University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols vs. Ohio State Postgame Quotes
December 03, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper
Opening Statement…
"(It was a) tough game for us tonight, and I know several of their opponents have felt that way afterwards. We were hoping to do a little bit better job executing offensively, getting a few more points on the board than we did. Defensively, I thought we were okay in the halfcourt, but when you are letting them run out in transition off of your turnovers or off of some transition opportunities, then the board play was very disappointing. We talked about it as a group, and we will continue to address it."
How good does it feel to see Tamari Key play big minutes…
"Tamari is coming off her two best practices of the year where she looked good. I was really excited about this game for her and getting her in and even told her what to expect. Today, she looked so much more comfortable moving down the floor, so that is a great positive for us. (I'm) really proud of her for hanging in there and really working hard to get to this point. We'll continue to find ways to progress her."
How Jillian Hollingshead looked more comfortable on the floor with Tamari Key…
"I think with Jillian (Hollingshead), we are trying to work through some things in terms of where we need to get her. She has had a big bulk of her time down low on the blocks, and we really try to move her around a little bit. You can see that, and that's probably what you're referencing, when Tamari gets to be the presence in the paint it frees Jillian up a little bit."
On what led to the troubles behind the arc and not hitting layups…
"We didn't have the balance we needed; we weren't aggressive enough getting to the basket. We will pick it apart. We will look at every shot that was taken and see if that was a good shot. I think most of them were. I think we took good shots, and they just didn't go in. I told the players to keep shooting with confidence. We took a few that I thought we could've got the ball inside, so there will be a few that we would maybe have traded for a different opportunity, but we have kids that have to step up and shoot with confidence because we need that."
What can Tamari Key offer as she gets back to more playing time…
"I think Tamari (Key) gives you a presence in the paint on both ends of the court. The other thing I think she brings is experience, and quite honestly, some poise. I saw some poise from her tonight that I was really proud of and impressed with. I think her voice is important, as well as all the things that we can do. She is a problem for a lot of opponents, and when she is playing and playing well, we want to continue to work toward that."
On how much Tamari Key's practices have determined her playing time...
"The last two practices she looked like a different player, and she looked more comfortable and more confident, so we wanted to make sure that we got her in. Every game is different. The swings in the game are different and sometimes you go in with a gameplan in terms of minutes, and it gets wiped away. I knew going into this game we we're going to get her in. I felt like if we could get them to a half-court defensive possession, that she would be able to help us."
On how the team can be more aggressive against a press...
"I think we have to find the balance of being aggressive but also being poised. We had some really really good possessions against the press. (We had) some really good ball movement that I was proud of, but we also had some silly turnovers that we have to be better at. I think our players understand that. Usually those moments happen because we're passive and not as aggressive as we need to be."
On what's been the biggest issue during the last five games...
"I think every game has been different. Tonight, obviously, we know they're going to score, but for us not to get to 60... Tonight, a big issue was our offensive production. We see boards being it in a couple of those games - probably three of them, that has been the problem, so has our defensive stops down the stretch. Against Notre Dame, we couldn't get stops down the stretch. I think it's been a combination of some things. It's been tough. It's been really hard. That's where our players have got to be better. I told them, 'If we lose, we better be better off for it; you better learn from it, because otherwise why did we lose?'"
On why the last couple of positive practices didn't translate on the court...
"I'll be honest with you, I think they helped us. We had some good moments tonight. The negatives seemed to outweigh the positives, but I think it helped us in a few areas. Translating to the game is as much mental as it is physical. Right now, I think just the mental toughness is where we need to grow."
On how she can help Jewel Spear get back to her usual success on the court...
"Ironically, coming out of the Notre Dame game, I told her I wanted her to shoot more or find more shots and felt good about it. She took good shots in practice and made good shots. I thought she took some good ones tonight, and they didn't go in. I think for her, just finding that self-confidence. Whether that's making her go back and watch her made shots, maybe it's just getting in the gym more so she feels good about it, continuing to run things for her to get her looks. We've got to keep doing that. She's a good player. We're not going to have many games where she goes 0-for-none."
On the decrease in Karoline Striplin's minutes...Â
"She had a few turnovers there, but the majority of that was Tamari (Key) needed those minutes, and matchup-wise, it was very hard to play Karoline and Tamari together. We tried it a little bit; it just wasn't the right team in there to guard them."Â
On Rickea Jackson's recovery process...Â
"We are still evaluating and seeing her progression."Â Â
On getting the team ready for the Middle Tennessee matchup...Â
"I think, for our team, it's a great challenge now trying to bounce back. That's a huge challenge for them. We are already talking about finding some mental toughness, you have to have mental toughness to bounce back. You have to have a competitive edge and drive that is relentless, at this point. So that is what we need to see, starting tomorrow, to be quite honest."Â
On her confidence in the team to bounce back...Â
"I'm not sure. I'm not sure where we are exactly. That's obviously, the big question, the big challenge that we have in front of us. Every year, every team is different. We have consistently thrown tough schedules at our players and have consistently played tough teams. I don't know if anyone else has done what we've done in our schedule, but every year is different. Last year, our team handled it. They handled it, they recovered, and it made them better. We will see what this team does; it's a different team. That is going to be a challenge for them, a challenge that they can absolutely handle. They can. I believe in them, and I know they can do that, but that's beyond me. That is something that they have to internalize and something that they have to do on the court."Â
On Ohio State capitalizing on Tennessee's turnovers...
