Lady Vols vs. Indiana Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"I think this is exactly what I expected from Indiana. I felt like they would come out and be physical and be tough, play hard, be disciplined and they punched us in the mouth. I would like to have seen a better response on our end, but we didn't see it. I think the biggest area of growth for us is just our overall toughness, to be quite honest with you. We have to figure some things out in terms of how we are going to get there, but that will encompass a lot. That will encompass our overall defense. It will encompass boxing out; our offensive board play all the details that we are not taking care of right now. We will get better because we have to. You can't keep doing what you are doing, or you will get the same result."

On how to go about building toughness in a team…
"Well, I think we have to demand something a little different in practice. I think sometimes you have to show it to them on film. I think you have to define what that is, which we have done. We will continue to do it. It is not about physical brute strength. It is about finding a way to make a successful play. There was a loose ball and I did see two players on the floor. That was an improvement from our last game. I think there are some little things that we have to make sure we are praising. There are some things that we absolutely have to hold our team to a higher standard, and it starts in practice. Our practices have to be better."

On cutting the 16-point deficit to four, then Indiana gained another large lead…
"Yeah, we had two miscues on out-of-bounds plays and I think one was an offensive found and one was a turnover and they scored. They capitalized on both of those. In those moments, that's toughness right? That's where you have got to be strong enough to make a play or strong enough to get it back on the other end and understanding the urgency you have to have in that moment, that moment, and you can't lose your momentum at that point. We will definitely be looking at that one, because those plays were critical."

On the importance of playing ranked teams early in the season rather than later…
"Well, I tell you what, I just don't know. I still think, and I don't know how I'll think in January or February, I still think that the best thing for this team is to play teams that are going to punch them in the mouth. I really think that's the best thing for us. I would rather win, but I don't want any false idea of who we are. I know exactly who we are, and I know exactly where we need to go. It's on us, we will get them there."

On getting Tamari Key more touches throughout the game…
"I think it's on her for positioning and getting down the floor quicker, but it is also on us to be able to see her. It's on the coaches to be able to continue to put her in positions to be able to get touches. I thought we missed her a few times, and then there were a few times where she wasn't where she needed to be. We will work through that. We need to get the ball inside. I think touches in the paint, I mean that is important. It is one of the keys I wrote on the board, we had to get paint touches."

On playing 11 deep…
"We've got to re-evaluate that, reassess that. That's where we've got to have some players step up in practice and give us a little bit more of what we're looking for so that we can reassess and figure out where we need to go minutes-wise and with our rotation, so that' something we've got to look at and find a better solution."

On Indiana's program…
"Just knowing where they were last year, they were tough and physical. Where I think they can go this year, how they are different, they've surrounded (Mackenzie) Holmes with more 3-point shooters. There is no doubt about it. It's going to give their offense a boost, in my opinion. We did not play them last year, we played them two years ago, but I think that makes them more difficult to guard. There were times when I wanted to try and help down on the post but there was nobody to help off of, so I think that's going to be a huge plus for them moving forward, because you know they're going to defend. They're tough and they're going to defend, so they really boosted their offense in my opinion."

Jasmine Powell's toughness…
"She is not going to be overly vocal. She's just steady, and it's going to be by example. Typically, the kid just does what needs to be done in that moment. To me, the way she plays, she plays with great confidence, and I think that can bleed over to her teammates at times. As a former point guard, I'm just trying to help her find ways to help her teammates."

On what Coach Harper wants to accomplish before the Bahamas…
"The only place things are going to get corrected is on the court at practice, and we practice tomorrow, so I'm really excited about that opportunity. Then, we will be off on Wednesday, and at that point, it'll be much needed, I'm sure. Then, we will practice before we leave. I think that's where you ride the ship and get things corrected, so I'm excited about that, and we have film sessions and making sure our players are comfortable with what we're doing, not just in practice but when we get out on the court and we have to get them through some things, so two practices and an off day before we travel, and that should be good."

On mentality and if the issue is with the number of players on the team…
"I'm not sure exactly. I think we have enough returners that that should be there, so I think that's where we need to do some things differently, or we are going to keep getting the same results. At the end of the day, don't know why, doesn't matter why, it just is; we're there and we need to correct it."

