University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes: #8 Tennessee 82, Auburn 61
February 05, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2012
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Pat Summitt
(General Comments)
"Obviously after the disappointing loss to South Carolina on Thursday, we really needed to bounce back today. Overall, I was pleased with our play.
"I liked our focus. We also came out with a lot of energy, and we were able to spread the minutes around. When you are able to do that it is a feel good game for everyone.
"I know our staff was pleased overall with the way this team responded.
"This was a good win for us. Auburn came out strong and really attacked us from the jump. When they got a five point lead, I just said we need to settle down and answer their quick lead."
(Key stats)
"Three stats jump off the page this afternoon...our points in the paint (UT 52, Auburn 28) and our points off of turnovers (UT 21, Auburn 2). Those are on the positive side. On the negative side, I don't like the fact we
were outrebounded by Auburn (Auburn 42, Tennessee 39)."
(Free Throws)
"I was not happy with our free throw effort today. Going 15 for 23 and shooting 65.2 percent from the line is not going to win big ballgames. We congratulated our bench for coming in and hitting all nine of their free throws.
"We just have to continue to work every day on getting up as many free throws as we can."
(On her talk with Shekinna Stricklen after practice Friday)
"Shekinna came to me and asked to visit. I told her how much we counted on her as our All-American to work hard and bring it every day and to set an example for her teammates. I told her we needed her to step up and play the way she is capable of playing. I was happy for her today. She played with a lot of emotion today and I think her teammates fed off of that."
(Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen's double-double)
"Glory and Shekinna are capable of playing like that each and every game. They have the talent to do that."
(our defense today)
"Obviously, our communication on defense was so much better today. When they talk to each other like that, it is a reminder to keep high hands and not let shooters get away from us. We were a lot more aggressive and our huddles were really good."
(on Briana Bass)
"When Bree goes out on the floor, she has a clear plan of what she's going to do. She doesn't try to do too much, she really plays within herself. I thought she did a really nice job with Auburn's pressure defense and guarding Najat Ouardad.
"Bree is feisty and her teammates love her energy and feed off of it. She plays with a great deal of heart."
TENNESSEE ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH Holly Warlick
(opening statement)
"I feel a lot better than I did on Thursday. We wanted our players to play with a lot of effort and heart, and I thought today we did that regardless of what happened on the court. I was proud of them. I think Glory and Shekinna had their first double-double, and we got some really good play off our bench. Any time you score 52 points in the paint, you're doing something right at Tennessee because that's our goal: to score in the paint and score off transition. So, proud of our effort. We can still continue to get better, but that was a good win for us today."
(on trying to score paint points being part of Tennessee's game plan)
"Absolutely. It's always what we want to do, and I thought Auburn did a good job of taking it away, was very physical on Glory inside, and that was their game plan. I thought the first half they did that. I thought the second half we got in with Glory, we got shots, we had transition points and I thought Ariel took care of the ball a little bit better. The only problem is the first four minutes of the second half we turned the ball over three times in a row, and that's just not acceptable. We called a timeout and got a couple of things straight, and I thought we got their attention, and we went on to play a very good second half."
(on extending Tennessee's defensive press, aggressively trying to turn Auburn over)
"We wanted to be more aggressive. Actually, after the game the kids said, `that was actually fun.' When they think it's fun, we're going to do it more often, but they've got to buy into it. I thought they bought into it. We got success, and when you have success with something you do, it seems to give us more energy. We wanted to extend. We wanted to speed the game up, and our man- and full-court press was a little bit better than our zone press, so we went with it."
(on going away from the extended defense in the second half)
"I think we want to do it a little bit more when we shoot a free throw, and we just wanted to match up when we scored. We wanted to match up quickly. I think at times when Glory's in and we have a really athletic group in, we seem to press and do a little bit better. I was pleased. We mixed it up. We ran zone; we ran man. When we can cause turnovers and score off of our turnovers, that's a great day for us."
(on Briana Bass providing a jolt off the bench)
"Bree finally found somebody she's taller than today. (laughter) Which was nice, but she did. I'll say this about Bree: she plays her role. Today, she came in and played hard. We've asked our guards to force their players left. She did that. She never strays away from the game plan, and I appreciate Bree so much. Her work ethic is so good, and she sticks with what the coaches say. I'm glad she got the minutes. I'm proud of her effort. I thought she held her own, and she got some good minutes. I was excited to see her get in there."