"We understand that the team turned it over, but there were five or six plays that were on us. If you take some of those off the board, that makes a big difference, especially in the first half when the game is still in hand. If we take some of those silly plays off the board, it takes two points off for them, and maybe it's a different ball game going into the second half. Looking back on how the game was played, I think we could've been 15 (turnovers) or less. I think that could've been something we controlled."
On how difficult it was to stop Ohio State's Rebeka Mikulasikova...
"She (Rebeka Mikulasikova) made a couple, and then she banked one in. It's tough any time someone banks a three; it's deflating. Just the way we play our ball-screen coverage, we're usually in drop-coverage and trying to clog up the paint, and then get back out to contest. We didn't get out to contest a couple times, and then obviously, the one she banked in was tough."
On how to refocus on rebounding...
"I think some of that is the competition, but most of that is on us. We talked about the discipline and the toughness they need to have on the defensive boards and the effort and the toughness they need to have on the offensive boards. I said it at the beginning of the year: it was a major concern of mine; it's been a concern. I just didn't see it translating as quickly as I wanted it to. We did okay in the first few games, but I think we need to continue to work on that each and every day, which we do. We drill it, we work on it a lot, so we'll just have to keep doing it."
On Ohio State's half-court defense...
"They're very good defenders in the half court. I think sometimes that gets overlooked. People watch them and think that the press is great, and it is, but they are very good defenders in the half court. They're very athletic, they have really good size, and they do a really good job with their gap-help, so they don't give you a lot of drives; you don't get a lot of easy opportunities. I still think some of those at half court were on us. I really do think it was more our execution, but their half-court defense is actually stellar."
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Tennessee Junior Guard Sara PuckettÂ
On where the team is today after a rough performance…
"We had two really great practices before today so we were expecting a lot more than we actually put out there. The four-game stretch has definitely been hard. We've found ways that we need to grow, and we plan to focus on those and take those into the next game. It all starts in practice, and we have to be more consistent."
On how they plan to avoid points being scored from turnovers…
"I feel like we need to lock in more. A lot of those turnovers were unforced, and that is on us. If we focus more on that in practice - which we did this week - we have to be able to translate that over to a game, and we did not do that today."Â
On what they did well tonight…
"I think that when we did break the press, we were able to find who was open, and that is really important, because if we do have a game in the future where we are pressed like that, then we have to be able to break it, and we're going to be able to hit those people that are open or find those people that are hitting their shots at that time. So, I think we did a good job at that."Â
Tennessee Junior Guard Kaiya Wynn
On how Tamari Key impacted the game…
"She definitely had a really big impact. Everyone saw her swat the layup out of bounds. She gives us size and is a big presence in the paint. Offensively, she gives us a really big target that we can pass to. We know she's going to finish or get fouled, so we definitely plan to go to her. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does the rest of this year."Â Â
On her comfort this season and being able to build her team on the court…
"I know that my teammates have a lot of confidence in me, and I know that if I go out there and do what I do and play free, they have my back. I worked a lot in practice this week on playing middle and catching and squaring, looking for my options. These games build opportunities to go and do better, and that's just what I try to do, and that's where my mindset is."Â
Tennessee Senior Guard Destinee Wells
On what made breaking down the press so difficult…
"I think that we were being too passive. We had two really good practices that we were aggressive in, and tonight we were not."Â
On what went into the inconsistency in the shooting…
"I feel like my teammates took really good shots. They're not going to fall every night, but if you're on it, I want you to take every one of them, and that's why I give them the ball. They didn't fall tonight, but I feel like we took good shots, and no matter what, just keep shooting."
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Ohio State Head Coach Kevin McGuffÂ
On adjusting the game plan when Tamari Key entered the game...Â
"She is so big and strong, and she is tough to deal with around the basket. I thought our post play was fine today to try and get her off the block. We also wanted to crowd her a little bit, and then make the game as fast as we could, just to make her run and have to move around out there. I also thought Rebeka (Mikulasikova) did a good job attacking off the dribble on the offensive end."Â
On evaluating tonight's overall performance...Â
"From our side of things, we played really hard, and I thought our competitive character for 40 minutes was really good. We competed at a high level. I thought we had stretches when we got a little sloppy, but there were a couple keys coming into it: one, we had to win the battle on the boards, and we did that. Against their size and athleticism, that is not easy to do. And the other thing, we had to have our press be effective, and I think we had 28 points off of turnovers, so I thought those were the two keys where we could kind of hurt them. If we could keep them off the boards and the press be effective, the game could go our way."Â
On how tonight's performance compared to their first ranked matchup against USC...Â
"I don't think we put our best foot forward that first game against USC, and we didn't deserve to win that game, but we've gotten better. I told the team after the game that this was the best week of practice that we've had, and that's why we've improved and that's why we played well today."Â
Ohio State Forward Rebeka MikulasikovaÂ
On her interior defense tonight...Â
"I just tried to focus on defense during practice days. Like Coach (McGuff) said, we had a really good week of practices, so that helped. Also, the guards are really helping, so that's a great help from them when I'm guarding the post."Â
Ohio State Guard Celeste Taylor
On what went into tonight's defensive performance...Â
"Continuing to build off of our effort in practice and continuing to get better, it is probably going to look better on the court when we are flying around. Coach always says the effort is going to trump a lot of mistakes, so as long as we are flying around and helping one another out, it will look good."
