Postgame Quotes: Lady Vols 54, Wichita State 51

Dec. 16, 2014

Tennessee Head Coach Holly Warlick

(Opening Statement)
"Great win for us. I knew it would be the way it was. Jody [Adams] and I are great friends and we talk a lot of basketball, she gets her team playing extremely hard and it is just a battle. I thought we did some things in the second half that, we got a 10 point lead, and then we started getting real casual with the ball and we ended up having 13 turnovers in the second half. Obviously, we wanted us to play a little bit better but it is a win and we will go back and learn from it. Now we are getting focused for Stanford."

(On Wichita State preventing center Isabelle Harrison from getting inside)
"I think that is how, until our guards hit shots, that is I would play us. I would double down on Izzy, I mean at times there were four people on her. I am sure that was Jody's game plan. We have to knock down shots. I thought they got their hands on a lot of balls when we were inside. We have to be a little more strong with it, chin the ball and not allow them to get touches on the ball. A lot of jump balls and that is because we brought the ball down and allowed them to get touches. So have to hit, our guards were 2-of-6, 1-of-4, 0-of-4, 1-of-4, so you have to make plays, that is the only way we are going to soften up the inside."

(On guard Andraya Carter)
"I think she is fine. They must have hit pretty hard, I think she cut her lip a little bit but I think she will be fine. I just went back and she said she was okay. But she is a tough kid."

(On forward Jasmine Jones not playing tonight)
"I think it was a precaution for her as well. We have to stay healthy. You had your best defender not playing today and our second or equally good defender getting hurt."

(On why the play wasn't stopped when Andraya Carter went down)
"Yes. They said they were in a transition, they were still in a transition play."

(On forward Cierra Burdick performance on the boards tonight)
"They had a lot of one-and-done plays because Cierra was awesome on the boards, 13 defensive rebounds, got them to shoot, got them late in the clock to shoot. Cierra was just fantastic. Outside of her turnovers, I don't even remember her having that many, I thought she shot the ball well, she defended well, and as you see, more importantly, she rebounded the basketball."

(On the team's turnovers)
"We got too causal with the basketball. When you go in and try to lob it and they get it, they just grab it out of the air. We get a play to kick it out and it fumbles and they get a layup. We're in a fast break and it goes being our back and it goes into the third row. That is wasted possession. We had 18 opportunities that we could have scored and we didn't. That needs to be addressed and it will be addressed tomorrow. That's just unacceptable. Five turnovers in a half, great. But 13 in the second half...and a lot of those happened when we were up by 10. We just weren't efficient with the basketball, especially when we got a lead. Wichita was never out of the game with their ability to shoot the three."

(On the final possession)
"I wanted the ball in Ariel's hands because she steps up and makes free throws. I thought at that point we had our best free throw shooters in. The game is...you have to hit free throws. The game is going to be close if you shoot 59 percent from the free throw line. We're in and we're shooting extra and it's mental. You just can't win bug when you go 13-for-22."

(On if Isabelle Harrison could do more)
"We have to move her around more. We've tried to get her to shoot back screens to get open and come to the ball. We'll get back to working to get her a little bit more comfortable in making decisions. We have to move her because when she's on the block they keep converging on her. We'll figure out. It would help her if our kids would hit outside jumpers, it'll loosen them up on defense."

(On her relationship with Jody Adams)
"I'm thankful we won, she can't give me too much grief. Jody and I are great friends and we talk about each other's teams. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her and what she does. I think she's one of the best young coaches out there, I really do. We'll talk about this game probably tonight and keep helping each other. I wish her all the best. I've watched her team and she's beaten some big time teams and she gets her team to play hard. We talk a lot about philosophy, we can bounce stuff off of each other and that's a good thing as coaches. We're willing to be open and honest with each other and try to help each other. I think we'll have some good conversation about this game. I'm really proud of her and how hard they played."

"They have Jody's personality, I think Jody was that type of player as well. She was an overachiever, she was 5'5, but I think she's probably 5'4 or 5'3 and I think her kids take on her personality. Bridgette Gordon is on her staff as well. Bridgette, when it comes to basketball and you cross that line, Bridgette's tough. She's a great kid off the court, but she's got some mean in her. Both of them are very tough, I knew it was coming."

