• Basketball Home
• |
• Thompson-Boling Arena
• |
• Coaches
• |
• Archives

Dec. 30, 2010

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

UT-Rutgers Post-Game Quotes

HEAD COACH Pat Summitt
(opening remarks): "First of all, what a great crowd. If you can't get motivated with a crowd like that, you don't have a pulse. I thought our team played with a lot of energy. We had five players in double figures. Glory (Johnson) did a great job of battling on the boards and scoring. (Taber) Spani shot well, and Angie (Bjorklund) broke Shanna Zolman's three-point record (three-pointers made in a career). I knew that would happen. She's excited about that. Records are meant to be broken. Our bench outscored Rutgers' bench, 24-1. That was a key--our depth. We knocked down shots and played good defense."

(on Rutgers having to go without April Sykes for much of the second half): "That was definitely a disadvantage for them with April not able to go. She was having spasms of whatever and couldn't seem to be able to stay in. She's a terrific player."

(on Taber Spani): "She was playing at her more natural position. In high school, she played on the perimeter and at the point. She can shoot from long range, and that stretches the defense. She plays with a lot of confidence. I don't have to say to her to get in the gym (to shoot) because you know that she's going to be in the gym. Typically, she's a shooter. She thinks of herself as a shooter, but I told her that she has to be more than a shooter, and she responded positively to that."

(on Tennessee's overall play): "We had great ball movement and did a great job of sharing the ball. We were very unselfish and aggressive. We picked up our defensive pressure. We played with more of a sense of urgency."

(on speaking at former player Melissa McCray-Dukes' funeral today before the game): "I went to bed at 1:30 last night. I was nervous, and normally, I don't get nervous. The funeral was great. I love her, and I love her family. I thought, `This isn't about you. This is about Melissa.' I spoke from my heart. She was a tremendous asset to our program and a tremendous asset to Coach Summitt. The last time I saw her, I thought, `This might be the last time.' She battled and battled cancer and did it in a graceful way. She said, `I just want to talk to your team one more time.' There are so many people that love her. A lot of us call her `Emma'. (on former teammates being at the funeral): "I thought, `They're going to come. They're going to be there for her. When she talked to the team, she talked about what it means to put on the Orange. She said, `Don't come here unless you want to win championships.' She said that everybody has a role, that everybody has to be invested, and that you're playing on the biggest stage. She was so passionate. She won two national championships (1987 and 1989), and when I look at those banners. . . ."

SENIOR FORWARD Angie Bjorklund
(On becoming the Tennessee career three-point leader): It's definitely an honor. I definitely look up to Shanna (Zolman) and all the players on that list so it's just an honor to be a part of it. Records are made to be broken. Meighan is well on her way, that's for sure. A lot of people coming in to this program are great shooters."

(On the record-breaking three-pointer): "I just took my time to shoot and it went in. I think you just have to go in and focus on the game and what you have to do to win."

(On if she is doing more to hunt shots): "Absolutely, but at the same time continuing to play with your teammates, moving without the ball, setting and using screens and playing inside-out. The more we play as a team, the more player movement and ball movement, the more open shots I will get."

(On her experiences with Melissa McCray-Dukes): "I'll never forget when she came in and talked to us about the fight and battle she was going through. She was one of the most motivating people I've ever talked to. She had so much faith and so much fight in her, and was doing everything she could to pass it on to us. We are definitely keeping her family and friends in our prayers. I respect her very much."

(On the family aspect of the Lady Vol program): "Once you are a Lady Vol, you stay a Lady Vol. It is one big family. There were three former players in (the locker room) after today's game trying to motivate us. That's what it is all about. You continue to be a part of this family and (Melissa) will always be a part of our family."

(On having almost 14,000 in attendance for a mid-week day game): "We have the best fans in the country. I know they are definitely on their way to set up and watch the football game, like we all will be."

JUNIOR GUARD/FORWARD Shekinna Stricklen
(On being more aggressive offensively): "I've been working a lot more on my pull-up game because I know my shooting hasn't been so good. I was more focused this game. We started out well as a team and played off of that. On defense, I was more aggressive about getting in the passing lane, which is something Coach (Summitt) stays on me about."

