Lady Vols vs. Carson-Newman Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Women's Basketball Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"Well, it was fun to get back out in the arena and play with uniforms and lights and fans, a lot of fans actually. This was fun, much needed. We needed to play someone else so that we can be a little bit more strategic now moving out of this game with what we are working on in practice. The players were excited about playing another opponent, but the staff was too. We have a lot to dissect from this game, especially on the defensive end. We will do that, and we will get better this week."

On Marta Suárez being excited about playing and assessing her performance…
"Marta Suárez loves playing basketball. She loves it, so this is her favorite world: to get to play basketball. I thought she played really well. She played with great poise. She was efficient. I didn't think she forced things and when I was asking the team to do defensively, I think she was listening and going out and trying so to execute that as well. I was really pleased with how she played. Honestly, the poise was probably the biggest part of that. She's been practicing really well. Her practice stats have been excellent, and I know she's very motivated. She just loves it."

On Rickea Jackson and Jordan Horston combining for the first 12 points of the game and how well they gel together and execute…
"Those two players can go make plays. I think what you saw early on we were able to get them the ball and they can find opportunities. The great thing about both of those two, you can get them the ball on the open court. They can make a play. They can get a board. They can execute in a half court set and find some opportunities. They are dynamic, explosive, fun to play with, fun to watch and fun to coach."

On shooting 42.9 percent with 12 three pointers…
"Well, the 28 attempts, that's a lot, but when you are shooting at 42 percent, you're allowed. We've been shooting it well in practice. I think for the most part, we took good threes. I think we are aggressive. Our players are confident. Not just confident in their ability, but they are very confident in their teammates. I think if we can go rebound the ball the way we need to rebound, then we will have a lot of big green lines out there."

On freshman getting out there for the first time and assessing them…
"You know, it was funny, I think a lot of people were a little anxious and I thought you could see that from the entire team, even some of our returners. The first game gives you a little jitter sometimes. It's why you do this. It's why you have an exhibition game but for them, they love playing. They are so competitive. Our freshman, Edie (Darby) and Justine (Pissott) are just uber competitive so them getting out there, getting an opportunity to knock down open shots, they were excited, and their teammates were excited for them."

On playing every active player on the roster today and excitement of the team depth…
"Well, our depth is our strength, we know that. Game to game I don't know what that is going to look like. Going into this game, the minutes were scripted out. I knew how many minutes we were going to play each player. I think the only deviation we had was Jordan Horston. I had her down for a few more minutes but she was pretty productive with 12 so we stopped there. It got a little choppy at times in terms of our substitutions and who we were playing with, but we wanted to make sure everybody was getting a certain number of minutes so the next time out, they feel comfortable. Each game it may be somebody different step up. It won't be predetermined moving forward."

On if they will look at the eight made threes by Carson-Newman and how they were able to get opening looks…
"Well, I think, not necessarily just the threes, I thought they had too many open shots period. That was probably the biggest disappointment from the game. I understand they are very disciplined, and they can shoot the basketball, but we don't want to give up so many open looks. That's where we've got to be a little bit better. They shot 39 percent from the field, and I think for us that was a little bit high for what we wanted to see. We will make some adjustments this week. We will work on some things defensively, so we are better going into our first game."

On the slow start defensively…
"I think a lot of that had to do with first time out playing. The game was going pretty quick so there wasn't a lot of time for our players to think, they were just playing. We haven't completely developed the right habits yet. The more the game went on, the better I thought we got in terms of what we were trying to do defensively and there was a better understanding. We'll get it on film, they'll get to see exactly what I was talking about and we'll correct some things and be better later on this week."

On Rickea Jackson…
"I'm glad she's on our team. She's difficult to guard. You have to have great size, athleticism, strength, savvy and toughness to guard her. The really cool thing is if you do happen to have that, we have more players that can make plays as well, I think she requires so much attention and it's going to get some other people open. She's explosive, that's nothing new. That's everything we've been seeing in practice every single day.

On Sarah Puckett's three-point shooting…
"She shot a lot of threes this summer and this fall. I think the biggest thing right now is she's confident. She's not hesitating, she knows she's going to shoot it if she's open and it looks great, and right now she's another one, when she shoots, you feel like it's going in. I thought she did a lot of good things, especially on the offensive end.

On the momentum coming into this season…
"I think we have momentum at this point. I think our players are excited about the opportunity in front of us, but also understand it's got to be next game mentality. You really got to lock-in and concentrate and focus on what you need to do each day, because if you start thinking about where you can go and what you can do, you start skipping steps, and then you don't get there. So for us we've got to come out of this, we've got to watch film, break it down, get better and go up to Ohio State and be the best basketball team that we can be against them. Every day if you're finding ways to get better and are trying to be the best version of you, individually and as a team, everything else takes care of itself. I think our veterans understand that and hopefully, that's our team's mentality. Sometimes you don't know until you're right in the middle of it. We'll find out.

