Lady Vols vs. Chattanooga Postgame Quotes

Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper

Opening Statement:
"I'm pleased with our effort, pleased with our focus, and excited that our defense really set the tone early in this game. Obviously, we are going to have some things we can always clean up, but I'm proud of our team, proud of our focus. We had a pretty hard practice yesterday, and I thought they handled the loss to Virginia Tech; they handled the hard practice yesterday and came out with energy today."

On Tamari Key not being available…
"Tamari (Key) couldn't be at the game for medical reasons. I will update you guys when I know more."

On Karoline Striplin's performance…
"I'm really happy that Karoline (Striplin) had really good minutes that gave her confidence against Virginia Tech, and then she came in with great poise. There's something I'd like to say about Karoline: she was low minutes last year a little bit, early this year. We always say to our players, 'You never know when your name is going to get called; you never know when we are going to need you and you have to stay ready.' That's sometimes hard to do, but she has been our hardest worker. She's been the player that gets in the gym more than anyone. When her number got called, she was ready, and I'm really proud of her for that."

On Sara Puckett's poise and confidence going forward…
"I felt this was a great game for her in that regard. I thought she did some nice things defensively, as well. She had four assists. She played tough. I thought she had great awareness on the defensive end and looked more comfortable offensively, so hopefully this will really kick start her and get her going in the right direction."

On how the team's size played into this game…
"We knew going into the game we'd have a size advantage over Chattanooga, and we wanted to get the ball inside. When we want to get the ball inside a lot, that doesn't just have to be a post player. We have a lot of different people that we want to get the ball to in the paint, and I thought we really executed that. I think we had 36 paint points, and sometimes we were getting the ball to the paint off the dribble as well."

On the team's size being beneficial in SEC play…
"We are going to need the size. When you get into SEC play, you've just got to figure it out. You need some size, but you need toughness as much as you need size."

On 11 players making a bucket tonight…
"I thought it was good for our team to have a lot of people come out and be productive, to make plays and to share the basketball. I think it's great for their confidence, but also team morale, and it keeps them working hard but also having great confidence in their teammates as well."

On trying to game plan with players being out…
"I'll tell you what, it's actually been quite difficult. We battled some concussions early in the season already, and then here again this week. It's not always easy, but that's where having the adversity of missing players, we've had other people really step up. Someone asked me at radio about adversity, whether that's losses or not having all of your teammates out there, and how they're handling it. And they're handling it like you want them to handle it. They're attacking it every single day. Great teams don't become great without adversity. They don't. And our players have to understand that this is a moment that can define who you are. It's not always easy, but that's okay. We can figure it out even in tough times."

On Jillian Hollingshead's niche…
"I think we can move her around. I thought she was good at the high post because she is so athletic and quick, but she's also got great size and some great post moves on the block as well, so I love the fact that we can move her around. The more she's played, the more comfortable she's been. Her last game a week or so ago, I thought she played really well. I told her it didn't even look like she missed a practice. She hasn't done anything in a week, so she said, 'I was just really rested, coach.'"

On the team's chemistry building at practice…
"I want to give it to the practice. I think how we've attacked practice, not just the staff, but the players. I want to give the players credit in how they have been resilient through tough practices and have welcomed those tough practices, because you can have them and still not get better. They're excited, and they know how it needs to look. They get it. They understand what it needs to look like in practice and what it needs to look like in a game, and they want to do it. To me, that's the energy and the chemistry you're seeing right now."

On turning defense into points…
"I thought we were really active. I thought it started with our ball pressure and our activity on the ball. Our awareness, something we've been really working on, our awareness off the ball, our communication - all those things were really good. They were at a high level of intensity to start the game, and I'm glad we were able to carry that through. Some of that awareness led to some steals and opportunities on the other end."

On recovering from the Virginia Tech game…
"My plan was to go a little bit shorter yesterday to give them that opportunity, and I actually got after them a little bit more than I had anticipated. Coming into the game today, I knew we had a few of them that were a little bit gassed. I think they showed that great energy, they had teammates pick them up, and we were able to do what we needed to do, and that's great growth for us. We'll continue to have those tough practices and hopefully, have their legs back under them a little bit better the next time."

On Karoline Striplin's leadership…
"It didn't surprise me. She's been that person, and I think now getting those minutes, she's got a little bit more confidence. She knows what she's doing out there, and she's a vocal player. She's got great energy, and she has great want-to. She really works hard, she tries. I'm telling you, her teammates could not be happier for her right now. She made a move in practice yesterday - it was an unbelievable post move - and I almost had to stop practice because they were so excited for her. They love her."

