Lady Vols vs. UCF Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"Well, Jordan (Horston) spilled the beans that I'm a little hoarse now. I was fine going into the game, but I was not fine coming out of half time. Obviously, I'm proud of our team in getting this win. That's a very physical basketball team that we played against today, and I thought they were the tougher, more aggressive team in the first half. They really challenged our team, and I thought we responded and came out in the second half. Defensively, we were better on the boards. It was a night and day difference, so the challenge now is for our team to start better, not to have those lapses. They want to. They understand, and I'm proud of them for rising to the occasion."

On what was said at half time…
"I gently told them that we had given up 12 offensive boards in the first half, and I didn't think that was appropriate. We just challenged them to be better on the defensive end, to be tougher, to be more disciplined with their box-outs. I thought some of us missed shots in the first half that affected our defense, and you never want to see that. We challenged them to really lock in and win the game on the defensive end of the court."

On Jasmine Powell coming off the bench…
"We're just always looking at what's going on in practice and how our team is playing and always asking where we need to go. I think I've said this before, our starting lineup is not carved in stone and minutes are fluid."

On why Rickea Jackson didn't play until the end of the third quarter…
"Again, each day we are evaluating, so minutes are going to be fluid. I don't think we know every day who's going to be doing what, and we'll keep evaluating our team and our personnel in practice as well."

On making in-game improvements:
"I think it's first, recognition. I think second, it's just making sure that we're disciplined. We have to continue to develop good habits in practice, and you've got to be consistent there, so we're going to keep working on it. I think we proved ourselves we can do it, and they'll be motivated."

On depth being a confidence booster..
"I thought we were really efficient on offense for a second game in a row. We didn't shoot the three well in the first half. We shot too many threes to be honest with you, but I thought everybody came in and looked comfortable. Now, we are starting to find a little rhythm, offensively. When you have so many players, it takes a while. I think we've found some combinations that we like, and understand that we have depth, but they've all got to produce. Depth doesn't help you if you don't have people coming in and giving you productive minutes."

On defense at the start of a game…
"Our urgency defensively wasn't where it needed to be, and we just did not do a good job on the boards. Seventeen points of their first half points were off second-chance points, and that's not who we want to be at all. I thought defensively, we probably would've done okay if we would've cleaned up our boards, and that's toughness, awareness. We talk a lot of times about how you just have to draw a line in the sand and say, 'No, it's not happening.' And I felt like we did a much better job of that in the second half."

On bench depth tonight and rotation going into Stanford game…
"I think part of that, we were searching a little bit; just trying to find who next, who was able to step up and get some stops. We're not going to be able to play five people for 10 minutes. We're going to utilize our bench. I think we ended up probably going maybe one deeper than normal because we had somebody in foul trouble. I think every game changes. I don't go into every game thinking, 'This is how it's going to look.' A lot of times our subs are going to be a feel, obviously, based on practices. Justine (Pissott) has had some really good practices lately. I knew that I was going to get her in this game pretty early. I didn't know what that was going to look like. I actually called her yesterday after practice just to tell her I thought she practiced really well. She's working really hard on her defense and her boards, knowing that her offense is going to come."

On what Tamari Key's presence on the bench does for team morale…
"I think her presence is really important. (It) gives our players confidence. Her voice is not loud, but it is impactful. When she speaks, there's a lot of respect there from her teammates. They're going to need that from her, but I think she's going to need them as well. It's going to help keep her engaged with the team and with what's going on. What she's having to do right now is really difficult, it's really hard. We've got to be there to support her as she is there to support us as well."

On what Justine Pissott hitting three's does for the offense…
"Anytime you're making shots it makes your offense look a lot better. She's a threat; I think she's a threat from very deep. She can spread the defense out. She also is doing a good job of passing to the post, she's finding the open man. That's giving her another threat. The jumpers that she hit tonight, that's not out of the ordinary. She's been knocking down her jumpers in practice, so I've been really excited to see that. She's just looked more comfortable. You don't just snap your fingers and do this; she's worked to get there. I'm really happy to see it pay off."

On if Tamari Key can make trip to Stanford and how good that will be for the team…
"One of the first questions that she asked was would she be able to travel with the team. She's got the clearance. She wants to be there to support them. I think it's important for her. I think it's very important for everybody else. She's been in this game; she understands what this game looks like. When you're playing this caliber team, just having her there to help, especially our post players. To help talk them through what she's seeing, I think it's really valuable on the court. Just her presence, I think, is important."

On team cheering for Edie Darby and how far team chemistry has come throughout the season…
"I think our on-court chemistry is getting better and better. Really excited that I think last game we had 25 assists, this game 24. That's really good to see and low turnovers. Really happy that we're sharing the basketball. It is fun to see them rally around their teammates. Obviously, they love Edie (Darby). She practices so hard. She's there for them and again, they couldn't be happier when she gets to take a shot. It's fun to see. I think they've been good, and I think right now we've got to carry some momentum with us to the west coast."