On sharing the ball…
"I think we had several possessions where we shared the basketball, where we moved the basketball. Obviously making shots helps those assists, but I thought we were looking for each other. We were aggressive, we played downhill, so a lot of things went right offensively. We were really low turnovers in the first half, had a few more in the second, but I think when you're looking at 25 assists, you're walking out feeling good about sharing the basketball. That's important.

On the newcomers Jasmine Franklin, Jasmine Powell and Jillian Hollingshead…
"Jasmin Franklin is obviously very experienced. Her work on the boards today is what we expect from her. She wasn't able to get as many opportunities to score, but did her job on the boards. That's important. She's also really good defensively, and I think we are going to be able to continue to see that moving forward. Jasmine Powell is tough. She sees the floor, she's been high assist, she shoots the ball well. She's been practicing very good and we are excited about how she makes her teammates better. You put her on a team and her teammates play well and I think that's a tribute to her and how she plays. Jillian Hollingshead has had some terrific practices. This one today wasn't her best day, but I have no concerns about who she is and what she's going to be able to do for us. I mean she can play a lot of positions for us, and you know, I am so excited about her and what she's going to be able to do."

Tennessee Redshirt Sophomore Guard/Forward Marta Suárez

On how nice it was to be back playing in Thompson Boling…
"It's obviously it's great to be back. It feels like I'm still, I've talked about it many times before, it was like my freshman year all over again. Just because that first year I was here, it was COVID, so we really didn't have much energy on the court. There were a lot of people calling me and talking about the football game, so it's great to be back and it's great to be back in such a great season. With such high expectations, it's a little intimidating, of course, coming out of an injury, but it's been very cool."

On making an offensive impact today and her progress from last year…
"Well, it's been great. Going back to what Rickea said about our depth, it's not just a bunch of people with talent. It's a bunch of people that are very balanced. We have a bunch of shooters, we have great rebounders, we have great defensive players and that's going to be our strength this year. You know, it's funny, I was talking to coach and she kind of made this joke about how we kind of look like the football team this season. How we gave them quick on our offense, how we get good open shots, how we get straight into it. I think it's good. I think we're meant to have a good season this year and I think campus can feel it."

Tennessee Senior Guard Jasmine Powell

On how nice it was to be back playing in Thompson Boling…
"Not playing since January, I knew I was going to have some jitters, but I'm glad the game went on. Getting to meet the fans and my team being reassuring, I think that went a long way. For this game, it's 'get the jitters out'. That's why we want to play this game and seeing where we're at and I think we really did a good job today."

On if the team wants to continue to play how they did today…
"Yeah, so today I think we got about 80 shots up, which is a lot. I think that what we're able to do with such great depth and such great players around us is to shoot the ball and to get the ball up and transition and to look for our shots that we take in practice. I think that we're able to move the ball around. I saw the 25 assists. We're only trying to make that number grow, and you know, that's what our game wants to be: moving the ball around, getting to these big players and then playing with them."

On her reaction when teammate Edie Darby made a three-pointer…
"Edie works extremely hard. She loves to play ball. She has a great shot, and we're all excited for her going out there and hitting the three. She was extremely nervous going in, so being able to go out there and being ready at any time. I mean, Coach (Kellie) talked about it. You never know what your minutes are going to look like, but you can go out there and go hard. Edie goes out there every time and she's fearless, so we were really excited for her."

Tennessee Senior Forward Rickea Jackson

On how nice it was to be back playing in Thompson-Boling…
"I was excited. I was so excited to get back on the court again, especially playing in front of these wonderful fans. We had 8,000 for an exhibition game and that is crazy in itself, so I can't wait to see what the other games have to bring with the real games and things like that. I'm just so excited to be here and play with this group of girls. You know, we're just so much fun to watch and we're just always there for one another, so it just means a lot. I was definitely excited to get back on the court today."

On how she feels about combining with Jordan Horston for the first 12 points of the game…
"I feel great. Me and Jordy, you know, that's something that we try to do in practice because we know we do and will play together a lot. I feel like we have so many great players on this team, they can't just stop one of us. If they tried to stop one, who are you going to go next? You can't stop them as well, so I just feel we just have so much depth and we just have so much greatness to our games, each and every one of us. We all play our roles to the tee so I feel like it's just really great to have a lot of players on the court that can score."

