Lady Vols vs. Mississippi State Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement…
"I'm really, really proud of our team today. I thought we made a lot of really good plays. I thought our defense was pretty consistent for the majority of the game. I thought we were tough. I thought we shared the ball extremely well. I thought we were patiently aggressive offensively, and I think our team played with a lot of confidence."

On Brooklynn Miles' status…
"Brooklynn (Miles) did not get played not for disciplinary reasons."

On how much the team needed a win…
"I'll be honest with you, they were really in a good space after our South Carolina game, immediately after. I thought that game was positive for us. I thought they felt good about their effort and how they competed. I felt like that was going to carry over. Practices have been good. They've been pretty locked in. Obviously, it's good to get the win. When you're feeling good about what you're doing, it's good to get the win to build that confidence, as well."

On Tamari Key's increased production…
"I think she was very motivated going into this game to get touches. I thought she battled in our last game, thought she battled really hard at South Carolina. I think she kind of put a couple together in a row where she really wanted the ball. Her teammates did an excellent job of looking for her. I thought our offensive execution was really good the majority of the game and with what we were trying to accomplish. Obviously, a big part of that was getting her some post touches. Our ball movement, our spacing, I thought was exactly where we wanted it."

On what has team learned throughout the regular season…
"I think they understand there are ups and downs. There are ebbs and flows to a season. I think they feel like they've bounced back multiple times, and I think they're confident that they can do it again."

On third quarter performances…
"I feel like we come out of the locker room pretty aggressive, offensively. We feel good about what we're doing. I wish I could say it was something magic that I'm telling them at halftime, but I think it's just their mindset when they come out to start the second half. They've had an aggressive attitude and outlook, and I think it's helped us."

On Alexus Dye's progression this season…
"Alexus (Dye) has been really active recently both offensively and on the boards. Offensively, moving around, looking for teammates but also attacking off the dribble. I think she's had a nice balance. I think she's kind of settled into where she needs to be right now. She loves her teammates. She's so much fun to coach. She's got a fun personality. I tell you, if you want to smile, just spend a couple minutes with her and you're going to have to smile. She makes you smile. I'm just really glad she's here, and I'm really proud of her that we could be part of that 1,000^th point."

On how big winning is in terms of boosting the team's confidence…
"I think the timing of the win is good. We came out of the South Carolina game in a good space mentally. When they give you that and they're working hard, you want to follow that up with a win to help snowball that. I'm just so happy for them."

On Tess Darby's development on defense…
"I think her dad was encouraging her. He told her, 'Your shooting is going to get you on the court, but your defense is going to keep you out there.' She's known that's been an area she needed to work on. She's worked hard at it. Throughout the year, we've seen big improvements. We have seen big improvements, and a lot of that is experience and understanding what it takes. She's tall and she has a little bit of length on her, so she can give some steps occasionally. I'm just proud of her. She's challenged herself and is working hard to get better. It's exciting to see."

On Tamari Key being 12 blocks away from tying Candace Parker's record…
"She is dominant defensively, and there's no doubt about it. She changes the game, and she changes the opponent's offense with her shot-blocking ability. Those are just the ones she gets, and not the ones that she alters, or they have to shoot a different shot to even get it off. She's been terrific for us, and anytime you are remotely close to Candace Parker in any statistic, you're doing something right."

On the importance of having an offensive balance…
"I think it's critical that we share the ball, that we find open looks, and understand that it needs to come from everybody. We've talked a little bit about what we need to do offensively. We've made some tweaks since we lost Jordan Horston. I think our team is feeling confident with how we need to play and what it needs to look like. It's sharing the basketball, spreading that around, and finding an open shot wherever and whoever that is."

On everyone on the team making a positive impact tonight…
"I think they did a great job. We work to on being really good in practice. You could tell from Vol Calls; I was talking about that. Our focus needed to be on practice. I think they did a really nice job, and I was proud of them for what we were able to do. Going into the game, we talked about doing your job, whatever your job is. That's in the moment. Do your job in that moment. I thought they did a really good job with that."

On Tess Darby's performance tonight…
"Tess was fantastic on both ends of the court. I thought she did a great job defensively and did not have an awful lot of mistakes on the defensive end. She got a few boards and obviously, she shot the ball really. Honestly, when she is taking shots, it spreads the defense out and gives us opportunities to attack the paint. I am really proud of her and how she played."

On her speech to the team at halftime…
"I was not happy about the last three minutes of the second quarter. We had switched over to a zone and did not make the switch very well. We did not get out offensively with the pressure that we needed. I was really disappointed and went in and shared that but was not overly animated. Honestly, there was not a whole lot to talk about. For the most part, we just needed to keep doing what we were doing and tighten up a few things here and there, but not a lot of tactical changes. There was not a lot of animation from me."

On finishing the season strong as a No. 3 seed in the conference despite injuries…
"I am really happy that given everything we have gone through with all of the ups and downs that we are still in the position of top four. I think we secured the double bye, which is a pretty big deal. I am proud of our team for hanging in to get to that point. I do not know all of the 'if/then' situations that could occur between now and Sunday, but I'm just happy that this team played well. I am happy that they are confident. Right now, it is more about how we are playing, but getting that double bye after what we have gone through, I am really proud of them."

