Postgame Quotes: Terps 58, Lady Vols 48

March 31, 2015

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THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student athletes.

COACH WARLICK: Just congratulations to Maryland.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes, please.

Q. Cierra, I know it's a tough game for you, but just did you guys feel like you played Maryland the way you wanted to, just defensively tonight? You held a pretty good scoring team down to 55 points or 58 points tonight.

Cierra Burdick: You know, I think we did well on the defensive side of things. They're a team that averages 80 plus points. That's something they lay their hat on is pushing the tempo and running every single possession.

So I think we did a decent job on that end of the floor. But we couldn't get stops when we needed them in the crunch time and on the offensive end we just couldn't get in a flow. We couldn't get baskets to drop.

Q. Ariel, did you you guys played a lot of minutes and left a lot on the floor in that overtime win the other night. Were you kind of running out of steam there, did you think, against Maryland in the final minutes?

Ariel Massengale: I don't think so. Our training staff did a great job of getting us recovered. Coaching staff getting a lot of rest.

So I don't think that's it. Just, credit to Maryland. They played a great game and down the stretch when plays needed to be made they made plays and we didn't get stops on the defensive end.

Q. Cierra, you're talking about you couldn't get any flow on offense. What prevented that from happening, do you think?

Cierra Burdick: I don't know. The ball just wouldn't drop. We let the ball get stuck in our hands a couple times and I had a lot of turnovers. Just couldn't get in a flow.

Q. Ariel, you guys held their guard down pretty well in the first half and then they started to heat up a little bit. Did that challenge you guys defensively?

Ariel Massengale: Most definitely. I think with the three great guards that they have on their team, it's hard to keep them quiet for a whole game. Lexie Brown stepped up, Mincy, they all stepped up in the second half and did what they had to do for their team. So it was a challenge for us and down the stretch when we needed to get stops, we weren't able to.

Q. Cierra and Ariel, Ariel, at the end of the game, you knelt down, you were pounding your fists on the floor. Just talk, if you will I know how much it hurts right now, but just talk about if you would, how the season goes, all the highs and then the ultimately right now and just kind of what's going through your minds right now.

Ariel Massengale: Well, Cierra, Izzy, and I wanted to take this team back to the Final Four. And end this drought for this program, for ourselves, for Pat. We wanted it more than anything in the world. We felt we had a really good chance and just not being able to accomplish your ultimate goal, it hurts.

And I think over your career you think, oh I'll have next year, I have next year. Well, being a senior, understanding that this is the last time that we'll ever wear this uniform, it hurts.

Q. Cierra, with that three pointer that you missed at the end of the game, did you kind of feel that that might have been the kind of last shot that was possible to get the win?

Cierra Burdick: I don't know what was going through my mind. I just knew we were down three. Looking back on it, I probably should have drove to the basket. I had Malina on me and I had been taking her to the basket all game. So I didn't play well for my team tonight and if I could take it back, I would.

But I just got to learn from it, move on and move forward.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for coach.

Q. What do those two seniors right there mean to you and what they have done for this program the last four years?

COACH WARLICK: Well, they're outside of basketball, they're just outstanding young women. Their academics are, don't have to worry about them academically. They do a lot in the community. So, they're just solid kids. They're the type of kidS we want at Tennessee. They battled.

They were thrown into situations that were very young, and they had to deal with a lot of things. And I think they have just handled everything that's been thrown at them. And they have got great character outside of being great basketball players.

So, gosh, I don't know, from that standpoint, I know we'll miss their athletic being on the basketball team, but just what they stand for off the court.

Q. How many missed offensive opportunities do you feel like you guys had maybe in that last seven or eight minutes of the game?

COACH WARLICK: We had a lot. We had a lot. It was a physical game and we had our chances.

Q. How frustrating is it to go 1 11, I think, the last set. You play, you practice, and you get to that point and then the ball just doesn't drop. How frustrating is it to watch that?

COACH WARLICK: 1 11 for?

Q. To finish the game.

COACH WARLICK: Oh, I don't know. I wasn't very pleased with it. So, yeah, I mean we threw the ball inside, we penetrated, we did everything we could do except go to the free throw line.

Q. You seem kind of frustrated with some of the officiating. Did you feel the game was not called as tight as it should have been?

COACH WARLICK: I can't comment on that.

Q. When their guards started to heat up in the second half how much pressure does that put on your defense?

COACH WARLICK: Yeah, it does. We would fall down and then they would kick out to the open player and hit a three. I think they stepped up and hit big baskets. They hit big baskets when they needed to. That's what great guards do. When they needed to, they hit big baskets. So it was I think we wore down a little bit because of I thought we did a great job at the beginning, but I think towards the end of the game we, our we were giving too many open looks, too many inside touches.

So, yeah, I think we kind of wore down a little bit. They hit big shots. Big time players hit big time shots, and they did.

Q. Near the end of the game Saturday night, Bashaara Graves looked like she hurt her shoulder. Was she bothered by that tonight or not?

COACH WARLICK: I don't think so. I don't think so. She couldn't score a basket. I don't think it had anything to do with it, really.

Q. What was the difference for Bashaara this weekend after the two games she had in Knoxville, it seemed like she really struggled.

COACH WARLICK: Well, I think they had bigger players on us, and we're asking Bashaara to defend and score against people that are three or four inches bigger than her.

I think that she starts pressing a little bit and I don't know, it seems like this weekend both teams set a record in blocked shots. So, she just got her shot blocked about a thousand times.

I thought she hung in there. She got a good steal and she just it wasn't her weekend, really.

Q. With about 10 minutes left, Cierra and Ariel both hit threes from the top left. Just talk about how both of these seniors kind of kept this team going and pushing in the tournament and how much drive they had to lead this team throughout all three rounds. COACH WARLICK: I can't say enough about them. They have had to step up. Every year that I've been here as head coach we have had somebody of importance get injured and can't play the rest of the year.

So, it just seems to be how we have gone. They have had to fight without really all of our players. And I think when Izzy went out, those two really took it upon themselves to step up and take this team in their own hands.

And I just I can't say enough about their leadership and how hard they battled and how they carried this team. They had a lot of pressure on them. I don't know how much more they could do.

I don't think they shot the ball particularly well, but they carried us all year, so I'm just real proud of them.

And this team, I mean, we just had to overcome a lot of obstacles and this team has really hung together and they're a very close knit team and just really, really proud of them.

Q. When you have a team that falls this short of the goal that's been the goal the entire season, do you tell them just to bottle up this feeling and remember it for next season or what's your message?

COACH WARLICK: That's what you got to do. You got to go back to work and you got to go back to work we'll take some time off and then we'll go back to work.

That's what you do. There's only going to be one team, one set of players, one set of coaches that are going to be happy next week. Just one.

So, we're not going to stop saying that's our goal, because it is. We're just going to continue to try to get better and just try to keep pushing forward and try to stay healthy and reach our goal as I think we can.

Q. A lot of people might look at this score differential between what UCONN did and what Maryland did today and what you guys did to them and think that this isn't going to be a close game, that Maryland may not be able it play with them. What's your take?

COACH WARLICK: Well, nobody thought that they would stay with them today either. So I think Maryland has a great shot. They got kids that can hit outside shots. You just nobody two years ago thought Baylor would ever get beat and they did. So, I think it's on any given night, I think they have the opportunity.

I think they have got the staff and the players to challenge UCONN. I mean, they have lost two games all year, so I think they have that ability to give it a run, I really do.

University of Tennessee Athletics

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