University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Lady Vols 67, Rutgers 61
December 13, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Head Coach Pat Summitt
(On the win at Rutgers)
"We started out a little bit slow, but I thought we picked it up. Obviously, (Shekinna) Stricklen stepped up, Meighan (Simmons) and Taber (Spani) did too. We had some people knock down threes when we needed them, desperately. I think sometimes when you start slow, you wonder 'when are we going to pick it up?' But we did."
(On the Lady Vols performance on the trip to the Northeast)
"Absolutely, we are pleased. I feel good about what happened in New York. Obviously, I hope we can keep our momentum and keep it going and keep focused. We are going to be back on the road real soon."
(On the Lady Vols overall team work)
"I think they have learned to play really well together. They have that chemistry with the leadership that we have. They have really taken on the ownership and we just have to keep our focus and keep winning."
Assistant Coach Mickie DeMoss
(On Simmons' shot selection)
"We don't want Meighan Simmons to stop shooting the basketball. She's a great scorer, she's a great player and shooters go though slumps. Anybody who has watched basketball or any sport, you know that great players, at times, will go through some tough times. With Meighan back in the starting line-up. I think she stepped up, she had a lot of responsibility running the team. The first half, I think she took a few questionable shots, but like you said, she had two big threes when we desperately needed some offense. You just have to take the good with the bad with her sometimes."
(On Vicki Baugh and Glory Johnson rebounding strong, despite slow offensive games)
"They got in the paint and did a very good job. Sometimes, you might think, they wouldn't play as hard, but they really went after it on the glass."
(On Rutgers crashing the boards hard)
"They are outrebounding their opponents +15, so we knew it was going to be a battle on the boards coming in here. But they are so quick to the ball. They send, sometimes, five people to the glass. That's a little different than what we are used to. I thought the second half, we really stepped up our board play. I don't think their board play in the second half, hurt quite as much as the first half."
(On Playing at Rutgers)
"This was a high-level game. You have Rutgers ranked in the top 15 in the country. I am telling you, this is one of the loudest places that I have ever coached in. It was a hostile environment. It was loud and we were going against a very, very good Rutgers team."
Senior Forward Shekinna Stricklen
(On the physicality of the game)
"It was very rough. It's good to come out of a game like this with a win, especially on the road. We pretty much did a lot of things to give them the game, turnovers at the wrong time. But we have great shooters on the team that step up, Meighan hit two big threes, back-to-back, then Taber came out and hit another three that sealed the game for us."
(On providing leadership to Simmons)
"Meighan is a great shooter. She has been in a slump. But, we need her. She needed to step up and she did today. I'm so proud of her. I told her, 'I'm very proud of you, that you stepped up.' She's just a shooter, and you don't stop, you really don't. She took good shots today. Giving her the ball, she knocked down shots at the right time, that was great."