On the team's morale after starting the season 1-2…
"It does, it worries me a little bit, not just with confidence but morale a little bit. At the same, to me, if you've got your back against the wall, you've got to come out swinging' you've got to have some fight. That's what I want to see, and that's the competitiveness that we need to see right now. I think they'll step out there confidently, but you've got to make things go your way at some point; that's what we got to do."

Senior Guard Jasmine Powell

On not being able to complete the comeback in the fourth quarter…
"I think it was our transition defense, honestly. I think offensively we took a couple of quick shots, and we weren't able to get back, and it hurt us quite a bit. I think we broke down defensively in a sense and I think that's where it came from"

On improving rebounding in the second half…
"In the first half, I feel like they out-toughed us on the offensive glass. We tried to tell our team we need to box out. We need to just not only go to your man but push them back as well with the box out, so I think we turned around and attacked the glass in the second half and that is what helped us and boosted our run."

Senior Forward Rickea Jackson

On moving forward after starting 1-2…
"We just have to do the little things. That's what keeps getting us beat by these teams that do the little things. If we played tougher than the other team, we have the toughness in us, we just have to be consistent with it, and we showed it in the fourth quarter, but we got to have that in all four quarters."

On being a "work in progress" and the high energy pre-game…
"Just like Tamari said, you know they punched us in the mouth first and we couldn't get back up. We tried as hard as we could, but we just couldn't get there so we just know we got to do the little things from the tip off and we would have had that game"

Senior Center Tamari Key

On adjustments to get more touches in the paint…
"I think it's on the post. We know that teams coming in, their emphasis is to crowd us inside, and I think we just got to keep working at getting better positioning inside."

On being a "work in progress" and the high energy pre-game…
"We know what we need to work on and we knew coming in that we were going to have a tough schedule early on and honestly, I think it's going to prepare us for later on down the stretch, but as of right now, we have to continue to work on rebounding and boxing out, just the little things that are hurting us in these games moving forward. I think we did come into today with a lot of energy, I just think we lost that fight when we were down, and we couldn't close the deficit."

On Indiana's zone defense and what adjustments need to be made…
"When we see the zone defense, we just have to stop taking the quick shots or if we do, we just have to have at least four people down there to rebound it. We got to get better on the o-boards for sure. We have it in us, but we just got to do it and it's got to be our choice to do it, and we got to start off by doing that."

Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren

Opening statement...
"Well, I can't even tell you how proud I am of our group tonight. You know, the stat sheet, things that just jump out at you- the 21 assists, 10 turnovers, we had three kids that took charges tonight: Syd (Sydney) Parrish having two, Chloe (Moore-McNeil) having one, Yarden (Garzon) having one. We knew that it was going to be a tale of two really good teams going at it. We're on the road, so we expected the hostile environment that was here tonight and just really, really happy with how we handled ourselves. How we shared the ball, how we answered the call when it felt like Tennessee started making a run, we came back with a run out. I thought our activity in our gaps was extra special tonight, made it really difficult. We tried to clog in our gaps, just tried to make it harder for them. We wanted (Rickea) Jackson to be a jump shooter tonight, and we didn't do a great job on some of their shooters as well as we wanted to, but at the end of the night, we did enough. The rebounding was going to be the key tonight, we out-rebounded them by two. I don't care if that's one or two, we out-rebounded Tennessee and that was the most important key of the game tonight."

On playing with a lead…
"You know, really important, but we know, Tom, that Tennessee was not going away. We wanted to get off to a fast start, we wanted to get some points on the board, but we ultimately knew that the game was going to be won on the defensive end. Our ability to rebound, our ability to make a lot of hustle plays tonight, things that just don't show up in the stat sheet, you know, I believe is why we won. Our activity in our gaps was superb tonight, and it had to be, because of their length, their ability to challenge you away from the rim with (Rickea) Jackson, and even (Jasmine) Powell, as quick as she is, our gap help, our activity level had to be really special tonight."

Indiana Junior Guard Chloe Moore-McNeil

On playing back in Tennessee…
"It meant, honestly, the world to me. You know, seeing my old former teammates, and having the hometown crew come into this game, it shows how much they're behind even me, but Tess and Edie as well."

University of Tennessee Athletics