Sophomore Forward Karoline Striplin

On the strides made by the sophomore class and when she knew she'd be starting…
"I think that the difference in the sophomore class right now is everybody is so hardworking and so team-oriented. When you have those two core values, it is really hard to fail. I really love being apart of this class, and I am thankful for them. I didn't know I was going to start until right before game."

On her performance and making her first career start…
"It meant a lot, just kind of seeing my hard work pay of and being able to step up when my team needed it. It just meant a lot."

On preparing for the game and the defensive effort…
"I will give all props to the guards. Coach Kellie has really been stressing a lot of ball pressure, and I think that it started there - them being able to get some deflections, just get up in their (Chattanooga) grill. I think that helped the overall defensive effort. We have been really stressing defense at practice - a lot of drills of guarding threes, sprinting in transition, and being ready to play defense period. I think that is definitely helpful."

Sophomore Guard/Forward Sara Puckett

On how much this game built her confidence…
"Honestly, like we have be stressing this whole week at practice, as whole it was our defense. I was just kind of going off my defense to my offense and just letting the game come to me. I was not going to force anything and just take the shots that were my shots, and give it to Jillian (Hollingshead) and Karoline (Striplin) whenever I could. That's what I also stressed personally, was my defense and to be able to get some steals out there. It is not my thing typically, so to be able to do that was just a big confidence boost."

On the increased energy of the team lately…
"We were just tired of losing, honestly. We found out why we were, and that is what we focused on. That is what we have been pushing in practice. Our energy has to be up every single day. That is a core thing to us, so to just be able to do that... I know that it was a tough loss on Sunday, but to be able to come back tonight and really improve on what we were focusing on, it's just a big uplift, because it just shows if we continue to work on the things we are working at, we are going to be good. We will be fine."

Sophomore Forward Jillian Hollingshead

On her offensive and defensive play…
"Coming back from my concussion, It was a pretty good game to come back to. My teammates give me confidence and actually trusted me to score. It really helped me a lot and just feeding off their energy throughout the game as well."

On what it was like going from Sunday to Tuesday…
"Our team word is one, so honestly just staying together, getting the rehab, doing the little things in practice, and really focusing on things like defense, because defense helps your offense."

On the energy of the team this season…
"Honestly, like I said before, it's just communication and having each other's backs. Knowing that your sister beside you is playing for you, it makes you want to play harder for them. Just knowing that your sister has your back and you guys are going out there and fighting until that last buzzer. It really means something."

Chattanooga Head Coach Shawn Poppie

Opening Statement…
"First and foremost, thanks for taking your time to spend it with us. We're a little disappointed, obviously in the outcome tonight. It's a learning curve for us. It will be a good opportunity to get back, watch a little film and dissect it a little bit. I think this is the first time all year—I told them this in the locker room—that we got hit in the mouth a little bit, and it was hard to find our footing after that. It'll be nice to get home and get a little rest, though. We have finals starting tomorrow. We'll get out of here, get a couple days of rest and kind of recoup for our next one a week from Thursday."

On if it is beneficial to continue the series with Tennessee…
"Yes, there's a lot of history here between the two programs, with them playing a lot. It's an easy trip. I know that. I love to talk with Kellie (Harper) and Jon (Harper). We kind of scheduled this super late to be honest with you. In fact, I think Tennessee had already come out with their schedule before we made this a thing. There will definitely be some talks, because I think it's wonderful for us to come right down the road and hopefully get them to come return and bring some fans. We'll see how it plays itself out, but I'd be very interested in making it happen, for sure."

Senior Forward Abbey Cornelius

On what Chattanooga can take away from playing SEC teams…
"It was tough. The level of competition is obviously, higher. They're faster and bigger. But, I know this is going to prepare us. We talked about our main goal is winning in Nashville, so this is going to prepare us for that really well."

On if it ever gets old playing in her hometown…
"No, it never gets old. It's really special to come back and play in front of all of my friends and family. There were even Lady Vol fans here yelling at me after the game and waving. It's really special."

Senior Guard Yazz Wazeerud-Din

On how important it is for Chattanooga to have players like Takia Davis step up…
"It's going to be really big. I'm sure her going against bigger people helped build her confidence up. She had some good buckets against them, so I think it actually built her confidence up."