Feb. 11, 2007
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Pat Summitt:
(opening remarks)
"I thought our team started strong. Candace Parker was able to establish the inside game, and that set the tone for us. Our defensive pressure was effective. We rely on that and went to it early. We want to make sure that we're ready to play on both ends of the court. We did a good job off the bench. Cait (McMahan) did some good things, and Alberta (Auguste) got some good minutes. Alex Fuller was more aggressive offensively."
(on Candace Parker's play inside)
"Candace (Parker) established the inside game. We moved her quite a bit. When you've got a player as versatile as her, you don't want to just leave her on the block. She was more effective on the low post play. She can score inside out. She had a presence in the paint. This team understands that we want to play inside out."
(on rebounding)
"In the first half, we didn't rebound on the defensive end. When that happens, we tend to rely on our posts to rebound. Alexis (Hornbuckle) didn't have a rebound at halftime, and she's usually one of our better rebounders. We shot the ball well, so we didn't have as many opportunities to rebound on the offensive end."
(on turnovers)
"Our defense allowed us to force turnovers. We forced them to make passes. We were effective in our ballhandling. With our offense, everyone handles the ball. We have to be more consistent."
(on Tennessee's defense)
"They (Kentucky) made some long diagonal passes and some long sideline passes. We did a good job of covering those passes. The pressure on our defense was beneficial for us."
(on Shannon Bobbitt's shooting performance)
"Sid (Spencer) is always in the gym shooting. I told Shannon (Bobbitt) that she needed to get in the gym. Dean (assistant coach Lockwood) said that she was in the gym the other night for an hour and a half. Tonight, she was on gun. Sometimes when a player isn't shooting well, they think that it will just go away. It won't. You have to fix it. There's no substitute for practice."
(on getting off to a strong start)
"We always want to get out to a strong start. We're inconsistent with that at times. If teams come in and match our intensity, they have a lot more confidence."
(on whether last year's loss at Kentucky had any influence on today's game)
"You'd have to ask the players. That was last year. This is a whole new year. This is a better defensive team because of their speed, quickness, and commitment to defense."
(on Alumni Weekend)
"This was a great weekend. We had several former players back and were able to share with them. We had them over to the house last night. This is a family. Every player on our '87 championship team managed to find a way to be back for this. That was special. Everyone here was proud for the '87 group. They have the bragging rights, and we heard a lot about it."
JUNIOR GUARD Alexis Hornbuckle
"At the very beginning of the game, we said that this isn't last year and left it at that. We knew we needed to bring energy. It's not like we dwelt on it or built on it. We knew we had to make a statement this year and leave last year behind us.
"We came out with a lot of energy. We held that energy for all 40 minutes. We started out shooting the ball well and playing good defense. We broke down a few times, but we never let it break our spirit."
On the difference the press made:
"Anytime you can bring pressure on a team full court and do it effectively, it's going to help you out. It's going to break their spirit. Usually, if you break the press, it gives you momentum in your half-court offense. But if you're throwing the ball away or you're taking so much time off the clock, you're rushing in the half court. We had the mindset if we don't get the steal, we're going to take time off the clock and make them speed up in the half-court offense."
On Cait McMahan's driving lay-up at the end of the first half:
"That was a great drive. She did the ball fake. No. 10 tried to take a charge, and Cait took it straight at her. It was a great take. The ball went in. I was excited for her. Cait didn't do anything but just look at me like I was dumb or something, like 'did that go in?' Anytime you have your guards pushing tempo and getting to the hole like that, it's hard to defend."
On getting so many steals:
"I just want the ball. If you anticipate the ball, if you watch the player's eyes, you watch where they are about to throw it, you see the open man. You show something that they think is open, and you just take it away at the last moment."
SENIOR FORWARD Sidney Spencer
On watching the alumni return:
"Today we got to meet a lot of players, especially the '87 team and others that won championships and just played for Pat and before Pat with Joan Cronan. That was really special for us to see the tradition. Tradition is very important to this program. They have left a legacy that we've grown up watching and that we wanted to follow. Getting to see that and be in the presence of champions was really awesome."
"Our focus this whole year has been getting the ball into the paint. They work really hard. We noticed that when we dumped the ball into the paint, they weren't double-teaming. They were staying on the guards. So we tried to get the ball into the paint. Candace does a great job finishing shots in all kinds of matters. That's great, because it opens up shots for us."
"This team worked really hard all summer long. We were just trying to keep in that rhythm throughout the year. Before our practice or after men's practice, there are always managers hanging around and the shooting gun is always out. I was just working on things that I needed to get better at.
SOPHOMORE FORWARD Candace Parker
"It's winding down. We're getting closer to the postseason. We just have to come into the game with the mindset of being strong on the defensive and offensive ends. My teammates did a great job getting the ball to me in position to score. After (Kentucky) took that away, they did a great job of moving to get the ball. We just came in with a great mindset, and I'm really proud of our team today."