On focus of rebounding going into Stanford game…
"I think rebounding is going to be critical for us going down the stretch, with our non conference and then all the way through our conference. I think it's such a big stat for us. I think it makes such a big difference in our defense, makes a big difference in our offensive production. We've got to continue to work on it. We've got to continue to be in the right position. We've got to continue to have discipline, and we've got to continue to give effort. Sometimes, it's a combination of those three things. We've got to make sure we're solid."

On adjustments made to prevent UCF from getting to the rim and if that is caused by learning to play without Tamari Key…
"Obviously, things look different when Tamari (Key) is standing in the paint. There is no doubt about it. We made some adjustments with our on-ball defense in the second half that I thought was really good for us. I thought our players understood the game plan. I thought more than anything, the urgency there. Our defense would have looked a lot better if we'd been able to finish our defense with a rebound. I thought our players made the adjustments that we asked them to make in the second half. A lot of that was just our on-ball defense with some of their personnel."

Tennessee Freshman Guard/Forward Justine Pissott

On how this performance helps her confidence going forward…
"I would say it builds it as much as I already have confidence. My teammates have given me a lot of confidence, and now it's just going to keep going."

On how she felt coming into this game…
"I've been working on my defense. Jordan (Horston) and Tess (Darby) know that that's my main focus right now, the whole team does. I've been having good practices on defense, and I feel like coming into the game that's what I was focused on. They told me offense is going to come, and it did."

Tennessee Sophomore Guard/Forward Tess Darby

On having all players score and how important having depth is at this point in the season…
"I think it's really fun. We know our depth is our strength, and I think it showed tonight with everyone scoring. It's given us momentum to build for our conference schedule, especially as we head to Stanford next week."

On what changed for the team going into the second half…
"I think it goes back to our focus. At halftime, we locked in, and we said they were not going to score on us, and they're also not going to win the rebounding war. I think we turned all of our attention and focus to that, and that's what flipped that."

On her sister Edie Darby getting into the game tonight…
"It's special. I don't even think special is a word to describe how special it is to have both of us here getting the opportunity to play. We're both very thankful and fortunate to be back in this position. Seeing so many other people rally around her and help support her and know that she can be out there competing with us to, that makes her smile. I think it makes me smile bigger even being the big sister."

Tennessee Senior Guard Jordan Horston

On the matchup against Stanford…
"They're a pretty good team. We are focusing on who's in front of us, so now we have to focus on them. We know they're a great team. They crash the boards and push in transition. We have to lock in on the defensive end, because we know that's going to win games for us."

On the improved individual turnover ratio in the past couple of games…
"I'm happy that my turnovers are going down. I feel like the game slowed down for me last year, but it's really slowed down for me this year. My teammates continue to motivate me and instill confidence in me, and I feel like that's been helping me. Going with the rhythm and flow of the game has allowed me to make better decisions in transition, and it's working. I feel like I put the work in, and I'm thankful that I have my teammates supporting me and my coaches. Everything is paying off."

On what needs to happen for the team to start out games hot…
"We just have to be locked in better and not focusing on just putting points up. We have to realize defense is going to win games first. We have to just be more focused and locked in and take every possession personally. If we go out like how we came out today against Stanford, we're not going to win that game. We have to realize that we can't play pickup and try to fix things in the second half, we have to start off games strong. We're still working on that, but I have the upmost confidence in this group that we can do it. If we put our minds to it, we can do it. We just have to do it. We have to be locked in and focused and know that we have to take pride in our defense and not let them get offensive rebounds."

UCF Head Coach Sytia Messer

On what happened in the third quarter...
"So, number one, you're right - we lost them in the third quarter. We were outscored 34-10 in the third quarter when it came to points. We let Sara (Puckett) get away from us in transition; she hit some key, key baskets. And I felt like our momentum just never (was) the same."

On preparing for Tennessee…
"In our practices, we have different matchups and lineups that are practiced together... I figured, with us, the type of team we have collectively, everyone has to score this season. So, we as a coaching staff kind of go with the hot players. We know what to get, to do with, as far as getting them ready to roll and score. But a great, great job by - I want to say Coach Jollie, because I played against Kellie back in the day - but Coach Harper and her team."

On losing the rebounding battle…
"We were proud. We told our players at halftime, 'Way to go to the board!' We feel like we did a great job. I think the opportunity to throw different bodies at us in the rebounding. And they just frankly, came in, had four offensive rebounds right there in a row, and that's toughness. And so, I think that was the difference in the second half is they threw a lot of different bodies at us, and they crashed the boards. I think it had to be a point of emphasis for them to box out, and so I think that was key for us; we didn't get on the boards the way we wanted to and the way we had done in the first half."

UCF Sophomore Guard Leila Jewett

On how the third quarter got away...
"Just to piggyback off Coach Messer, Puckett definitely got out and hit two big threes. That put them up, and that's just where we lost our momentum. We lost her in transition; she just made shots."

UCF Senior Guard Mya Burns

On how the third quarter got away…
"It was the transition shots, and then after they started hitting a few back-to-back, they just kind of got hot and it took us too long to rebound from it."