On Kaiya Wynn stepping up tonight…
"Kaiya has been practicing well. She has been excited about trying to find her some opportunities. Obviously, today we needed her, and that is what we talk about. We talked about this all season, that at any point you never know when your number is going to get called. You never know when it is going to be your opportunity to come in and make plays. She had a couple of turnovers in the first half, but she played with good poise. I thought she went in there and defended and was aggressive. I was really proud of her and how she played and helped us."

On the fight in the SEC for a double bye…
"Listen, I am telling you that the SEC is so good. It's good because you have teams that have elevated and there are no easy wins in this league. The teams that are at the bottom of the league can win on any given night. I think that speaks very well to our league and the competitiveness of it. It reminds you that you have to play every single night no matter who you are or who you are playing. You have to be consistent and show up and play well."

Jordan Walker, Gr., Guard

On having eight rebounds tonight…
"I'm pretty proud of those numbers. I like to say I'm a big guard, but obviously, I'm not. Whenever I'm able to get in there and get a rebound and push it down in transition, I know I help my team, so I think it's pretty important."
On what the team has learned throughout the season…
"I think the most important thing that we've learned is that we're able to bounce back through adversity. I think that we've learned how tough we are. We've seen how tough we are. We've also seen what it does when we go out and we have fun with basketball versus when we're just trying to force it. I think it's been really important for us this season, and that's really led to our success."
On getting reenergized before the SEC Tournament…
"I think that the South Carolina game really reenergized us. It made us realize how we could play, and I feel like from here on out if we just put forth good effort and we come out and we have a good time, I think that we will be fine."

Tess Darby, So., Guard/Forward

On her confidence during warm-ups carrying over to the game…
"I always say I can't think about it. But you know, having confidence that my teammates have in me, it's rubbing off on me. I know they want me to shoot the ball, and I just have to do that whenever they give me the ball to open up for others."

On the fans in the student section…
"You know, it's very fun whenever our students come and support us on the court, it definitely feeds the floor. That's a big emphasis that UT has, but a bunch of those girls were actually my sorority sisters. I'm a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, so they came to support me on the floor."

On playing without Jordan Horston…
"I just think a big thing is to have fun but also play for each other. You never know when could be your last time on the floor. So now, it's just everyone stepping up and stepping into Jordan's role, but also doing the best you possibly can in your role, but also just having fun. I'm a firm believer that you can have fun while working hard, and I think that's just what we're showing."

Tamari Key, Jr., Center

On bouncing back after South Carolina…
"I think this is really good for us. I feel like we had a really great effort against South Carolina. We got back to ourselves and had fun in that game and that carried into today's game as well."

On locking up a No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament and finishing out the conference season strong…
"It feels good. We had to push through adversity, and I think that highlights our season so far. We have had a lot of things thrown at us, and we just continue to show that we can push through those."

On being 12 blocks away from tying Candance Parker as the number one shot blocker in Tennessee history…
"(It's) surreal. When I see everybody talking about it on social media, it is cool. I am really not the type of person to congratulate myself on things like that. But Candance Parker is amazing and being able to be first all-time would be really special."

On what was working for her offensively…
"I feel like my teammates gave me the ball in a great position to be able to finish."

Mississippi State Interim Head Coach Doug Novak

On what Tennessee was doing defensively in the first quarter…
"That first quarter I felt as if we did not create enough space with cuts. We did not play with enough pace but holding them to 15 (in the first quarter) was not bad. So, we were doing a decent job pressuring wings to make it tougher to look into Key . Obviously, that did not go very well for the entire game, but the tone was set on the defensive end. We didn't really turn it over that much, and we were getting the steals, so some parts of that game plan was working, but we just did not play with the right pace and space to utilize the skills that we have out there. We just needed to hit a few shots as well."

On what the mentality was after the first quarter and making it a close game going into halftime…
"Part of it was, this sounds weird, but we went small. It is kind of ironic to say that because we are always small. Ri (Caterrion Thompson) did a really nice job. She helped create a little better space on the floor because Tennessee is very big. We were driving it in there and getting our shots blocked instead of keeping our dribble alive and dribbling underneath the hoop, but we did a little more of that in the second quarter. To be honest with you, I was pretty excited to be down three at halftime. But for whatever reason, I could tell that during halftime we were not that excited about it. We are fighting for a tournament, and for whatever reason, we did not have that same excitement coming out of the second half. But Tennessee sure did. If you let up for a little bit against these best teams, they make you pay. That was a great job coming out of halftime for Tennessee. You can not let quality teams feel good about themselves, and then we just dug ourselves a hole trying to fight back and make it competitive. They were a little more ready than we were coming out of halftime, as much as I hate to say it."

On getting out of this four-game skid…
"I do not have the answer right now. I do think that we are still trending in the right way. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves and cannot keep looking at these last few games and say we lost to Tennessee, and we lost to LSU. We have to focus on the growth piece and how we can build and grow, and it does not matter, because we are not stopping. Even though there is one game left in the season and the SEC tournament, that has got to be the approach. And that is the only way I know, and that is the way underdogs are able to do special things at special times."

On if it was nostalgic coming back and coaching against your alma mater…
"Well, it was to start. Last night I was walking through campus, and I thought, once that ball went up, I could not stand looking at that Orange. Rocky Top, at one time, was one of all-time favorites ,and that might be the worst song I have ever heard, so I guess I got it out of my system thanks to Kellie Harper and that team. It was just a basketball game, and they got the best of us tonight."