Kellie Harper met with the media via Zoom on Saturday afternoon in advance of Sunday’s game between the No. 12/8 Tennessee (21-5/10-3 SEC) and No. 1/1 South Carolina (24-1/12-1 SEC). The Lady Vols and Gamecocks will meet at 1 p.m. ET at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.

On Jordan Horston’s status… 

“With the update on Jordan, it’s a fractured dislocation of the elbow (left), and she will be out a few weeks for sure. And I don’t know how many weeks that will be, because the most important thing for us right now is to make sure that her injury has time to heal. And unfortunately, you can’t put a timeline on that. You know, we’ll have to see the progress, and we will monitor it frequently in the next month, but at this point, I think you’re really pushing it with the season winding down, but I suppose at this point the door would still be open (to return).”  

On dealing with injuries and seeing this season through… 

“I think it’s a competitive group. They love playing basketball, and you know, obviously, this is a lot of adversity, because you’re trying to replace more than just a leading scorer. She’s our best defender, best rebounder, best ball handler, passer – she did everything for us. But I think our team, I think what you have to do here, is you’ve got to love playing and you’ve got to love competing, and you have to look at this as this is our opportunity. No one wants to do it without Jordan (Horston), but that’s the hand we’re dealt at this point.” 

On the increased importance of getting the ball into the posts… 

“Well, I think what Jordan (Horston) did is she was able to create a lot of opportunities, whether that was within our offense or off of broken plays as well. So, you know, we always talk about wanting to utilize our post game. I think it’s important that we continue to do that. We’re going to have to look at some tweaks to give our team a little bit more to work with on the court. But obviously, in terms of the importance, honestly, it’s not changed. It’s been important; it’s going to remain important that we’re able to get the ball inside.” 

On the challenges presented by South Carolina… 

“It’s a huge challenge, obviously. I think that’s an understatement. First, you talk about what they do offensively. They play their parts. They know their roles, and they play their roles. They do a great job of doing what they do well, whether that’s getting the ball inside, putting the ball on the floor, taking open shots. They know how to have patience and find what they’re looking for. And then, if they miss, they are amazing on the offensive boards. They just really get to the glass, consistently, relentlessly, and really get a lot of their points and a lot of their production by crashing the boards. Then you go to the defensive end, they don’t give up anything. They just don’t give up anything. You’re going to face size, you’re going to face athleticism and physicality, and it also feels pretty relentless. I didn’t even mention their transition game, their transition offense. They’re pretty well known for their transition game. They’re playing well right now and playing with great confidence. We know it’s a challenge. Obviously, we get that. Like you said, anytime you play South Carolina it’s going to be a challenge.”

On who she’s looking to on the bench to provide a spark… 

“Oh, we’re going to have dig a little deeper. I think Kaiya (Wynn) is going to have some opportunities to come in and help us at the guard spot. You know, you’ve got Karoline Striplin and Emily Saunders that could come in, and we could slide some folks around. And you know, Jessie (Rennie) has been tough, and she’s a veteran, so at this point, it’s all hands on deck.” 

On the importance of sticking to the game plan against South Carolina… 

“I think you’ve got to be able to play through adversity. I think you’ve got to be able to make next plays. So, if something goes wrong, you can’t let that snowball into three wrongs. You’ve got to correct it, and you’ve got to make a play. I think that is going to be as important as anything, early on just hanging in there and finding some positive plays. Because then, if you do that, you can settle down, and I think that’s going to be really important early on.” 

-UT Athletics