In the Lady Vols basketball’s 88-35 win over Coppin State, Tennessee used 10 3-pointers from Nya Robertson, setting a new individual game school record. Afterward, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media to give her thoughts.
She was asked about Robertson’s career day, other key pieces and more.
Here’s what she said.
More From RTI: Nya Robertson Breaks Lady Vols Program Record for 3-Pointers Made in a Game
Opening statement
“Really excited for Nya. It was really even better to see how her teammates celebrated her. Were hunting to get her the ball at the end, celebrated with a water shower in the locker room and had good sportsmanship by our team, I think.”
On breaking records in back-to-back years
“It’s exciting. Those are high numbers. Those are really high numbers. They are numbers that are hard to wrap your head around. I think it is great. That is definitely what we want to do. But more so from a team standpoint, we needed to see the ball go in tonight. It doesn’t matter who it is or where it is coming from. It felt good to see it go in.”
On calling a quick timeout in the first quarter
“Actually, we just weren’t playing hard. We weren’t doing what we needed to do. We thought we weren’t going to show up and that was gonna be enough. And that’s never enough. Especially, the way that we play, we weren’t doing anything offensively that we practiced. We certainly weren’t playing any defense. We weren’t rebounding. I don’t think we had a single offensive rebound attempt at that point in time.”
On what she liked about the second quarter
“I thought we rebounded on offense, and when we rebounded on offense, we started to see the ball go in the hole. Just effort-based, and then we can press. Once we got into our press, then we can seal it, then we can see the ball go in the hole that way. And so it was all connected, but it just came from offensive rebounds and making shots.”
On if this is what she expected from Nya Robertson
“Not quite like this… It was great. We have been on her. I have probably coached her just as hard as anyone about her shot selection. Her shot selection the last two games has been really good. I don’t think she took any shots off the bounce tonight. Maybe one little bounce. I could be wrong about that. I’ll have to go back and look. She had the layup. I think everything else she was moving and creating her own shot by moving around the 3-point line, which is what we want out of her and her teammates did a great job finding her.”
On better defense after the first quarter
“We were just lackadaisical. We just thought they were gonna miss shots. We’re playing college basketball. We need to get out there and put pressure on the ball and fly around. I still think we could’ve done better throughout the entire game. When you look at the stat line, our defense doesn’t look as bad as it felt to me.”
On if she thinks the press is starting to click
“I think it’s looking better. There are still some lapses. There are still sometimes where we don’t necessarily trap them as we should. For the most part, I think we’re seeing it.”
On this group being close, celebrating Nya Robertson
“I think it was a big step. I think it says a lot about Nya and who she is as a teammate, but everyone was on their feet, jumping up and down and cheering for her. And you could have had people that weren’t doing that, but they were.”
On why Janiah Barker is playing well right now
“She’s putting really good practices together. I think she’s being patient. I think she’s starting to see it. Again, it takes time. I think she’ll get better. I think her numbers will be more efficient going forward. I don’t know if her points per game will go up as we get into higher competition, but I think her efficiency will. Again, it takes time. She was out for some of the summer. Just kind of her getting back into that was important.”
On if she can talk about basketball at Thanksgiving now
“You know, I’m spending Thanksgiving with the team, so I’m sure it’s gonna come up.”
On the win being the 1,500th for the program
“When I was walking into the locker room, Janiah said Coach, you’re etched in history, you’re etched in Tennessee history. I said so are you. We had a moment and said it’s a really big deal. It is a really big deal. Did we do the majority of the work? Absolutely not. Is it cool to be part of such a massive number that’s hard to get your head around? It’s a blessing.”
On what Zee Spearman did
“I think she played better tonight. I think a lot of the times with Zee, what she does doesn’t necessarily show up on a stat sheet, and that can sometimes be difficult for a player. And she is probably our best – she is our best rim protector, our best defender in the back. She talks. She’s vocal. So anytime we can get anything out of her more than that, it’s great. I think she deserves that. And she’s another one that’s just gonna continue to get better.”
