Lady Vols vs. Notre Dame Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Women's Basketball Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement
"Obviously, this is a tough one. I think everyone here in our locker room feels like we should have walked out with a win, so it's a hard pill to swallow when you don't get it. Obviously, the other team had a lot to do with that; they did a great job of grabbing the momentum and holding onto it and finishing the game out strong. They had great balance, and great toughness from the game. Obviously, we are disappointed. And hopefully, we will learn from it."

On the difference in momentum tonight versus the Oklahoma game…
"I feel like when they cut it to 12... 12 is the number that stands out to me. I thought we got tight, and we stopped playing freely, and we stopped playing fearlessly, and tried not to make mistakes. That's not a great way to play basketball. At the same time, I thought that Notre Dame was making plays, utilizing their balance in their physicality in the paint."

On the team shot selection today and how they adjusted to Notre Dame…
"We'll go back and look at it. I thought that we took good shots for the most part. I don't know if that was ill-advised for us. I thought Notre Dame adapted and played what they needed to play, and they got the ball inside. Their size and their physicality in the paint was really good for them."

On the lower number of offensive rebounds…
"I am not very happy about that offensive board production. I am really disappointed actually, in the whole rebounding, period. That whole column is a problem. We've got to be better. We have to be better on both ends of the court with our rebounding."

On Jasmine Powell stepping up in the absence of Rickea Jackson…
"I think Jamine is the player that the team really looks to right now in tough moments and adverse moments. She's been pretty consistent, and I think for her, it's just continued growth. She has to keep doing what she's doing. She did a heck of a job defensively tonight, and I'm really proud of her for that. Also continuing to find ways for her to be more aggressive on the offensive end, I think will be good for our team. (I've) just been really proud of how she's playing."

On being able to play in close games…
"We've had a lot of lessons. You hope we're learning as we go. I want them to be a better basketball team at the end of it, but it's just hard right now to see those lessons, because this one really hurts. That's the lesson here. You have to get this win. There's a thousand different plays, but we have to make sure we know who we are and stay consistent with that."

On the shot clock management…
"We wanted a little bit of ball movement tonight, so we were okay going a little bit deeper into the clock. There were times I felt like we had a shot, we had an opportunity for a drive, we had an opportunity for a pass, and we didn't take it. Those are the moments offensively, we need to push the issue, and they have to feel a little bit more comfortable to be aggressive in those moments. It was different people. It wasn't just the same person; it was different people throughout the night. That will be an area of film that we're going to have to look at and say, 'Look you have the shot, you got to step up and take it.'"

On the shorter sub rotation in the second half…
"I think production. We had different folks in. We subbed, and there were reasons we subbed and reasons we didn't sub. A lot of that is production, match-ups, and how people were playing out on the court. Sometimes it's not the people over here, it's the people out on the court."

On the match-up with Ohio State on Sunday...
"Well, I didn't really worry about the next one while I was in the locker room. We talked about rebounding and the toughness that we were missing to get the win. You do those two things, you win the game. So, coming out of this game, anything that we want to work on from this game will help us in our next one – there's no doubt about it. If we can get better in these areas, then we will be a better basketball team when we play Ohio State. Obviously, at some point this week we have to focus on our opponent and focus on what we're going to see over the weekend. We've got enough time to do both - really go out and practice and really work on the things we need to work on from this game and then have enough practice time left to work on specifically Ohio State."

On the assist difference in the second half…
"Obviously, you'd like to score a little bit more there in the second half. I think it was pretty even there – 16-16 – in the third and fourth. I thought it started with our pace. We were too passive, and you can't play passive. There are times where we don't want to maybe shoot quick, but that doesn't mean you are passive. That's where we need to go back and watch - here's the production and here's not. Part of that is also getting stops, and it is easier to run when you're getting stops, and we didn't do that in the second half either."

On the open floor turnovers and how she intends to fix them…
"Yeah, you know, that is where we can't lose. We can't go outside the game plan, can't change up what we're doing in the second half. I thought we got passive, and we don't play well passive. I think when we're more aggressive, we take care of the basketball a little bit better. So we will definitely talk about the pace, our aggressiveness vs. being passive. Then also, just the technical execution. I mean the decision-making and the execution of those plays, you have to take care of it."

On her thoughts about Karoline Striplin's production in the post…
"Yeah, I thought we missed our post several times. I thought we had some post-ups and better spacing. We had a little bit of spacing there in the second half. I think again, sometimes when you get tight, you are afraid to make a mistake and almost afraid to make a pass, so we missed them several times. That's where you just have to open up and play basketball. That'll be something we continue to talk about."

On what Destinee Wells did well tonight…
"I think every game and every practice she is getting more comfortable. She sees the floor really well. She changes her speed really well, offensively. She can make shots. I know she didn't make a three tonight, but she can also score. I think for her, being more comfortable. You are just going to see her and what she can do. She's really talented, there is no doubt about it."

Junior Forward Karoline Striplin

On tonight's loss... "We were up at the half. We had momentum going into the locker room. I think just focusing more as we come back to the court out of the locker room. I think we just didn't play Tennessee basketball fully tonight. They were better us on the offense of boards, and overall. That's something we pride ourselves on. That's something we need to look at and clean up for the next game."
On her success in the first half...
"I think we have to respect our shooters. Obviously, we have a lot of great players on the floor, especially post-to-post. I think Sara (Puckett), Jill (Hollingshead), and myself were able to play off each other in that aspect - someone being on the perimeter, and someone else being in. They (Notre Dame) obviously adjusted to it later on. I think being able to go one-on-one in the post was pretty good."

