Postgame Quotes: Tennessee 85, Virginia 73

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Post-Game Quotes
November 18, 2010

TENNESSEE QUOTES
Head Coach Pat Summitt
Opening Statement:
“How painful was that? We were coming off of a 60-point win, and we thought we were all that and more. Tonight was a great test. Am I happy? Absolutely not. I am not pleased at all. We had a day off then a light practice yesterday. We were not focused, and that is my job. That’s what Joan Cronan hired me to do. We’ve got a great staff, and I can promise you that we’ll be a lot better. Arizona State will come in here Sunday like Virginia did and not back down. They had a great game plan. I’ll take full responsibility for our lack of intensity and lack of commitment to defense and rebounding. We were 19-of-28 on free throws. There’s a reason that they call it free throws. We haven’t got in the gym, and that’s my fault.”

On what she said to the team:
“I stayed on them. I think I got their attention. We didn’t always execute. Every moment is a teaching moment. Their (Virginia’s) guard play was so solid. We had a lack of communication. It will be an opportunity for us as a staff to teach. This team has to take time to invest in watching film.”

On Tennessee’s defense:
“Obviously, I wasn’t happy about our defense. Glory Johnson has to keep herself in the game. Shekinna Stricklen is another one who has to keep herself in the game. We don’t want to be giving up subs and breaks and pulling them out for just fouling. We gave up a lot of dribble drives and were late on a lot of pickups. We weren’t as connected as a team as we needed to be as a team. Before Arizona State, we’ll have a better game plan.”

On man-to-man defense:
“We’re tougher when we’re playing man-to-man than sitting back in a zone. We bring more energy on the defensive end and the boards.”

On lack of production in the post:
“I didn’t want to go with Vicki (Baugh). I want to make sure that her knee is ready. I don’t want to rush it. Obviously, I wasn’t pleased (with Tennessee’s post play). We’ll watch tape. Our posts have to embrace their role.”

On Tennessee’s effort:
“I thought our effort level was turned up. We did a lot of good. We had some good possessions. It just wasn’t consistent.”

Senior Guary Angie Bjorklund
On Pat Summitt’s reaction about the game:
“It wasn’t pretty. I think we’re all pretty disappointed as a team with our defensive intensity, and we have a lot to work on. We just have to come in tomorrow, watch film, learn from it and move on.”

On having another good game against Virginia:
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily Virginia. I just thought my team did a great job of getting me the ball. We try to play inside out, and going into Kelley Cain really opens things up. I just thought we moved the ball around well as a team, and I just knocked down the open shot.”

On getting tired because of playing 40 minutes:
“No, I don’t think it was necessarily fatigue. Sometimes you’re just not hitting shots. As a shooter you’ve just got to keep shooting.”

On tonight being a wake-up call:
“Absolutely. I’d rather have it now than later because we have more tough teams coming up. ASU on Sunday is going to be a tough game. We have a couple of days to prepare for that and get a lot better on defense.”

Junior Guard Shekinna Stricklen
On the lack of defense against Virginia in the first half:
“Glory and I made the mistake of coming out and not being focused. (Coach Summitt) took us out and let us get our minds right. I just felt like we came back in the second half and everyone was focused. We brought the pressure on defense. We really committed to defense and rebounding in the second half. That’s basically how we came out with the win.”

On how she hurt her thumb:
“All I know I just ran into the other player, and I just jammed it.”

Sophomore Guard Taber Spani
On what Pat Summitt told the team after the game:
“It was quite a while; that’s why she was so late coming out. Obviously when we give up 73 points and 13 offensive rebounds, that’s kind of going against everything she’s built this program on. That’s pretty much what it was about.”

On switching between zone and man-to-man defenses:
“It was actually more of a matchup thing. In the first half, we went to zone to try to throw them off. For the most part, it was pretty solid, and then we went back to our man. I think in the second half they just tried to do one possession of zone just to change it up since we had been playing man the whole second half. So, I think it was more of a game-time situation.”

VIRGINIA QUOTES
Head Coach Debbie Ryan
Opening Statement:
“I thought we got off to a really good start. We are playing a bit short due to injuries suffered in our first game. Our starting point guard and a post that plays a lot of minutes for us are out. I was happy with our production in the first half. All of the credit goes to Tennessee. I warned my team that (the Lady Vols) were going to come out with more intensity and more organized in the second half. We took a four-minute span where we pretty much did not execute the way we should have. We made a nice run at the end but I felt like that four-minute stretch at the start of the half was where the game was decided.”

On her team’s hot start:
“I wasn’t sure how or what to expect. I have six players who have won in this building, which is something very few teams can say. They had some edge with them when they came out to play and dragged the rest of the team with them. I really felt good about the way that we prepared for this game. They stepped up and did the things I expected them to do, but I wish we could’ve done it for a longer period of time. We got some players a little bit tired and didn’t’ substitute like we normally do, which was one of our issues. Tennessee took advantage of that and came at us with waves of players. That was the difference. A couple of rebounding stretches were critical to the outcome, and they did a great job on the offensive boards a couple of times. They also turned us over a few times, which was really uncharacteristic.

On Angie Bjorklund:
“Simmons has added such a good off-guard to Angie, and I knew Angie was ready to break out because Simmons had dominated. We wanted to take Simmons out of her rhythm knowing that she’s a freshman, so we changed some things up on her. Of course, Angie got started and once she did, it was tough to stop her. She stepped right up and hit some really big shots. Giving up 10 threes is not good for us defensively. We have to get better at that.”

On Ariana Moorer’s play:
“I thought that Arianna did a great job keeping us organized from the point guard position and didn’t let the pressure bother her at all. When she got hit in the head and went out for a stretch, that really hurt us. We’re already without our starting point guard, and that was a tough time for us when we had to go with a couple of other people.”

Junior Guard Ariana Moorer
On her attitude going into the game:
“We knew it was going to be a battle and we knew we were going to have to give everything we had. Tennessee is a very tough and organized team, and we knew we would have to fight.”

Senior Guard Paulisha Kellum
On how winning in Thompson-Boling in 2008 affected the team’s preparation and attitude:
“I actually didn’t play in the game in 2008 because I was injured. I wanted to come out tonight with a great focus and a great intensity. I remembered how our intensity was before and during that game so I wanted to carry that over to this game. I think I did that and our team did as well. We showed great leadership on the court, and I think that helped us out in the long run.”