On whether last year's loss at Kentucky provided extra motivation to the team:
"It did to some extent. Every time we turned on the TV and we were playing, there was a clip of them celebrating after they beat us. I feel like it did to some extent, but this is a new year. We want to do new things, and it's a different team."
"Sid hit a three to open the game up. Our defense, I think, took them out of a lot of things, and that is something that we didn't necessarily have last year. I think we came in with a mindset, and we just brought pressure and finished plays."
KENTUCKY HEAD COACH MICKIE DeMOSS:
"It's a little rougher sitting on that other side. I thought Tennessee played well, thought their defense looked really good tonight. Their full-court defense was something we had trouble with in the first half. We turned the ball over too much, and they converted those turnovers into easy baskets. We got in too much of a hole, and they played too good of defense to erase that kind of deficit. I thought in the second half we came out, we settled down a little bit better and were able to get some pretty good looks at the basket. I was proud of the way we rebounded the ball; I thought we rebounded extremely well. Tennessee's good; they've got a lot of weapons. They made it pretty rough on us to get the ball up the floor tonight."
(on defense this year opposed to last year):
"I just think their athleticism and their quickness is a lot better, particularly on the perimeter. Last year they had to play a little bit more zone. I haven't seen them play a whole lot of zone this year, and I don't know why they would play any zone. Their pressure is pretty brutal. I just think their overall team speed and quickness is a lot better."
(on Candace Parker):
I thought that hurt us with Jennifer (Humphrey) getting in foul trouble. Jennifer was our best bet on guarding her. It wasn't a good match-up for Sarah Elliott. I looked up and I had a freshman guarding Parker a few minutes out of that first half, then I had a sophomore guarding her, so I knew we were in trouble. We started blitzing her a little bit. We started double-teaming her some at the end of the half. She played well tonight, played very confident, and she's a good player. She really did some damage on us tonight."
(on being an assistant coach for Tennessee's 1987 NCAA Championship team):
"That was our first national championship that we won at Tennessee. It's just amazing that it was 20 years ago. It was really good seeing all the former players back, and it was a really special title because it was the first. Doesn't seem like it was 20 years ago, but it was a special team. Looking back on that, I don't think we were the most talented team in the country that year, but we really played well down the stretch and played with a lot of courage."
(on Tennessee's press):
"I think it was more the speed and quickness. We just weren't able to get the ball reversed and get it up the floor quick enough. I just think their speed, their size and their quickness...when you've got all three of those things, it can really cause some problems."
(on bouncing back):
"You've got to. That's what this league is all about. I don't think any team comes into Thompson-Boling Arena...every team that comes in here knows it's going to be a battle. We've got to learn from it. It's just like bouncing back from my other losses. We've got a tough game against Georgia on Thursday. You can't dwell on this; you want to learn from it. I think Tennessee can exploit a lot of things. You can learn a lot of things from playing against Tennessee, and then you've got to move forward with it.
(on Sarah Elliott):
I was very pleased with the way Sarah Elliott played. She finished strong inside; she was very confident. I thought their post people had a little trouble guarding her one-on-one. She rebounded well for it. When Jennifer got in foul trouble in the first half, Sarah had to pick up the rebounding load, and she did. So I was very pleased with the way she played. She was very poised tonight, and she stepped up big for us."
(on the revenge factor for Tennessee):
"I'm sure it was motivational. Any time a team beats Tennessee - they don't lose many games - they remember it. You look at Candace Parker's 31 points - I bet she had a little extra motivation. I've had some people ask me, 'Do you think the loss at Kentucky kept them from getting the No. 1 seed?' So I don't know if Coach Summitt was using that as an extra motivational tactic or not, but I'm sure they were motivated to play well against us."
(on her second trip back to Knoxville as Kentucky's head coach):
"I think this time back it was a lot easier than the first time I came back. When you're at a place for 18 years, that's a long time. You see a lot of familiar faces, familiar places and things like that. This year coming back, it wasn't quite as emotional of a comeback for me. It was just more of a business trip. And I think our players were a little more relaxed this year, too, than we were two years ago."
(On 25 turnovers):
"I think it was probably about half and half. Their pressure did bother us, and then once it gets in your head, then you start throwing the ball places where there's no one to catch it. I think that once we turned it over a few times, we got a little rattled with that press. We made it bigger than life. They've got such good team speed and quickness, it was difficult to get it up the floor a few times. But we did have some unforced turnovers."
(On Alexis Hornbuckle's defense):
"She just anticipates so well. You think the sideline is open, and by the time you throw it, if it's not a crisp pass and you're not meeting that pass, she gets her hands on a lot of those passes. Bobbitt's athleticism, Parker, everybody...they just make that press very difficult."
KENTUCKY FORWARD JENNIFER HUMPHREY:
(on 2 quick fouls):
"It was frustrating not being on the floor with my team. But since I wasn't, I was just trying to motivate from the bench to tell them to keep believing and that we can do this. When I was in the game, I tried to do everything I could, but by then it was too late."
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