Graduate Student Guard Jasmine Powell

On her thoughts of the second half...
"I think in the second half they (Notre Dame) brought their help side more. We missed some skips there. I think we missed her (Karoline Striplin) a couple of times. We missed our bigs a couple of times. We just tried playing fast. I think we need to slow down and give our post-players a chance, especially when they have been so good in the first half, going back to what's going put us up in the second half. It's what we are working on."
On tonight's turnover rate...
"I will say in the first half we broke their (Notre Dame) pressure a lot. We were poised. I think in the second half they sped us up. We tried to keep up their pace. They sped us a lot more than we wanted to. We got out of control at times, and we weren't focused as much as we wanted to be. We were just trying to hone in on the defensive end. That's where they got their momentum from getting turnovers and getting stops. They had a lot of points of our turnovers. That's where they got their momentum from, and we weren't able to match their intensity.

Senior Guard Destinee Wells

On three-point shooting tonight...
"I feel like we are an unselfish team, and if we see someone open on the three, then we want them to take that shot whether they fall or not. Tonight, they really weren't falling. We have really good players. We've just got to shoot it with confidence."
On Notre Dame's defense in the second half...
"I feel that a lot of it came from just them coming out and punching us in the mouth. We couldn't get stops when we needed to, and that slowed down our transition. We couldn't get easy buckets in transition like we used to. We couldn't push the ball. I feel like it just slowed us down. If we had gotten more stops and would've pushed the ball, we would've kept our momentum."

Notre Dame Head Coach Niele Ivey

Opening Statement
"It seemed like Tennessee on their court. We didn't start the game very well, but we came back and responded in the second half, and we fought until the end. I'm very proud as a coach. Like I said, with the way we responded and the way we fought, to pull that victory out on the road is just tremendous for us. (I'm) Incredibly proud of this group for this win."

On if taking Sara (Puckett) out of play was a strategy…
"Yeah, we are always trying to front and deny the high post. We felt like they had a great inside presence, and a lot of good offense runs through their posts. Also, obviously (Tennessee) has some great guard play. That was important, trying to deny the front, and we did. We had a couple adjustments and knew that we were going to have to really be physical down into the game."

On what flipped the game in the third quarter…
"After halftime, just regrouping and talking about what we needed to get better at. We had kind of a glazed over look in the beginning of the game. I just talked about just playing our game. We weren't playing the right way; we weren't playing Irish basketball. So, we focused in on getting some more ball movement, getting some spacing within our offense and playing defense. I felt like we responded to that, and they played for a strong 20 minutes."

On how important it was to make sure each player was involved during the game…
"Absolutely. We know that right now with our numbers being down that everybody has to step up. So, everybody understands that. We need battles from everybody. Everybody is going to have to do a little bit more. Not having Cassandre (Prosper), not having Sonia (Citron)—obviously there are a lot of people we don't have, so everyone has to do a little bit more. KK (Bransford) is running the point, sometimes she's at the forward. Natalija (Marshall) is coming in and giving us great minutes for the last couple games. Everyone knows on this team they have to give more, so whatever that is, offensively or defensively or rebounding."

On staying composed without two of its veterans on the court…
"At the beginning of the game, I just talked about trust. That was the one thing - trust, confidence and poise. We understand being on the road in the SEC environment you have to have poise, especially down the stretch. That's a credit to this group. That's a credit to Hannah (Hidalgo) being a freshman in the fire and somebody that's just really listening and learning in it. She's never been in this moment. (I) thought Anna (DeWolfe) did a great job of settling us down and did a great job with her poise and experience. I thought she did a great job. Maddy (Westbeld) and Kylee (Watson), our upperclassmen, and KK (Bransford) - she's somebody that plays with a lot of poise. So, we really relied on that at the end of the game, and I was really proud of that because it could have been a situation where we just let the offense get scattered, and we didn't do that. We took it possession by possession, chipped away, and it worked in our favor."

Notre Dame Sophomore Guard KK Bransford

On what step it was for the program to come back from a double-figure deficit…
"It's a big step. At halftime we all came together. Like Coach Ivey said, we just had to really stick together in this, because like you said, it's a great environment. (There are) lots of fans for Tennessee, so just sticking together was super important, especially when we were down. We just kept chipping away one possession at a time."

Notre Dame Senior Forward Natalija Marshall

On the big second half and what opened the floor for her specifically…
"I think poise, for sure. We talk about poise a lot, especially in an environment like this. None of us have played at Tennessee or versus a team with a crowd like this. I think poise was the really big thing -- staying confident, not rushing our shots and getting the shots that we wanted. I think we did that in the second half."

On the physicality of the game…
"It was physical. I love physicality. It was super fun for a post player, trying to get offensive boards, trying a defensive board and really trying to battle in the paint. That was definitely a point of emphasis in preparing for this offensively and defensively, and I think we handled it well. We were down numbers but like we said: poise. I think we did a good job in that area."