University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOL HOOPS REPORT (12/16/16)
December 16, 2016 | Women's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Head Coach Holly Warlick met with the media on Friday as the Lady Vols prepare to take on No. 10/10 Stanford on Sunday afternoon. The game will tipoff at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network from Thompson-Boling Arena.
Sunday is Knox County Schools Day, with fans who donate two school supply items receiving one complimentary ticket. Donations benefit the Knox County School Supply Depot, supporting local teachers and education.
The second game of a five-game Lady Vol homestand also means the return of the popular Kids’ Corner. Located on the concourse at Gate F, Kids’ Corner features face painting, the Big Orange Prize Wheel, visits from Smokey and cheerleaders, arts and crafts, and more.
Head Coach Holly Warlick Transcript
(On the game vs. Stanford)
“I think it is huge. I think it is huge because of who it is. I think the timing is good for us to have a game that we play really well at home. It’s a great opportunity for us to keep moving forward and Stanford is going to test us in every way; they’ve got penetrators, they’ve got three-point shooters, they’re great defenders. They’re going to challenge us in every aspect of basketball and we are going to see if we are up for the challenge.”
(On trying to start faster)
“I thought last week we did a great job of focusing, really breaking down our defense and what we need to do, and I think we’re going to continue doing that. We’re going to try to do things in quick segments, we are going to emphasize what we think is important; that’s 1-on-1 defense, that’s rebounding on both ends of the floor and that’s taking away transition points. When we’ve figured out how to do that, we’ve won basketball games. It’s not their plays that hurt us so much, as what they do from those. When they rebound are they getting extra opportunities to score? Are we turning it over and limiting our opportunities? We’ve got to take care of the ball and do the things that we need to do.”
(On what they’re going to do to start quicker)
“We’ve got to start off better, I think if you watch our tapes, especially in the third and fourth quarters we’ve played well. But the first quarter gets us in a hole so much that it’s hard to dig out. We are going to look at that, maybe shortening warm-ups a little bit. I don’t know, we haven’t gotten specific on what we’re going to do, but I think we are going to look at what we do through the warmup and try to keep them in that attacking mode while we go through our matchups and get introduced.”
(On if the slow starts are mostly due to rebounding)
“It’s one-on-one play. We do it every day and we just try to put them in different situations. It’s your heart and your gut, you have to have the thought to do it and you got to do it. Teams aren’t doing things that are complicated. They’re putting their head down and going and it’s stuff that we can guard in the second, third and fourth quarters, but for some reason we can’t defend it in the first quarter. I don’t know why, that’s why sometimes I’m at the quarter going, ‘what’s going on here?’ I’m trying to be mindful of their mindset and trying to figure it out. I know they’re not deliberately going, ‘you know, I’m going to get beat.’ I know they’ve had the repetition and the opportunities to get better. I’ve got to see what their mindset it and help them get off to a better start.”
(On needing to rebound as a team)
“They (Stanford) go hard to the boards, and I had the opportunity to coach Erica McCall. We recruited her as well, she wanted to stay on the west coast. She’s just a get-it-done type of kid; she just has a will to work hard and play hard and she’s always around the ball and she’s a great kid. I know what energy she brings and so we’ve got to match that energy and intensity. If we don’t we are going to get outrebounded and the outcome is not going to be good. We’ve got to find some way to contain her and make sure nobody else gets off on the boards. There’s one thing, you talk a lot about stopping them. You can stop them, but the defense doesn’t stop until you get control of the ball. A lot of times we have done a great job of stopping somebody’s offense, but we give up a rebound. So they get an easy basket and we get kind of deflated. You work so hard on getting them to take maybe a bad shot, but then you don’t finish it with a box-out. For defenses it’s deflating, but that’s part of finishing the deal. You’ve got to box out and you’ve got to get control of the basketball.”
(On what she has seen from Stanford)
“I’ve watched quite a bit of them and I think maybe their percentages aren’t good, but I think they’re getting good shots. I also think their defense is, to me, better than it has been in a long time; they’re putting a lot of pressure on the ball, they’re denying the pass, they’re being a little bit more physical. To me, I think they’re doing a lot more on the defensive end then they have in the past. I think they’re getting shots, for whatever reason they’re not shooting as high of a percentage. They’ve got the players that can put the ball in the basket. When you have somebody that holds the anchor down like McCall, it opens up the outside. I don’t know why their shooting is down, I have a feeling it won’t be down when they play us. I hope it is, that means we are playing great defense.
(On what Alexa Middleton needs to do to be consistent off the bench)
“I think she needs to keep her game simple. It's difficult because when you come off the bench, your mindset is ‘I have to make something happen. I’m coming off the bench and someone is coming out because they didn’t get the job done, had too many fouls or something.’ I think she has that feeling of ‘I have to go in immediately and do something.' I just try to tell her to play within her game and keep it simple. She is a great 3-point shooter. She is great off the bounce on a one-dribble and pull-up shot. She is great from mid-range. Sometimes, she gets a little antsy and takes the ball inside, which is when she gets in trouble. I’m not saying she shouldn’t ever take the ball inside, but she has to use her knowledge of the game to know who is in. She has a tendency to turn it over when she gets into traffic. She doesn’t need to make things happen. She just needs to be herself. That is what I tell her. You have to play within yourself and what you’re good at."
