Lady Vols vs. Wright State Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"I'm proud of our team for the win. Probably a little prouder (that) we were able to make some corrections from the first half to the second half, especially on the defensive end. I thought we had a lot of efficiency on the offensive end today. Everybody that came in contributed something in a positive way, and that was a good thing to see. We did the job we needed to do on the boards. (I'm) proud of that effort as well."

On wearing Tamari Key shirts today and showing support for her…
"It actually was something that our Director of Ops Catherine Greene and I discussed and tried to figure out what we could do, what made sense, and we were able to put it together. It was just our show of support for her and what she is going through. It is still early, still fresh, especially for her at this point. We knew tonight was hard. It was her first miss, and we want to make sure she knows she is supported through this as well."

On how beneficial for the team to get back to basketball after the past week, and getting players back…
"I think it has been a hard week. It's been a hard week. You know, you get the news about Tamari (Key), which was really tough, and they are trying to process that alongside finals and practices as well. It's been a tough week. They love to play. So, getting out here and playing, they were excited about that and that first game back without her (Tamari Key) is going to be tough. I know we didn't play with her in our last game, but this is the first time she has been here not in a uniform, and I think we had to all kind of process that as well. Even just as we sat down on the bench, she sat down right there as well, and that was hard to see. I'm proud of our team. They are pushing through, and they understand you don't punch pause on the season. You have to keep fighting, keep pushing, and playing for each other and playing for her."

On halftime adjustments to defend the three-point shot…
"Well, I would like to say the very first thing written on the board was no threes. That was before the game started, so that was the game plan. We understood what they wanted to do. We were over-helping in the first half way too much, getting ourselves completely out of position. We were ball-watching, not anticipating where we needed to be in the first half. (I was) very animated at halftime, but also tried to make sure we understood exactly what that meant technically-speaking and make sure there was no confusion on the expectations for them defensively and what the goals were coming out in the second half. They did a much better job; the starting lineup was locked in, defensively. They did a great job scoring efficiently in the second in the third quarter and got us off to a great start."

On Jordan Horsten's assist to turnover ratio improvement...
"I think Jordan is a better decision maker when she is being aggressive. She's looking for her opportunities to score, her opportunities to shoot into the paint. You see less turnovers when she is a little passive. That's when a lot of her turnovers have come, historically. As she is confident right now with the basketball, I think that has really helped her. Also we have played her more on the wing. I think she feels she can be more aggressive on the wing."

On Jasmine Franklin now that Tamari Key is out...
"I think she is a presence, offensively, for us in the paint. She is a little bit undersized relative to other SEC post players, but she is so aggressive, and she is so explosive she makes up for a lot of that. She wants the ball; she is confident, and she knows what to do when she gets it. She also is a ball hawk. Jordan (Horston) said it right. She will be where the ball is, so you know that she is going to give effort and play hard. We don't need her to be anybody but herself, because I think right now, she is playing well and that's really good for us and that is a presence that we need. Defensively, because she is a ball hawk, she sometimes over-helps. So we're going to continue to work on what her defense needs to look like moving forward. But I am proud of the adjustments that she made tonight, and I am proud of the work she did."

On how Justine Pissott has developed overall as a player...]
"I actually complimented our entire team after the locker room after the game, and I felt like everybody came in and they gave us something positive, and I used that as an example. Justine went 0-for-4 (from the floor), but she had 4 assists. That's efficiency. That's understanding that you can still have a positive influence on the game regardless of maybe one column. I think right now she is really working hard in practice. She is getting in extra work, even on the defensive ends, so (I'm) excited she is doing really well. We've got to let her grow and mature. She had a play, she had a foul on the drive... it wasn't much of a foul, but it was a freshman play. We've got to let her grow through some of that."

On Rickea Jackson's return...
"I think, for me, we just had to make sure that she was where we wanted her to be in practices and the locker room. I think she showed that she's committed, and she is going to continue to do that. I loved her demeanor tonight. I thought she was where she needed to be. I thought she was a great teammate, and I thought she was aggressive. So, she did some really good things, and I'm proud of that. I thought the way we worked her in was a positive thing. She's unbelievably talented. She's fun to watch"

On making sure Tamari Key is mentally engaged and mentally healthy…
"Yeah, I think that we are constantly monitoring all of our players in that space and making sure our players' mental health is taken care of, and they have resources available to them, and that is all of them. Some players have injuries, but some have to process teammate's injuries. It is not easy. I think the best thing for us to do is obviously, continue to support Tamari (Key), but also continue to find ways for her to be engaged with the team and continue to find ways to challenge her to help this team. She can still have a very important role on this team. Fortunately, or unfortunately, however you look at it, I think last year when Keyen Greene was injured and couldn't play anymore, she still had a voice. She still had a positive connection to the team, so I do think Tamari (Key) has a blueprint of what it could look like."

On if Jasmine Franklin is playing at 100 percent:
"She was pretty good today, for sure. I still think she's probably got a little bit more in her, and as she's comfortable, I think there's still a little bit more that she's going to be able to do. You're probably going to see that when we are playing a little bit bigger of a lineup, playing some bigger players, she's still capable of a game like this."

