Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper met with the media via Zoom on Friday morning, taking questions about Sunday’s contest between the No. 7/7 Lady Vols (19-3) and No. 10/9 UConn (14-4).
UT and the Huskies will meet for the third straight season and the 25th time in series history at noon at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The game will be nationally televised by FOX.
Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper
On the matchup with UConn feeling more like a rivalry with both teams highly ranked…
“I tell you, the last two years have felt like this game is a big rivalry game, so I don’t know that it will feel any different with our ranking at this point. Last year, obviously, it was extremely competitive here. (It’s a) big game, lots of eyes are going to be on the game. I think it will feel like a pretty good rivalry game.”
On the challenges for this game…
“The challenge that Connecticut brings, regardless of injuries, is they are really good. They have a lot of talented players. They execute very well, they are efficient offensively, they play really hard defensively, and they have a lot of really talented players. I know they have been in and out of their lineup with different players, but when they’ve got their roster, they are really good. It will be a huge challenge for us on both ends of the court.”
On UConn’s adjustments after Paige Bueckers’ injury…
“Honestly, I haven’t watched them an awful lot with Paige. I think I did see them play South Carolina early, but I haven’t had the chance to watch them enough to tell you what they are doing differently with and without her.”
On what makes UConn’s offense effective…
“They are great passers, they have great spacing, and they cut with speed. You have to guard them all, because they can all put the ball in the hole in a variety of ways.”
On putting Florida behind them and focusing on UConn…
“I think we have to continue to keep things in perspective. I think there is a lot of basketball left to be played, and that’s where we have to go. There are a lot of things we still have to do to be better. We can do that. And there are a lot of things we can do well when we step out onto the court. I think, honestly, the mindset is probably the most important thing we can work on coming out of our game at Florida and going into, not just the Connecticut game, but the rest of our season. We have to have a champion mindset – a confident mindset – and you don’t just get that. You have to really work at that, and I think that’s where we need to get our players to in the next few days.”
On the biggest difference between the team last year and this year…
“Looking at the big picture, (I think) the toughness and the resiliency that we had this year to win games, close games, was greater this year. I think we had players that just stepped up and made plays when they had to throughout this year already. We’ve played in a lot of close games; we’ve played in a lot of tough games. We played a really good schedule. I think that built their confidence early on, and we were able to roll with it.”
On Tennessee “being back” …
“I think it means we can contend for championships; I think that’s what that means. I don’t think anyone says, ‘They’re back. They’re perfect.’ I don’t think that’s what’s happening. I don’t think we’re back because we play a certain style. I think it’s that right now we’re tough enough, we’re challenging enough to win basketball games, big ones. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but I think we are in a pretty good position to go out and compete every single time. I told our team there’s a lot of basketball to be played, a lot of basketball. That means there is a lot of growth that can still be had. One thing that I’ve been proud of our team for is over the long stretch of this season we’ve found ways to improve. I think we really have to continue to do that. And you want to be playing your best basketball when it matters most, and that’s about in a month or so.”
On maintaining a championship mindset following a tough loss in Gainesville…
“Well, I think that’s where as a coach you have to know your team. We have to know what motivates them, what makes them tick, where they’re confident and where they may be a little shaky and really try to address those things. One of the things we try to do is simplify things, not overcomplicate things. We understand who we are, let’s just go out and be that and nothing more. You don’t have to have all these layers, let’s just strip it down and try to make things a little bit clearer for our team.”
On reflecting on her journey back to Tennessee…
“Yeah, you know, occasionally I tell myself to sit back and take in all that’s happened – the opportunities, the challenges, the path, the journey. That usually doesn’t happen during the season. You know I’m pretty occupied by our team and what we need to be doing each and every day, but occasionally there will be a moment of reflection. I try to take it all in, but it can be a lot, because it’s a big deal. This position is a big position here, so I think for me, my best practice is to come in everyday and figure out what I need to do that day. How I can be the best today for our basketball program.”
On having been mentored by Pat Summitt…
“I’ve thought about her a lot. Occasionally, I think about what she was doing in this situation and how she was handling different things. She had so much to juggle, so much to balance, and she did it with such grace. I have a lot of admiration for how she handled herself. Obviously, she was a remarkable woman and a remarkable coach and a remarkable mother… you know, such a great role model for so many, including me. I am one of the blessed ones that had the opportunity to play for her.”
On if the team has had issues keeping its poise these last two away games…
“Well, the last two games, yes. The last two road games, I should say. I don’t know if it’s road games or style of play, but obviously, you question everything as a coach after a loss. We probably do it after wins as well. You try to figure out what can you adjust, what can you do differently, what are some things that maybe will help the team. I’m talking (things like) time of shootaround, what meal you’re going to have the night before the game. There are a lot of little things you are looking at tweaking as well as the big things after every loss, especially. In terms of the poise on the road, we’ve let a few mistakes snowball. One of the things I thought we did well a majority of the season was one mistake didn’t lead to two. We were able to bounce back, and those last couple road games we weren’t.”
On the turnovers and being out-rebounded by Florida…
“We’ve had turnovers throughout the season. We’ve had 18 before, but the way we turned them over was detrimental to our team. We gave up five wide-open layups off of turnovers. You cannot do that, so that was really disappointing. Looking at the boards after watching the game back, Florida did a really good job, and they are very disciplined with their positioning, but we were not in position to go get boards like we usually are. A lot of that had to do with the lack of poise in the backcourt, and then poise moving into the frontcourt moving to be able to run our offense. When we run our offense, we are in better position to rebound, so it’s all connected. Everything that we do is connected.”
On why no one stepped up during Florida game and who needs to step up in the future…
“Well, I think for us, it has to be everybody. I don’t think that we are going to be a team to rely on one or two people. When we are at our best, when we are competing, we have a lot of different people that will step up and make plays. I think that’s how we have to look at this; it cannot be one person doing this. That was the thing early in the season – if someone was having a bad night, we had a couple other people step up. All season that’s what happened. Unfortunately, last night, we just didn’t have that, but I think we can get back to that.”
On Tess Darby possibly being put back in the starting lineup…
“I think, at this point, we just have to figure out what’s going to make the team the best. We’ll look at all those situations and figure out if that’s where we need to go. I am so proud of Tess; she is so consistent. She does spread the floor. She passes to the post. She does get the ball inside, and she is doing a really good job defensively. I think she’s easy to play with. I think her teammates understand what she is going to do because she communicates with them. I think she does a really good job for us; her minutes are good.”
On renewing the game for another two seasons after 2020…
“I think both teams felt like it was a good game to have. National eyes on the game are good for both programs. I think the games have been pretty competitive. I felt like it was good for our team, having those big games can really help us. Our goal is to be the best we can be, to get back to winning championships. To win championships, you have to play really good teams, in tough environments, and you have to fight through adversity/ It’s great practice for that.”
On what needs to be focused on for the UConn game…
“It’s a lot. I think we’ll have a practice plan that will be a combination of working on some things. We need to be the best we can be and working on Connecticut as well. There will be no shootaround due to the early game time on Sunday, so we have to get it all in on Saturday. There is a lot to get in. Like I said, at the same time we will try to simplify things for this team. Try to put them in position to walk out on that court and feel good about what they are doing.”
On this game being a noon contest as opposed to an evening tipoff like the last two away games…
“Trust me, I thought about that numerous times in the past couple of weeks. I think players like to play. If you play an early game, you play quicker. You get up, no shootaround, just go play basketball. Those late games you have to wait all day. Now, it’s no excuse. You have to figure it out, because the other team does. I hope that carries over on Sunday. That would be nice.”
-UT Athletics