(on Tennessee giving up layups, showing defensive lapses, if this is who Tennessee is)
"I hope not. We're shortening our gaps. They used to be pretty wide where we would have lapses. Now they're getting smaller. We're going to continue to make sure that we close the gap on that. We can't have lapses, and we did. They shot three or four layups, and we can't do it if our bench comes in. We've got to maintain that pressure, that ability to play hard all the time, and I think sometimes when players come in, they lose a little bit, it takes them a little bit longer to get going, and unfortunately if you come off the bench, you got to maintain what we're doing right then. You cannot have a lapse. It is tough coming off the bench and maintaining what we have, but those are the thing we got to work on."
(on being vigilant as coaches about taking players out for defensive lapses)
"It gets a little old when we give everybody their biggest game offensively. We wanted to make sure 22 (Camille Glymph) didn't get off. She had what three 3's in the first half and wanted to make sure Meighan understood the importance of making sure we get stops. Meighan's defensive game has really elevated, but it's still got to get better so just trying to make a point."
(on Meighan getting to the rim when the defense face guards her)
"She's the quickest kid with the ball that I've seen in a long time. I love that she attacks the basket, and I was proud of her. I thought once she settled down in the first half, she came in and played better defense. She didn't let her defense affect her offense. She got on. She shot the ball well. Like you said they took away her three, and she drove to the basket. Those are things we need from Meighan."
(on Pat Summitt being involved in the game)
"Pat is Pat. I'll say this: she still gets up and has a voice when we need to make a point, and that's what I love about her. She gets in the huddle, and she gets on them pretty heavily. She may pick and choose when she does, but when she does, it's pretty powerful."
TENNESSEE FRESHMAN GUARD Ariel Massengale
(On last six minutes)
"We just knew that we had to pull it together. We knew that we weren't really hitting shots on offense that well, but we had good stops and rebounds. Coach Summitt told us in the huddle that defensive boards would win this game for us, and I think we approached it from a defensive end and got stops when we needed to."
(On overall record and last month)
"I think we have to go out there and play like we did tonight. We came out with a lot of energy and a defensive mindset, knowing that we have to stop easy baskets. We had to up our defense. We have to go out with that mentality and go out there and dominate every time we step on the court."
TENNESSEE SENIOR FORWARD Glory Johnson
(On the team effort)
"I love it. It's so exciting and so fun, playing with this much positive energy on the floor. It's exciting and causes a lot of successful plays."
(On defensive style of play in the first half)
"We like that style. It's a lot of hard work. You can see when everyone gets tired, and we talk to each other. We know that it shakes the other team, especially with our presence on the full court. It makes them change their offense, and we like that."
(On not playing in the second half as defensively as in the first half)
"I think they figured it out a little bit. They figured out how to move the ball. In the first half, they tried to dribble through our press. The second half, they were throwing it. When they throw it in the middle, it breaks up everything."
(On whether Tennessee will play perimeter defense this season)
"Yes. It is pretty important, and I think we also have to play against big post players. At the same time, I wouldn't mind playing on the outside or the inside. It's wherever my team needs me. If we have a big man on the inside, we have Vicki Baugh and Izzy Harrison, too. I can play on the outside, too, so it really doesn't matter to me. Wherever I can help the team."
(On whether she feels comfortable on the perimeter)
"I do. I do. I feel pretty comfortable. I know I have to stay down and move my feet and keep my hands up. The post defense is different. You are denying and trying to push them out. It's more of a physical game on the inside. On the outside, you have to get your hands out and get your hands up."
(On South Carolina efforts as compared to today)
"It was really slow, with low energy. There were a lot of mess ups. We were messing up a lot on small things and having a lot of negative energy on the floor. We were yelling at each other. That's not how Tennessee plays, and that's not a good way to come back. Having positive energy on the floor helps so much. You can see we're out there smiling. If you make mistakes, somebody else picks you up. It's a lot better that way and a lot more successful."
(On where the energy comes from)
"It comes from forced turnovers and made lay ups, pressing and getting steals. Even if not, even if we mess up and nothing happens, we just have to find it within ourselves and talk to our teammates. This is your teammate down, you have to help them build back that confidence."
TENNESSEE JUNIOR GUARD Taber Spani
(On Briana's influence on the team in the first half)
"I think Bree's play was tremendous, in all aspects. Her leadership and her ability to get out and guard and put pressure on them. As soon as she came in, not only did the crowd go crazy, but our energy level picked up, and we were playing high pressure defense. Bree was the point person on that, and we love it for her, and she's had such a great attitude throughout everything."
