University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols vs. Auburn Postgame Quotes
February 19, 2023 | Women's Basketball
Head Coach Kellie Harper
Opening Statement:
"We expected a tough game today. Obviously, that's what we got, but we walked in the locker room after the game and just made sure our team understood that that was not the prettiest game we've played, but it's a win, and that was the bottom line today, so we're proud that we're walking out here with a win. Auburn did a great job. Well, they knocked down shots when they needed them. They played really tough today, but we're really happy that we got to 20 wins. That's a big deal."
On Jasmine Powell's overall effort during the game...
"Jasmine's pretty consistent in terms of level headed. She doesn't get too high, too low, so we're able to take advantage of her poise in those situations. Especially in a game like this. I thought she had a pretty good command, especially in the second half. She had a really good command of what we needed to be doing, where we needed to get the ball and the pace, so I thought her poise really helped our team. We had too many turnovers overall, but we've cut them down. We only had seven in the second half, so I thought her hand on the ball a little bit more in the second half and her poise really helped in that department."
On her message to the team during the third quarter...
"The message did not include 'let's get the ball to Rickea (Jackson)'. I'd love to say that I had that thought. Now, obviously, that's part of our gameplay and we came out and I saw a matchup that we liked, went to her, saw it again, saw it again, so we were able to get her the ball three straight times before they could sub and get a different matchup. We took advantage of the opportunity that we had. We came in here one time and said we didn't have an animated halftime - that was an animated third timeout. I was not pleased with how we were playing. I thought we didn't have the right mindset at that moment and they needed to snap out of it. As a coach, sometimes you have to go there. Sometimes you're teaching, sometimes you love and sometimes you gotta get after them a little bit."
On the impact the seniors have made...
"I think it's so difficult this year with seven and they're all in different stages. You've got players that are out, players that just got here and they've only been here a year, players that have been here for three years, four years, so it's kind of all over the map with what their careers look like. It's not your typical senior night anymore. In particular, when you're talking about just this class as a whole, you really have to look at this season, and I think they've just brought great experience. I think that's been the biggest thing, and to come in and they love the program. They bought in. When things aren't going well, they work through it. I think they lead by examples. They lead vocally and I think just going back to their experience, I think has been invaluable for this team."
On the physicality of today's game preparing the team for South Carolina…
"You know, any time you are playing in the SEC, you have to expect a physical game, we expected it today, physical in the paint, physical on the perimeter. You know, you don't have the size today that you'll see on Thursday in terms of what you're going to see in the paint, but it was a physical game. It was challenging, and I think, as a team, we have to grow from this, and make sure that we're rising to the occasion, and just proud we were able to withstand that."
On the third quarter timeout speech…
"As a coach, you're always trying to figure out what they need, and how you can motivate them and how you can urge them on. I love to see them respond. I love to see them respond whether it's me pulling somebody aside, talking about what I'm looking for, or encouraging them or having a timeout like that. You want to see them respond and meet the challenge that they have in front of them."
On Auburn's offensive rebounds…
"Our offensive boards, looking at ours, we shot so well today. We still got about 40 percent of our misses, which is not bad. I still think there's a few out there we can get to get that number even a little bit higher. I thought there in the second half, we got some long rebounds and we were a little bit undisciplined. Shot was going up, we were turning and going to the basket instead of finding a man to put a body on, so we got a little bit undisciplined there in the second half and those rebounds were going over our head, and that's where we mixed up our defenses, but it doesn't matter, your box out should be the same and it's got to be every time you got to be dialed in."
On the accomplishment of claiming the third seed in the SEC…
"I think, again, to get to 20 (wins) and knowing what the start was for us and how challenging it was. Again, I'll go back to this, you've heard me say this before. Our team kept at it. They kept trying, and they kept coming into practice, and they kept believing and buying into what we were saying. They believed in their teammates, they knew we could win games, and I'll tell you what, that schedule would have broken a lot of teams. It would have, or the results maybe I should say. We weren't winning and it was not easy, but they hung in there. They hung in there and gave themselves a chance to be a good basketball team and tha's on them. That is 100 percent on our team, and their belief and their competitiveness
On Tess Darby's performance in the first half…
"I thought Tess was huge in that first half. We were able to find her, gave her some good looks. She obviously had to knock them down. When we were a little stagnant, little stale there in the first half, she was able to put some points on the board for us and she can do that. My only complaint is I wish we'd have found her about three more times. That's my only complaint. I thought she was open a couple more. We just missed her, but it opens up so many opportunities for our team, so now going into the second half, it opens up lanes because they're not helping off of her in the second half and you have lanes open, one-on-one opportunities for some of our other players. I thought she did a really good job defensively as well. She was pretty solid across the board, and I think she's been solid. I think she's been playing well."Â
 On if the amount of turnovers against Auburn is concerning…
"I think it's a concern. I think it's something that we have to look to get better at and we've been a little bit inconsistent that number this year. We've had some really good games where we've taken care of the ball a lot, and then just have kind of anomaly games. Now I do want to give Auburn credit for that. They did a nice job being physical and really trying to get after it and taking you out of what you wanted to do and took us a while to settle into how we needed to play, but we did and cleaned it up there and the second half, down to seven turnovers the second half, so if we can we can continue to correct some of those mistakes, play a little bit more poised and confident, I think that will help us"
On the bye week being a turning point for the team after some mid-season losses…
"Yeah, I thought that bye week couldn't have been scheduled in a better spot, unless it was before the Mississippi State game. I think we came out of that bye week as good as we could have. I mean, just refreshed and reenergized. We have to focus on some different things in practice. I think their bodies were looking good during the spell as well. We really took advantage of the bye week and that's where we got an extra day off and an extra practice. It was good for us."