On what she hopes to see from the team against UCF:
"At this point, we're also trying to look at both practices Monday and Tuesday, and then finding ways to challenge our team in those practices, but also in Wednesday's game, to be better. And we'll be pretty specific on what that is. The last few days have been our defensive intensity, which took us a minute to get there and we did, also our boards, our disciplined box-outs. I thought we did a much better job there, so we'll give them specific things that they need to work on. Obviously, we want to build on the offensive efficiency that we had this game. I'm really proud of that, and the patience we had to find easy looks, so I think what we want to do is always find ways to be better, little ways to be better. We aren't going to overlook anybody, we are going to come out here and do what we need to do to be the best on Wednesday."

On having Tamari Key in the arena today:
"Her getting back, even being at practice, to me, made a difference. She has a well-respected voice with the team, and even earlier today, I saw her pull Jillian (Hollingshead) aside and tell her something small. Those moments, those little nuggets she's sharing are so valuable, and it gives her teammates confidence. So, I'm glad to get her back. There's a calming reassurance when she's around, and that's good for her teammates and for her."

On turning the corner from November:
"Since our trip from the Bahamas, we've talked about this quite a bit. We were able to really go back and improve on us, and not just work towards the next game, which is what it felt like we were doing for so many weeks. Coming back from the Bahamas, we worked really hard on us, what that looks like. And they've really been excited about what it looks like and where it needs to go, and they get it. It just needed to be reiterated, and we were able to do that. Again, the 25 assists and nine turnovers - that's pretty good team chemistry. Defensively, we still need to make sure we have that chemistry on that end of the court, too."

On tonight's three-point shooting:
"You want to take good threes, because that's going to help the percentage go up. I think we need to take good threes. They weren't bad, but we might've shot a couple quick today. We've got to get players in the gym, and they've got to get the reps so they feel comfortable. We've got to find players when they're open so they get good shots. I thought we found Tess (Darby) on a couple of really nice plays, and those were the two shots she made, the two threes she made. If we can get our shooters good looks, you've got to feel good about it. We got to have players take a little accountability and make sure they're in the gym doing their part too."

Tennessee Senior Guard Jordan Horston

On the coaching staff's response to Tamari Key's situation...
"I feel like it just shows the amount of support that they have for us. We know that it's not easy to sit out, for anybody. I remember reading something that the first game that she's (Tamari Key) ever missed in her career when she went to go get her appointment. So, it's not going to be easy for her. We're all going to be there for her, we're all going to support her and love her. And just having her on the bench is calming, because that's my best friend, and she helps me through everything. So, just seeing her and feeling her presence is all I need."

On Edie Darby scoring…
"I mean, we want everybody to score. Edie, she's a great person; she's a great teammate. She works hard, and you know, we were just happy when somebody gets in and scores that usually doesn't get in. So, I'm very proud of her, she puts the work in and like I said, we just want to see the best for everybody on this whole team."

On Jasmine Franklin's return…
"She's a ball hawk, that's exactly what she is - she's a ball magnet and that's exactly what we need. She brings that energy, she brings that spark and she's a dog. Six for six? Come on now."

Tennessee Graduate Forward Jasmine Franklin

On if she needs to step up a little more...
"Just, I don't want to have to do too much, because we do have other people who can do just as much. So, (it's) not doing too much and just playing my role. Maybe go get the little hustle balls, jumping on the ground, just doing stuff that I normally do. But we have a lot of people on the team that can step up and cover for what we quote, unquote lost."

On how dangerous this team could be…
"Dangerous is a good word to describe it when we get it all together. Yeah, we had out minor setback with Tamari, but then it's also something that's going to push us to keep playing, playing for her, playing for one another and when it all clicks together… (it's) dangerous, like you said."

On recovering from the ACL injury…
"I'd say I feel good. Like, I'm stepping into my rhythm, my role and everything. And I also have teammates that back me up. They support me. If I mess up, they're always there to push me, so that's a lot of help... and the coaching staff."

Tennessee Sophomore Guard Sara Puckett

On getting comfortable as a starter…
"I'm feeling good, just because my teammates have a confidence in me and so do my coaches, and so that's kind of what I'm playing off of and what gives me confidence. I'm very comfortable, because I know I'm going to go out there and then the next person is going to come in and do the same."

On adjusting to being without Tamari Key…
"You know, it's really tough. It's hard to take in, just knowing somebody is not going to be able to be out there with us that had such a big impact. But we're very thankful that she's good now, and she's going to be okay, and that they were able to catch it early. You know, she still has a big role on the team, and she's going to be a big voice for us, and I think that's really good for us. It's just something we need, a consistent voice there. But we're pretty good, we're doing okay now. We let it soak in, and then we're going to bounce back. You know, we're playing for her now, too."

On the halftime adjustments…
"She (Kellie Harper) basically just told us no threes. We were not executing the first half on our defensive plan, because we knew they were going to come in here and get up a bunch of threes, and so then we just focused on it more in the second half. We really stopped over-helping, and we just focused on our one-on-one (defense), which helped us to be able to stay out with the shooters."