(On comfort today with shot and knee)
"I think every day I get more comfortable. Being out for a month...you don't forget how to play, but you just have to get back into it. The most important thing is just getting my legs back underneath me and getting multiple practices in a row and game tempo. Every day I get a little better. Defensively, my legs were a little gone today, but I know that's not me. I'm trying to get back into the flow of things. With my shot, it's not great because I can't shoot extra, per Jenny's orders, but you have to go in with confidence. It's just great. I know that if one person doesn't shoot well, everybody else...look at what Glory and what Ariel did tonight. It's a total team effort, and I think that's how it's going to be from here on out."
(On 17-6 record)
"It's absolutely not sitting well with us. For us, this is unacceptable, but the past is the past, and we have to learn from it. I think the biggest thing going forward is, in the next month, to come together as a team. We have a month to be united, not only on the court, but off the court. We have to get our chemistry down. It's not all about how you finish. It's about how you end. It's about the month of March and the results. I think that's what people are going to remember this team by, so that's exciting for us. Obviously we're going to go every day, and just get better. That's all our focus is: to get better every day. If we do that, this team has a great chance to come together and do something special."
AUBURN HEAD COACH NELL FORTNER
(Opening Statement)
"I thought it was a day, kind of like what we have a lot of. We play good for about 34 minutes and then kind of break down. It was an eight-point game with 6:51 left, and I think we only had eight turnovers in the half at that time, and it just kind of fell apart on us. That is a tough stretch for us, and we really need to work to get better during that time period."
(On if she wanted a faster pace to start the game)
"We don't mind a fast pace. We'll push it if we have the opportunity to, so I thought it was good for us. I thought we were going to get some good penetration in our half court offense, and I thought Tennessee struggled a little bit guarding that. Their press really hurt us in the first half. They really got after our point guard, really kind of stopped us from doing anything fast at that point. We don't mind playing fast."
(On Tennessee pressing)
"They pressed us in Auburn. They played more of a zone press, not that trapping or sending people at us like that. They definitely picked up the tempo here at home. The crowd was awesome. You all do a great job here. I commend the Tennessee fans because you all are fantastic, and I think that the team really feeds off of that, so it kind of gives them a boost of energy."
(On Glory Johnson being on the floor)
"I think she is one of the best players definitely in our conference. I think she is one of the best post players in the country because she is so physical. She is just so physical. You always know she is either guarding you, and you know your habit to go against her is incredibly hard. She is just an incredibly physical player, and she is dangerous anywhere on the floor."
(On the difference in UT between the first time the two teams met and today)
"Well (Taber) Spani didn't play the first time we played them, so she brings a different element to the floor, because she is such a good three-point shooter. She spreads you out, and you have to respect her at all times. So that makes Tennessee better with her on the floor. So maybe they're better than when they came to Auburn. (Ariel) Massengale is better than she was the first time we played them. That kid has gotten better and is making a difference."
(On the Tennessee defense)
"I think they make mistakes just like any team does. I thought we had good looks at the basket. I don't know how many layups we missed, but there were way too many. We got to the basket. I think Tennessee has always been known as a good defense team. We tended to find some gaps and seams in things they were doing but still had a difficult time finishing the shot. That comes from their size. We might have gotten around them; we might have gotten in there, but their size. Man they can get big fast. When you've got (Cierra) Burdick and Izzy (Harrison) and Glory and (Vicki) Baugh, I mean that's big, (Shekinna) Stricklen. They can get so big, and I think that intimidates people when they get in there. They get a little worried about what is coming when they get the shot off."
AUBURN SOPHOMORE GUARD CAMILLE GLYMPH
(On Tennessee's defense guarding her)
"When Meighan Simmons was guarding me, I just feel like she probably wasn't as tight on me as Kamiko (Williams) was. I don't feel like there was much difference. I passed up a few shots and didn't knock down the shots that I had the opportunity to."
AUBURN SENIOR GUARD MORGAN JENNINGS
(On her ability to get into the paint)
"Coaches were forcing the issue to get into the middle, penetrate the zone, so I tried to penetrate the zone to get the easy basket, kick it to the post."
(On the team's turnovers)
"Mainly it's us mentally. We just have to slow things down and make good decisions and that's it."