On Jillian Hollingshead's performance and progression…
"Yeah, I think this game for her was a physical game. It was not easy. We knew it was not going to be easy, but I think just complimenting her on knocking down those free throws. She had four offensive boards. We didn't give her the ball as much, but part of that was because we were going right into Rikea (Jackson), so I think, everyone can still be productive without having to put points on the board, and I thought Jill (Hollingshead) was. I think there's some things that we can clean up with her defensively a little bit, but I thought she really battled and gave us some good minutes."
Senior Guard Jasmine Powell
On getting eight assists on Senior Day…"We already knew coming into this game that we needed to win this game. After last year, and what happened, we were ready to come in and play the game. That's just motivation for all of us honestly to come in here and get it done. Looking for my players, just trying to find an open man, trying to make it easier for everyone else. Just trying to keep my poise, and lead this team is what really led to my success, but we really just came in and wanted to get it done for the seniors and last year, just trying to come out here and get a win. That was the motivation that we needed."
On facing Auburn before playing South Carolina…
 "It was really tough down there. We already knew coming into the game that they were going to be super physical.They wanted to push us out of the game, they wanted to do anything that was going to get us raveled, but we tried to continue to stay poised, I think that's going to carry us into our game against South Carolina, so just continue to stay poised and continue to play within ourselves. Staying together, I think that was the one thing that Coach Kellie (Harper) told us was coming together instead of playing within ourselves. I think that is the one thing we need to take from this game going forward is to stay together no matter what. It doesn't matter what the other team does, if we do what we're supposed to do, we're unstoppable."
Senior Guard Jordan Horston
On Coach Harper's third quarter timeout speech…
"It fired us up for sure, she got onto us, but that's what we needed, just telling us that we got to play, just play. Don't worry about anything else, just play. We took that in and went out there and wanted to do what she told us to do. Regardless of whatever was happening, we knew that we could turn it over, rebounding, getting stops, putting the ball in the basket. Just focusing on those things and just locking in. It really fired us up. I know it fired me up."
On Senior Day…
"I feel like there were a lot of jitters going on, it was a big day. Our families are here, it was a payback game, so we had a lot of nerves, but it's just a basketball game and we got to look at it like a basketball game. We did the things we needed to do. We stayed within ourselves, just played and stayed together. Things turned out how we'd like it to turn out, but my mom and my sister on the other hand, they're cry babies so I knew that they weren't going to hold it together."
Junior Guard/Forward Tess Darby
On tying her career high in 3-pointers…
 "I love to shoot the basketball, especially for threes. Seeing those go in it just made me want to play even more today, but just having teammates that put me in those open positions, and with having the hot hand today, just giving me the ball, that boosts your confidence too. Having teammates that are like 'alright you're gonna shoot this next one,' so I'm just really fortunate to play with a group of girls like this."
On time with seniors…
"I've been here for three years and it feels like it has been three days. My time has flown by here, and just seeing everything that the seniors have contributed. Coach Tatum leads us with this quote, 'leave the jersey in a better place' and you can go through the line and you can say every senior that has put on that jersey has left their jersey in a better place, so just the culture and the way that they carry themselves on and off the court, the great teammates they are. It's having role models that are seniors that are also your teammates. I'm just very very fortunate to play with them and they do an outstanding job. We got more basketball to play so just taking the time that we have with them the rest of the season, it's very special."
Auburn Head Coach Johnnie Harris
Opening Statement:
"I thought it was a good, tough, hard-fought game. I thought our kids came in and played hard. For about 37 of the 40 minutes, we stayed with the game plan, but I thought the game changed when we got in foul trouble. I had three starters sitting in the second quarter, so I had three to four freshmen out there, and they made some unforced turnovers and that is when the game changed, but I did think we battled back, although we made some mistakes down the stretch that cost us the ball game."
On Rickea Jackson as an opponent…
 "She's a load. I recruited her to Mississippi State, so I was able to coach her her freshman year, so I already knew what we were dealing with. What they (Tennessee) did is they started posting her up and we were supposed to front, but we were playing behind, and you can't play behind her because she has that turn-around fall away, but when I did get somebody in there, they could front. I had A.C. (Aicha Coulibaly) on the bench during that time, but when I got somebody in there that could front her, they would lob it over and we wouldn't stay attached until the ball got up, which is how you defend that, and you have to pressure the ball, so we had some defensive breakdowns, but she (Rikea Jackson) is a load. She went to work and did what she does best: scored the ball."
On Auburn's focus on offensive rebounds in order to keep them in the game…
 "Absolutely. I know they've been pounding people on the boards, so we knew we had to focus on boxing out and going to the boards. We sent five on the defensive end to the boards, and we sent three with one to the free-throw line and one back on the offensive end, so yes, we focused on boxing out, rebounding, and getting the ball out and going. I thought we did a pretty good job for a while in transition until they started getting back."
On exploiting Tennessee's defense for Auburn's advantage…
"Yeah we were hitting shots. I thought we executed some good stuff, both against when they went zone and then when they went man, I thought we got downhill and were able to get them off balance so we either finished or kicked it out and we got some offensive rebounds. I'm not sure how many putbacks we got, but we got fouls or we kicked it out and ran another possession, so I thought we executed pretty well, for the most part, other than the second quarter when I had my freshmen in, but that is also a good learning lesson. We'll go back, show them this film and they'll learn and see where they should have passed the ball. I think they were trying to make hero passes instead of the next easy pass, so we'll fix that."
