University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols vs. Auburn Postgame Quotes
February 28, 2021 | Women's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper
Opening Statement:
"I told our team in the locker room after the game that I was really proud of them for this win, but I was also really proud of them this week. I thought we had a great week. I thought we had great focus, great practices, their mindset was exactly where it needed to be, and we came out and took care of business. I'm glad that we were able to do that on Senior Day, and our seniors got to go out on a really high note. I'm proud of this team."
On how emotional the day was and how much she appreciates Kasiyahna Kushkituah, Rennia Davis, and Jaiden McCoy:
"Let me start with saying that it is not an emotional day for me at all, because we have so much basketball left ahead of us. If this were their last game, I would be a wreck right now, just to be quite honest with you. I love them, and I just keep telling myself we're not to that point yet. I will shed tears at some point, just not yet. I'll go ahead and speak to that. Obviously, like you said, Jaiden was the first to say yes, and to be able to come in, not knowing what it will look like, and I was so happy for her that it worked out where she could finish her career at home. That's really special, and not many people have an opportunity to do that. When we got to campus after I was first hired, you have your meetings and you don't know where you're going to be, but it was really easy to know where both Kasi and Rennia stood, and how much they loved this program, and how much they love being at the University of Tennessee. That, to me, is one big reason that they stayed, and I'm very grateful to them that they believed in our staff and our vision for their final years here, and that it could be something really special. They've been awesome. They've been coachable. We've seen them through ups and downs, being able to grow as young women, and it just makes you smile. It really does, and I'm so happy to have been part of this journey with them."
On how important it is for the team for many players to score and if it makes her optimistic for the tournament:
"I think any time that you can clear your bench and let everybody play and most players score and play some meaningful minutes, I think it's great for your team. I think it's great for your comradery. Everybody out there practices just as hard as Rennia Davis and Rae Burrell and Kasi Kushkituah, but they don't always have the opportunities that they have. So, when you have a game like this, I'm really happy to be able to play a lot of people. I do think that we've been in a really good space mentally, and I think if that carries over, and I hope that it will, that gives me great confidence going into the SEC Tournament."
On how much confidence it gives them to not have to play until Friday night:
"Going down the stretch, our team had that as a goal. We knew we needed to take care of business to give ourselves that opportunity. That's an improvement for us. When you get there, I don't know that it'll help you on a Friday, but if you keep winning, that definitely helps you for Sunday. So, I think you've got to put yourselves in the best position to win three games. You have to take them one at a time, but I think to win three games, having that double bye is important."
On the ceiling for this team when Kasiyahna Kushkituah is playing well:
"I think for her, she was being so aggressive looking for opportunities, but we were also looking for her. You could see her teammates getting so excited for her every time she caught the ball to give her more opportunities to score. That was really fun. We had a great preparation day yesterday where I thought we did a really good job of sharing the basketball and looking inside to our post players, so it didn't surprise me that that's what we were doing. It's just very rewarding when you see the team get so excited for one of their teammates."
"I thought we got a little lax. The biggest message was, 'Continue to do what works. We don't have to do anything fancy. If what we're doing is working, continue to do it.' We talked about better ball movement. We talked about guarding a little better. We talked about boxing out. A lot of it was schematics at halftime. It was definitely more of sticking with the original game plan, because that's good. We were able to do that in the second half."
On how the team is playing at the end of the season, compared to her preseason expectations:
"That seems like forever ago. A lot has happened since then, with ups and downs. This is where we would want the team. We would want the team to have a balanced attack, both offensively and defensively, on the perimeter and in the paint. Having some resiliency, having a competitive team that can handle some adversity is what we wanted. We needed to see that. I think we've been able to check those boxes. I'm really proud of where we are right now and how far we've come."
On how special this Senior Day was:
"I thought our crowd was in it. I thought our fans were really engaged and loud. That was really fun. It's hard to do when you're spaced out. You lose a little bit of energy in the gyms this year. I'm so proud of our fans. I'm really excited for our team to be able to go out this way. They are so happy right now. They're thrilled with how we finished. I think they're also just really excited about the next step for us. They're in a really good space, and I'm excited for them."