(On Jannah Tucker)
"We were hoping to get her in tonight, but just never saw the opportunity to do that. She wasn't ready for that kind of pace, we have to ease her back into it. She's ready to play and I want to get her in ASAP. You're talking about somebody who can make shots, she can make shots. She hasn't played in a game in two years, so we have to get her used to going up and down and getting game experience. That will come, I think she's still worried about her knee, but when you get out and play, that goes away."

Senior F Cierra Burdick

(On if she had a different mindset tonight regarding rebounds) "No, I think my mindset coming into every game is to go after the boards. I think that's one of my strengths, and that's what my teammates and my coaches expect out of me. So, sometimes the balls, they just drop in the right place. You know? Some of rebounding is heart, and some of it is luck, and I think I just had both on my side tonight."

(On how hard it was to get the ball inside) "It was incredibly tough. I mean, all of the defenses we've seen are sagging in our posts and rightfully so. We've got two All-Americans in the paint, so why not? We've just got to do a better job, as guards, spacing out, really cutting hard and opening it up for them. As soon as we start to hit outside shots and make them respect us, it'll open up for our bigs inside as well. So you know, we've got to get in the gym and we've got to get some extra shots, and we've got to help our posts out."

Freshman G Alexa Middleton

(On what caused the second half turnovers) "I think it was just we were getting careless with the ball when we were up and we just weren't being smart with the ball. Holly told us that we needed to take care of the ball and be smart with it. There were a couple plays in there where we turned it over and that kind of hurt us a little bit and got us into that close of a game at the end."

(On where her confidence comes from) "I think so. I mean, I have great upper classmen that instill a lot of confidence in me. I've always played as a younger player on older teams. So, I think that helps a lot with the confidence as well."

Senior C Isabelle Harrison

(On if she has faced a double team like Wichita State's before)
"I get that every game, and I kind of go in expecting that. We work on it in practice. Holly puts us in drills and tells where the guards need to go, the posts where they should dribble out to. We work on it, we've just got to keep on being consistent with it."

(On the crowd being behind them)
"Yeah, you know, it's a great experience playing in TBA. Of course, Cierra, she was helping the crowd get into it. So, that gave us some confidence and let us be calm and let them know we're playing at home with our fans and everything. So, it was a great experience to have them behind us."

Wichita State Head Coach Jody Adams

(On ability to stay in the game)
"I have a bunch of kids that fight. We may bend, but we aren't going to break. We were going to stick with our game plan. You have to give our players credit for the maturity to not bail on the game plan."

(On preparing for this game)
"We have played Ohio State, Clemson and Kansas State who out man us. In the top five programs across the country, we know that we don't have the inches in height, so we have to get the inches in other ways. We do it with our effort and game plan."

(On talking to Pat Summitt before the game)
"It is hard to put in words where we are right now. To have her here at the game, it meant a lot. She mentored us for four years. She forced us into being women early on into life. She taught us a lot about life. It meant a lot to have her here."

(On reception from the fans)
"It was unbelievable. It was great to be back in the state. It is special to bring a team here to see what [Assistant Coach Bridgette Gordon] and I were apart of. If I had to pick any of my teams to come here, it would be this group. This is a great group of women and not just basketball players."

Wichita State Senior G/F Alex Harden

(On staying confident)
"Our defense fuels our play. We knew that all we needed to do was get a stop and stay composed. We knew if we moved the ball around that our shots would fall. We stayed aggressive."

(On getting around defenders)
"I stayed aggressive. There were a lot of times that I was avoiding contact in the first half. Coach told me that I had to finish. I have the size and strength, so that is what I tried to do in the second half."

Wichita State Sophomore F Alie Decker

(On competing with big teams)
"We work every day to compete on a stage like this. Our coaches get us ready in practice. It is natural for us by following our coaches instincts and playing as hard as we could."

University of Tennessee Athletics

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