Lady Vols vs. UConn Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"That was a great environment to play basketball in today, loved the fans coming out and being loud. It was fun to be a part of. Obviously, (it was) really tough to slow them down today. They were making about every open shot they had. They had a few too many open shots, but they were making some tough shots as well. We just weren't able to get enough stops to give ourselves a chance to win the game. Proud of our fight. I thought we had good effort. Hopefully, we can learn from this, grow and be a better basketball team."

On why the team didn't come out strong to begin the game…
"Listen, I'm going to give that one to Connecticut. That's how great they played in that first quarter. They were efficient, their spacing was great and they made shots. They banked in one of the shots at the end of the first quarter, and that's how that whole quarter felt. We talked to our team about settling in, continuing to fight, continuing to play hard. Although they shot 55 percent for the game, that's really good. We didn't think they were going to keep the 71-percent clip going. You just try to tell your team to hang in there and at least make things a little bit more difficult, which is what we were able to do a little bit later."

On the offense's performance…
"I think our ball movement wasn't exactly where we needed it, and our spacing could be better, offensively. We didn't get a lot in transition; we didn't get a lot of opportunities there. Part of that is to get stops, to get going in transition. I think there are some things we can do better. I liked our aggressiveness. I liked that, but I think we definitely need to execute a little bit better offensively."

On how the team can rebound from this with another matchup on Monday…
"I think for us, we aren't looking at it as that. We just need to see how we can be a better basketball team. That's a really good team, that's another level. How can we take that next step? We have improved. Anyone who has seen us play knows that we are very capable, and we can play. What we want to do is take it another step. For us, that's going to be in the details. It's going to be in the consistency, not from game to game, but from minute to minute, not having lulls, not being two steps behind the offense to start the game. For us, the details is where we'll improve."

On details for team to master moving forward and attention around the game during We Back Pat initiative…
"To me, the details would be taking care of the basketball, understanding our defensive execution and defensive gameplan, us sprinting the floor every single time, making hard cuts, finishing layups, making free throws. It's the little things. It's not anything complicated. It's not that we have to learn a new offense or a new defense, it is the details for what we're already doing. That's all the time, it's every single possession over and over. In terms of the day and the atmosphere and everything going on, it was awesome. It was fun. I hope that our fans enjoyed the excitement. Obviously, wish it would have been a better outcome for us, but we appreciate our fans being there and being loud. When it got really loud in the second quarter, when we were making a lot of tough, gritty plays. At one point, I was so excited for our team that they were really experiencing that environment, because that was a lot of fun. That's what you come to Tennessee for."

On how the Tennessee-UConn rivalry has changed from her playing years to now and the future of the rivalry…
"I think it's changed. Obviously, we're in different spaces right now as teams, but I think you can still see there's a lot of competitiveness in that game. I think it's a great challenge. I think that the matchup, at least on our part, is a great challenge to see where you're at and where you need to go to improve."

On team's excitement about this game…
"I think our players were really looking forward to it. They like these games, they're competitors. They like the opportunity they have. That's what we look at it as, an opportunity to come in here and play this game. I know that there weren't a whole lot of people that thought we were going to do what we did, our team did. We felt confident going in, and they were just looking forward to it. Again, it was, it was an opportunity."

On if there was discussion of limiting Jordan Horston's minutes or her availability after illness…
"We just worked her back in. Once we got her in full-go yesterday, we were in good shape. We're just going to watch and see how she did. Obviously, she went in and played a lot of minutes. Really proud of her and excited for how competitive she was and how focused I thought she was during the game."

On having another big opportunity at LSU on Monday…
"Yeah, honestly, we didn't discuss our next game yet. They know what is next. You know, you are playing an undefeated team that is really rolling. They are playing great. We know it is huge, especially going down there. It is going to be a huge challenge for us. We get that. We will start discussing LSU tomorrow."

On getting more distribution on the offensive end…
"Like I said earlier, I didn't think our ball movement was where it needed to be so, you get that ball movement up and you increase those assists. Obviously, you have to credit Connecticut's defense. They do a really good job, defensively. I think that gets hidden sometimes with their offensive performance. I mean their offensive performances are typically stellar. They are shooting a high percentage, they are efficient, but defensively, they are also really good. We saw a little bit of that today, but I think our team can do a little bit better job in that area to get the assists up and the turnovers down in this game."

