KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Head Women’s Basketball Coach Kellie Harper met with the media on Monday morning before her No. 23/24 Lady Vols departed for a two-game West Coast swing.

Tennessee (8-1) will meet No. 1/1 Stanford (9-0) at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET) on Wednesday and then will play at Portland State (6-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET). The Stanford game will be televised by Pac-12 Bay Area, and the PSU contest will be carried by Pluto TV Ch. 532 (Online/Free).

The Lady Vols are coming off a six-game home stand that saw them go 5-1, suffering their only loss of the season to Texas, 66-60, on Dec. 8.  UT bounced back in strong fashion against Colorado State last Wednesday, defeating the Rams, 79-41, at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Stanford remained unbeaten on Sunday, taking care of Ohio State at home, 71-52. The Cardinal also have impressive wins over No. 15/14 Mississippi State (67-62) and Syracuse (77-59) in their last three-game swing.

UT has played one other ranked foe this season, defeating (then) No. 15/14 Notre Dame on the road, 74-63.

Head Coach Kellie Harper

On what makes Stanford as good as they are right now:
“Stanford is extremely efficient. Offensively, they can pass, dribble and shoot. They do a great job with their spacing in their offense. It suits them well. They have always been really good in transition. You have to get them in a half-court set, and then you have to try and guard them in a half-court set.”

On how much Stanford will test the team in rebounding:
“I think any time you are playing an elite level team like Stanford, your rebounding is tested. One of the things I expect Stanford to do a great job of is boxing out. I think they are really disciplined, and they will do what they need to do to keep us off the boards, and that is a big part of what we do. Obviously, for us, at some points you have to get around some box outs.”

On what she wants to accomplish on this road trip around the holidays:
“One of the big things for us in addition to playing well is going out and handling this road trip and being very mature about it. (Trying to) not go into Christmas break prior to going on Christmas break. That is always a big deal for coaches. It is always something that I talk about openly with our teams. I want to make sure we are showing some maturity there and understanding how we are going to be out there a long time and we have to be locked in.”

On if she thinks the team is ready to face the No. 1 team in the country:
“I am excited about the opportunity. That is the way I look at it as an opportunity to go out and play a great team. We will see where we are at and also give us an opportunity to compete. I think it is coming at a good time for us, and hopefully our players will be ready. I think the scouting report has been a little bit different for them with how good Stanford is. I think it is fun. This is why they came to Tennessee. They want to play elite level competition like this.”

On if she is happy with the shot volume that Rennia Davis is taking:
“We keep an eye on Rennia’s shot attempts throughout the game. We want to make sure if they are low early on that we go to her and get her some shots early. We kind of let it play out and keep an eye on it. Part of that is that we have to make sure we are looking for her and giving her opportunities. She has done a really good job at being aggressive this week in practice looking for her shot. It has looked really good, and I am proud of her. I think she wants to be that for us, we just have to continue to find ways to make sure to not only help her get the ball, but help her teammates know we need to find her.”

On if she thinks teams will start basing their defenses on stopping Rennia Davis:
“I think right now we are still going to see defensive schemes that are probably tailored to not guarding some of our players instead of specifically keying in on one. I think that is what we are seeing, and I think that is what we will continue to see for a bit. Our post players have been pretty productive, so I think people are looking there as well to take some opportunities away from us there. I don’t think yet that people will be just keying in on her, but I think they are more so not keying in on some of her teammates.”

On if she was happy with how Jazmine Massengill played in their last game:
“I thought the last game Jazmine played terrific. I thought early on she was a little anxious that they weren’t guarding her. By the end of the game, she was doing exactly what she wanted to do, not what they wanted to do. I thought that was great maturity. I thought she grew throughout the game. I thought she had great confidence that game and she played terrific.”

On what she has liked from Tamari Key so far in her freshman season:
“Tamari is very skilled. Obviously, you look at her and you see the height, and when she puts her arms out, you see the length. But she is very skilled; she understands what she needs to do. I think she has grown up a lot and really quickly as a freshman. The sky is the limit for her as this young lady is going to be terrific. I think one of the things I have enjoy seeing, especially after that Texas game, she was competitive. She had a fire in her that we have not always seen. I know that is in there, and that is exciting.”

On how her team is prepared for the post players on Stanford’s team that can shoot from beyond the arc:
“We have definitely talked about needing to get out behind the three-point line. Although we have not played bigs that can shoot, we have played five guards. I feel like, other than Texas, we have only played guards. I am hoping that our post players have had enough experience of stepping out to guard because of some of these other teams. Obviously, it is a different caliber player that is stepping out behind the three-point line now, but they should be comfortable in stepping out. It is just if they are stepping out with the urgency they need to step out when you are guarding Stanford. That is something we have been practicing.”

On if Colorado State prepared them after all the three-point shooting in the game:
“I hope that it helped us understand that you can’t always go to the paint. Post players just like going to the paint, and I think that is where they are comfortable defending and comfortable living, but when you are playing teams like Colorado State or Stanford, you may not be able to be that comfortable in the paint. Hopefully we have seen enough that it won’t be a shock to our system to be able to do that.”

On if she has used her experience against Stanford last year to help prepare for this season:
“Actually, I pulled up my old scouting report from Stanford last year at Missouri State. It is not the same team, and I am not coaching the same team, but it gives me an idea of some teaching points and maybe some wrinkles that we used that were positive for us.”

On if she is going to start reeling Jordan Horston in or let her play some things out when it comes to turnovers:
“Both. I think right now Jordan is going to come out and probably make some turnovers because she is going to make some plays. She is a playmaker. That may come with a few more turnovers than an average person, but we have got to start limiting those. We have talked about that a lot after games. We have talked about it in practice, trying to make sure in practice that she is also limiting those. And talking about why. Why do we turn the ball over there? Okay, so let’s correct it. So it is not just about yelling about a turnover, it is teaching.”

On how this new staff has been working together:
“It has been good. It has been challenging because there are so many people. I think that is one of my biggest challenges, just making sure we are well-oiled machine in the office. I don’t know if we are well-oiled, but we are oiled and moving. I think once we get a year through, once we get one complete cycle, we will be really efficient. I have a great staff right now. It is an unbelievable staff that is really talented. I am really excited about what we are able to.”

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