On teammate Sara Puckett's performance against Carson-Newman…
"What Sara did today is nothing new to us because she does it in practice. Sara is one of the most hardworking players in practice. She goes hard every day. She does the little things. She's such a gritty player, but she can shoot the ball really well. Sara is such a great teammate because she does what's best for team. She's willing to do whatever for the team. If she's got to play to one through the five, she's going to do it, so it was no surprise to us. She just works hard so it really just showed today."

Carson-Newman Head Coach Mike Mincey

On how he felt about the game…
"The biggest thing on the board before coming out is just let's compete. We know what Tennessee is, we know what they're about, we know how this roster has been made up with a lot of returnees, plus the transfers. I think they're really good. They've got a lot of size, obviously more than we do. I think we competed early, obviously that first quarter. I know (Rickea) Jackson, (Jordan) Horston, they were real difference makers in that first quarter with their 22 points. To go 22-19 for that first period, obviously the second quarter didn't go that way. They kind of put it to us in that second quarter. Overall, from start to finish, I was happy with how they competed. We know they're a fourth-ranked, fifth-ranked team in the country at the Power Five level. We think we're a really good Division II basketball team. I think both teams got something out of it, I know we certainly did. It's nice to see these kids be able to make some plays on this floor against that particular sized team.

On what he saw from the team overall and his read on Tennessee…
"We didn't really run a ton of sets. We just let them go out and kind of play, and like I said, compete. I liked how we had 10 players available, three were out, how they spaced the floor, peeling out to get the ball screens with either Lindsey (Taylor) or Ruth (Mbuga) or Kali (McMahan); figuring out a way to score without us having to get into a ton of sets. I don't know what we finished with, 63 points. That's pretty good for what we're wanting to try and do. We put the ball in the bucket. Almost 40 percent from the field, made eight threes. That last time we were down here we didn't get to the free throw line. Today we got there eight times and made seven of them. I think it was just the fact that they could get down the floor, handle it. We had 23 turnovers, but it could be a lot worse playing against a team like Tennessee. Just happy with how we were able to function offensively without us always having to dictate what they do. When you have players like Braelyn (Wykle) and Emily (Gonzalez) in particular, getting it downhill and trying to get near the rim against that size and still have effectiveness is something that we can carry into Division II play. Tennessee, I don't know if we've been down here in recent memory where they've gone 12-of-26 from the three-point line, 12-of-28. I think Coach (Kellie) Harper has done a good job of going out and addressing needs, which I think has probably been some three-point shooting. They got a bunch of them, and they can hit them and if they can shoot at that clip all year long, I think that inside-out punch is going to be good for them. I kept telling them, I really feel that (Jordan) Horston and (Rickea) Jackson in particular are really problems for us with their six-two length and the way they can score at all three levels."

Carson-Newman Junior Guard Braelyn Wykle

On Carson-Newman's performance today…
"I think it's good to see the grittiness that we got. We were in there battling for the boards. We had some steals; we didn't necessarily let them intimidate us. Obviously, they were bigger than us, but I still think that we had good moments there with our offense, we had some good defensive output, too."

On what it means to play in Thompson-Boling Arena as a Tennessee native…
"I played here my freshman year. That was a cool experience as a freshman. Emily (Gonzalez) kind of got to experience that too as a freshman stepping up, scoring really well for us. It's really cool because we watched them play, all of us did, when we were younger. Watching Pat Summitt coach, just some really awesome teams here. Just to be on that court, it's kind of a special experience."

Carson-Newman Freshman Guard Emily Gonzalez

On getting good shots against Tennessee…
"It was pretty tough with those lengthy guards. They have size, they're obviously bigger than us. Most of my game is getting into the paint and I like that, and I'm able to do that with the post and getting a lot of screens. I like the screenplays. I was pretty happy I was able to go to the paint."

On what it means to play in Thompson-Boling Arena as a Tennessee native…
"It is a big experience. I'm from Knoxville, pretty close from here. Just like last year we came here to shoot around, it was pretty cool. Just experiencing the whole game experience was really awesome."

Carson-Newman Junior Forward Lindsey Taylor

On if she had played in Thompson-Boling arena and the experience of playing there being a Maryville, Tennessee native…
"No, I didn't. I had to transfer the year that they (Furman) did it. It was an awesome experience, bing able to see all the fans. A lot of the students that go here I am friends with, so it was cool being able to play in front of them. A different experience for us because we aren't used to playing those bigger teams in the SAC, we usually match up pretty well. It was pretty difficult. It was good seeing how to adjust it to playing here, having that different environment."

On her experience at Carson Newman…
"It's been great so far. I get to play with a lot of girls that I played with in AAU, so that experience, just being able to come back to them and come back home to my family to see me. Coach (Mike) Mincey, I love him. It's been such a difference going from Furman to Carson-Newman coaching wise and the way he handles things and how he runs the program. It's just great."

University of Tennessee Athletics