On the performances of Tamari Key and Jordan Horston today and how important they will be for the team in postseason play:
"They're very key. I thought Tamari played really well. She didn't always get credit for some of the defensive possessions that she was involved in because she was in great position and didn't have to make a block, didn't have to get a rebound. She was in great position, and that's all we needed her to do. On several of those, she just did her job. When you have people do their jobs at elite levels, that really helps. She played really well. I thought Jordan Horston played really well. She did a good job of finding teammates and knocking down shots. She did a good job defensively. We were all on the same page. It's good when you have people giving you production in a lot of different areas. Obviously, you know what Kasi (Kushkituah) did, what Rennia (Davis) did and what Rae (Burrell) did, but Horston and Tamari did an excellent job of giving us what we needed."
Senior Guard/Forward Rennia Davis:
On what Senior Day meant to her:"Senior Day just means so much. I thought I was going to be a little bit more emotional, but just thinking about this team, our potential, our ceiling, and just how much more basketball we have left to play, I just didn't allow myself to get down about today. Obviously, I was sad about it being my last game in TBA, but I truly feel like this team has so much more basketball left to play. The fans here, the atmosphere, and the culture that has been built here, everything has just been great. It was just a great ride."
On how she feels about securing a top-4 seed in the SEC tournament for the first time in her career:
"That means so much. It means a lot. Those teams that play on the last day, they're a little bit more rested than other teams, and we'll have a bit more time to be here in Knoxville to work on us. It just means a lot. It's been four years, and we finally got to this point. It means a lot."
On what she would tell her 10-year-old self that was told that girls don't play basketball:
"Girls do play basketball. They do. Where I'm from, there aren't a lot of girls who play basketball, especially not a lot of girls who are good. Now, being able to accomplish all the things that I've accomplished, girls do play basketball, and girls are good at basketball. It's a sport that we can get some stuff done, too. We can dominate in this sport and any other sport. It's just empowering; it's just encouraging to myself and all the other girls out there. If anybody puts their mind to something, they can do it."
Senior Center Kasiyahna Kushkituah:
On why she and Rennia decided to stay despite the coaching change during their careers here:"Just this program. This program is something special. Ever since I committed to this school, I've always known that there is something about this place that brings me here. I would've never committed here if it wasn't for that. I've always been a Tennessee girl. Rennia and I always go back and talk about it. Yes, we've been through it all, but throughout the whole journey, we became stronger through it, and we've learned so much. We had a great experience, and we are going to try take that into the next chapters of our lives."
On if she could have pictured a better ending to her career at UT following her fourth quarter performance:
"I could not have. It was great. One thing I did not picture is me falling down. Actually, I did picture that, because I'm very clumsy. If that didn't happen today, I don't know what could have been more perfect. Everything about this day was beyond anything I've ever wanted. It was just a great day. They had my back throughout the entire game. I missed a couple free throws, and they told me I got it. They showed me how to adjust, and they just kept my head up high. We've continued to grow as a team."
On how special this season was despite everything happening with the pandemic:
"This season was so special because playing through COVID was wild. I never thought I'd finish my senior season like that. Despite all of that, we still found a way to come together. This is the closest we've ever been. Everything happens for a reason, and this year we had the time to actually build chemistry and figure things out. We always found a way to regroup and come back stronger. I appreciate this team for that."
Auburn Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy
Opening statement:"I thought Tennessee played extremely well. It came down to hitting some shots early. We missed some shots early. We came back and made a run in the second quarter to cut it to 10 at halftime, but Tennessee played great today."
On ending the season with a loss and the team's readiness to play in the SEC tournament:
"It was tough, and this is our third game of this week. That's tough when you only have eight or nine players—not really a full roster. We're always going to fight. We're going to make a great run in the SEC Tournament. We're going to keep doing what we're doing, and that's playing basketball."
On the play of Unique Thompson:
"It's unbelievable what Unique has done for four years. If you look at when the (school rebounding) record was set, it was back in the 1980s. It's 2021. That's obviously a very hard record to break, and she's done a great job for us all four years, and she continues to play hard."
On the toughness of the SEC:
"Whoever does not believe that the SEC is the toughest conference, I don't know what they're looking at, because we're talking about top to bottom. Most conferences have the bottom three teams that you know you're probably going to get a win. Not in this conference. Every game that you play in this conference is tough."
On how the team needs to regroup for the SEC tournament:
"Just continue to play hard. We're right there in with teams. This one got away from us, but we played Arkansas tough, and we played Mississippi State tough. We've just got to put four quarters together and figure this out. They will. They want a win, so it's not like they're not out here trying to get a win. They want to win and they're playing hard."