On how close she feels the team is to having all the pieces come together…
"Obviously, we are not there. We know that. We are getting there, and I think we can continue to go in a positive direction. I really think we can. It might be smaller increments in terms of the details, but we can still do that. That doesn't mean just because you are doing (those things) you are going to win every game. It may or may not, but we have to find a way to be the best basketball team we can possibly be. That is what we are going to be working towards."

Tennessee Senior Guard Jordan Horston

On why it was difficult to stop UConn in the opening quarter…
"I feel like they were two steps ahead of us. They started off strong, and we just had to settle in. I feel like we were a little nervous. Actually, I wouldn't say nervous, because we wouldn't be nervous to play them. Maybe it was just the atmosphere, it was a big crowd. The largest it's been in 15 years. It was a great atmosphere - huge rivalry. We just started off a little slow."

On what worked so well for them in the second quarter…
"We just put together stops. We just got stops and created momentum off of offensive fouls. We were getting offensive rebounds. We were doing the little things and the gritty things, and it was giving us momentum. It was flowing. It slowed them down in transition, and we put together stops."

On what was going through her head during the impressive second quarter…
"I have to get it done. I'll do whatever it takes to try and figure out how to pull this one out. Whatever the team needed, I was going to do it. If they needed me to guard Aaliyah (Edwards) or the big girl number 14 (Dorka Juhasz), I was going to do it. I was going to do the best I could. It sucks. I wanted to win this game. We'll get better. It is what it is. We have another big game coming up."

Tennessee Senior Forward Rickea Jackson

On what she can take away tonight after playing UConn's Aaliyah Edwards…

"Just to guard early and come out hot and do the little things from the jump. I feel like we just have to settle in, and they made a lot of tough shots and things like that. We just have to do the little things that we talked about."

Connecticut Head Coach Geno Auriemma

On the Tennessee vs. UConn rivalry...
"You know, the rivalry went away, obviously. It went from you know, a great game every year, to then two great games every year, and then sometimes three great games every year. It almost felt like they were in our league. And it went from there back to two, back to one, and then zero for a long time. So, you know, I don't know if the rivalry is the same. I don't know that you can ever recreate rivalries the way they used to be. We just view it as you know, (Chris Dailey), myself, Jamelle Elliot, Morgan (Valley), you know we have great memories of this place. You know, we won a lot of games here. We lost a bunch of games here. But they were all great memories, you know, and it's a really good team and a great environment. They really appreciate the game here. The fans are great. So I don't know that it's what it used to be, but it's still as good if not better than any other non-conference game that you can play... anywhere, in my opinion."

On if Kellie Harper shares any similarities with Pat Summitt...
"Yeah, after we spoke before the game, I came down and I said to my assistant, (Chris Dailey), I say, 'Man, the older Kellie gets...' And you've got to remember, I coached against her the year they won a national championship. And I said, 'She has a lot of Pat's mannerisms. I guess you can't help it. You know, you spend that much time with her, and you know, if you're going to emulate somebody, why not her?' But she's her own person. They do things a different way. She coaches with a different style than Pat did. So, yes, she has a lot of Pat's similarities, but she has her own style, and she has her own way of doing things, which I think is important. Because that's what she has to do; she can't try to be like Pat. That doesn't work. It doesn't work for anybody. Nobody can be like that. She's constantly going to be compared to the previous success, but I think she can handle it, much better than most people, probably."

UConn Junior Forward Aaliyah Edwards

On experiencing Tennessee's crowd...
"I mean yeah, I think with any rivalry game, it's always going to be chirping or whatever. But, I think that we came in with a great energy. We started the game very well, and then from there, we knew that the energy had to come from within us. We weren't going to hear it from the crowd, so something internal. I think we held ourselves accountable in that way."

On Nika Muhl…
"Oh, she's a big part to our success tonight. The spark that we needed, energy that we needed, and also her ball pressure was amazing tonight. It helped us getting open and going on offense for transition. So, she did well - 14 assists, she was getting rebounds, so we appreciate that for sure."

UConn Graduate Senior Forward Lou Lopez Senechal

On her first experience in the rivalry...
"It was really fun, I mean really exciting. I think those moments are the most exciting, you know, when there's a big crowd and it's just super exciting to be able to play against bigger teams, bigger challenges. That's always what I wanted, and I think we came back strong, especially in the second half. Yeah, it was a good game."