(On having Kelley Cain in the starting lineup): "We can put more pressure (defensively) because we know Kelley is inside. If you get beat on a drive, you know Kelley is there to help. On offense, there really isn't anyone to stop her. She posts up hard, so if you get the ball in to her that's an easy two points."

(On running the point): "I don't play it as much as I used to, but if they need me there, I still know the position."

SOPHOMORE GUARD Taber Spani
(On being more aggressive offensively on the perimeter): "That's more of my natural position. Wherever I am, I just try to take the same mentality. I just try to be the same player and have that aggressive mindset. I think I'm learning to do that better at the four position when I get in there, but naturally I am a guard, so I am more aggressive at that position."

(On the impact of Rutgers missing its two leading scorers): "Our coaches do an awesome job. They could have their five leading scorers out and we would prepare the same way. We don't care who we are playing. We know we are going to get everyone's best shot and we are really playing against ourselves because we want to become the best team we can be. Every night, we are trying to play up to our potential. We would prepare the exact same way if they have their top two leading scorers out or not. That is a credit to our coaching staff."

(On the family aspect of the Lady Vol program): "I just want to echo what Angie said. Our whole team and myself personally are keeping Melissa's family and friends in our prayers. This is really a tragedy for the entire program. It is such a tight-knit group and this just shows the tightness and the closeness and how much of a family it really is. That is something we are going to continue when we leave here and is something I think is special only to Tennessee."

RUTGERS HEAD COACH C. VIVIAN STRINGER
(On being without Khadijah Rushdan and with limited playing time for April Sykes): "It was hard as we were not at all prepared because we only got our players together last night. They never saw a tape or anything."

(On when the team got into town): "Late last night."

(On when she knew Rushdan would not be available): "Probably as soon as she hurt it in the Texas A&M game."

(On the extent of Rushdan's injury): "I can't tell you that. Obviously we would have loved for her to have played. She was probably one of the people, as you can see all of our players are from all over the country, and none of them got in here except Nikki (Speed). Nikki took an overnight flight from California. April (Sykes) came from Mississippi, right here in the South, and didn't get here until this morning or late last night."

(On the impact of not being prepared): "We have been totally unprepared most of the year, so that is not so much it, but I can tell you we could have made a far better representation of ourselves. It would have been worth the money; worth the time to come here if we had a little bit more, and it didn't help we didn't have Khadijah. So we never got a chance to practice without her and didn't have April after she went down, so what the hey, you saw the other people that went in."

(On Sykes cramping): "Never had them before. I wish I could tell but I don't know. Never seen it before, but it is what it is."

(On scheduling issues in the future): "If the good Lord willing doesn't let it snow like it did, then I guess I would. I don't have a special number up there to the good Lord. It wasn't a scheduling issue, it really wasn't. It wasn't a scheduling issue; it was that the good Lord let a lot of snow come on a lot of people. We happen to have it in the Northeast. We had a kid fly all the way from Las Vegas and had to stay with a coach at Syracuse for three days. You know how close Syracuse is? It probably snows more there than any other place in the country. The game should not have been played, period. We were not worthy of this competition today, not that we would have done a whole heck of a lot better, but I could have felt better coming into the game."

(On thinking the team didn't have enough time to prepare): "I didn't think. I know we did not have time to get my team prepared because I'm saying to you, we couldn't tell you whether they were doing a zone or a man or anything else. We obviously have had our hands full because we had issues with Texas A&M. It has nothing to do with Tennessee. Tennessee is an outstanding team. Pat is an outstanding coach. I don't like coming into this kind of situation where we are not prepared, and I don't appreciate it. We didn't do well against Texas A&M, but we had time to prepare for them. We may have done the same thing with Tennessee, but I want to have a chance to do well or at least what we are doing better, but we'll practice."

(On trying to reschedule the game): "I called Tennessee and you see we're playing don't you? They couldn't do it. I would have done it anyway. I would have done it if we played every day back to back. I back down from no one. We will play five games in four days and you know it. We play four teams, top-five teams in eight days, this coach will do it, but I don't want to waste my time or the players' time by coming in here and not representing ourselves. Unfortunately it was a scheduling issue for Tennessee, not a scheduling issue with me. We proposed three or four dates that we could have played this game but we don't have access to the men's schedule so there are a lot of things that administratively have to happen. No I would not have wanted to play this game, not like this."