do, if that's hitting threes, if that's taking charge or being a great teammate off the court. That's what I am going to do. I always take pride in whatever the team needs me to do. It was a good feeling to get the game started off with my first make like Snoop (Alexus Dye) did. Once you get that first basket, things go in the right direction. Like I said, nothing has really changed. I'm older now, and I just embrace my role and work hard."
Georgia College Head Coach Ross Jolly
Opening Statement…
"First, what an awesome place and awesome atmosphere to play women's college basketball and basketball in general. That's something that we've been talking to our team about is the opportunity that we have, that most don't get to play on this court. We talked a lot about making sure that we respected the game of basketball, the court that we're playing on and the teams that have played here. Obviously, Coach Summitt, we watched a documentary this morning in the hotel on Pat Summitt. We just wanted to make sure that when we left our game that we respected where we were. I think our players played with a lot of effort. I think they fought their tails off. Didn't really know what we were going to see. We've got a really young team and maybe they didn't know any better, but we did a really nice job of competing each possession while being outmanned. We knew that going into the game. Just really proud. The score is not indicative of how our season can go, because we had a lot of positive plays during the game that we can go into our conference play and our non-conference. We're not going to see that again all season. Really, really proud of the fight that our team had."
On how the game came about and how competitive household was growing up…
"To your first question, I think when I was fortunate enough to become the head coach at Georgia College, just kind of initially we kind of talked, joked about it a little bit about being able to potentially play up here. That was something that I was hopeful for, just kind of put that out there that's something that we'd like to do. We're very fortunate and very appreciative of Kellie to be able to allow us to come play here. To your second point, growing up in a competitive household, I think there have been many Christmases and Thanksgivings where we have to put the board games up or the cards up or something like that because we get a little bit too competitive in the house. A lot of 1-on-1, maybe not with me, my brother and my sister played a lot of 1-on-1 growing up. I know those got pretty rowdy. Pretty competitive in the Jolly household."
On facing his sister, Kellie Harper…
"I hope I took time to really appreciate the moment; that's something that may never happen again. It's hard to not get wrapped up in the game and trying to help your team do as best we can. I hope I took time to kind of reflect on that and appreciate that moment. It's about our team, but selfishly, it was a pretty cool experience. That part went by pretty fast, being able to play in Thompson-Boling Arena, being able to play on that court was something that was pretty special."
On he has learned from Kellie…
"I don't know if I can apply too much today. That's pretty fresh, we will go back and watch some film and see if we can learn anything there. Kellie's been an awesome resource for me, especially as a young coach. While being an assistant coach and now in the head coaching position, she's been an awesome resource for me because it's a phone call away that I can get some good information. We talk pretty often, during the seasons especially, about our teams. As things arise, whether it be basketball or situations. It's been very appreciative of the relationship that we have and being able to bounce a lot of things and certainly she has a lot of experience, a lot of things that I can take away and draw from. Don't tell her I said that."
