Lady Vols basketball defended its home court and defeated Kentucky 60-58 to stay perfect in the SEC slate and at home this season.
After the game, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media. She was asked about her freshman class, starting strong in conference play, Talaysia Cooper and more.
Here’s what she said.
More From RTI: WATCH: Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell, Mia Pauldo, Deniya Prawl Talk After Kentucky Win
Opening statement
“I was happy with our effort tonight. I think, again, you’re watching us mature. We played really hard for 40 minutes when the shots were not going in. And that was nonexistent for us at the beginning of the year. So I was proud of that, proud of our young ones. We talked about people needing to step up, with Janiah being out, and I think everyone did that. And I really want to give a thanks to the crowd. The students came in full force. They were worth at least six points, and they got loud, it got loud, and we have players who play off that, so I appreciate the crowd tonight and them watching us.”
On how this team did a 180 from the beginning of the year
“I think it just takes time. And I’ve said that all along. I’ve been consistent with that, I’ve always said that, I will always say that. When you have a lot of new players, you have young people, you’re playing a different style of play, it takes time to be patient. All of my teams don’t start well. And you have players that believe in me and I believe in them and they continue to work hard every day, it takes time.”
On how they won the game
“I think we did it with defensive effort. The majority of our points came from the foul line. So, when we looked at the stat sheet, the only thing I really touched base on is we got 20 more shots than them. It’s what we want all year. It’s what we want every single game. When we played Alabama, we got one more shot than them. If we don’t get 20 more shots against this team here today, we lose by 15. So, they did a good job with our press. We forced 21 turnovers. I think we did a good job. I think we only turned it over nine time. I don’t have a stat sheet, but we did a better job taking care of the ball and we got those possessions, which matters.”
On what Zee Spearman did on both ends without Janiah Barker
“Yeah, it was tough when she went out. I don’t really know how long she sat, but she did a great job when she came back in. She had some big stops at the rim. Again, Clara Strack is an amazing player and I thought we did a really good job on her and guarding the rim tonight.”
On what she saw defensively from Deniya Prawl
“Yeah, I mean she, again, she kind of touched on it. She showed it in the Alabama game. She’s playing harder. She’s having more confidence, she can guard multiple positions. We’re gonna need her to guard multiple positions. Her and Jaida have taken really big steps defensively, which helps them be on the floor more. When they can be on the floor more and you see more offense out of them, then it’s all kind of connected.”
On the mental toughness of the freshman class
“It’s kind of like the last game. You don’t – I’m not out there saying, ‘Oh, we have three freshmen on the floor.’ Because I see them every day. They’re not freshmen to me. They’re players on our team, and I know what they can do, and you just want the best body. So I don’t really think about age at this point. I know who they are, I know their body of work and I trust them.”
On what she told Talaysia Cooper before the final play of the game
“Yeah, I was really proud of her. She was frustrated tonight. She was really frustrated and I’ll take every single bit of her frustration. Probably overcoached her, probably put her in positions that made her not have a good night offensively, yanked her out at the end of the game, she wasn’t happy about it. All of that was on me and so I look at her and tell her to give us a stop. Give us a stop and she goes out there and she wins the game for us and that’s the most Talaysia Cooper thing ever. That sums up our relationship. I’ll trust her, I’ll always trust her, and she’ll continue to get better.”
On winning a gritty game
“I think that they are playing hard. I think it’s getting easier for them, so their comfort level, the threshold for discomfort is getting higher and so they’re being able to play through things better.”
On to seeing Deniya Prawl’s confidence go up
“It was fun to see out of her. It was fun to see her have fire, have a passion. I want her to do more of that. You know, I’m normally the type that will calm players down and keep them checked in and I decided to let her go because I had not really seen that out of her. And again, for her to be playing confident and to have gotten through some things was big. I hope we get that version of her every day and I hope she continues to play with that fire and that passion for herself and for her teammates.”
On Mia Pauldo’s maturity as a freshman
“She listens. I think she is a very good listener. She absorbs things. It’s funny, I was talking to the broadcasters before the game and we were talking about her not turning the ball over. And tonight was probably the most times she turned the ball over in a long time. But I still don’t really have to worry about her when she has the ball in her hands. I know she’s going to make the right play and she’s continued to be spectacular and I don’t have to overcoach her. I just know that she’s going to go out there and I just have to put her in space and let her play free. And I think she’s such a humble player and comes in here and then she, for the majority of the time, practices the hardest every single day. And so, she deserves it.”
On having a playmaker like Mia Pauldo that doesn’t turn it over
“Yeah, I think that that’s what you need out of point guards and I’m thankful that we have that out of her.”
On how she put Talaysia Cooper in bad spots offensively
“I think I’ve over-coached it and I think she went in there and tried to do exactly what I asked, and it didn’t work. I wanted her to take more shots and I think she did that. They weren’t the right shots, but again, that was the shots I told her to take or the spots I told her to get to. She wasn’t getting all the way to the spot, she was shooting a little bit short. And so, I know she was frustrated, but again, I’ll take that one. That one’s on me.”
On Mia Pauldo making bailout buckets when the offense stalls
“It’s huge. I, I mean, it’s huge. And especially on nights where you’re a little shorthanded, whether it’s foul trouble or a player’s not playing.”
On how important it is to start 6-0 in SEC play
“It definitely matters. It worked out in our favor to where we could stack some games and build some confidence. And I think that was big for us and we’re not really playing great at home. So, I don’t really want to jinx it as we go on the road, but you gotta beat the teams that you can beat and because it does only get harder and you try to get one that maybe you shouldn’t.”
On Mia Pauldo working through missing shots early
“I don’t have to overcoach her, which is nice. She did get a little in her head, but you have enough people on the bench yelling at her telling shoot it, shoot it. She could have taken more in that fourth quarter. I think that there was maybe two offensive rebound kick outs, maybe one offensive rebound kick out. She had one and then one off of a steal she had one. I would have liked her to pull those, too. But I was on her pretty hard about taking the first two off of no passes at the beginning of the game when our offense was really struggling. So, that’s just a tribute to her listening and that’s something we’ll continue to work through and grow of like this is a good shot because it’s not 22 seconds left on the shot clock and you got a second possession. And I trust her to get all those.”
On Jaida Civil’s game
“The big thing was she got that big offensive rebound that got us an extra possession ran right over to me, ‘Got an offensive rebound.’ And that’s just effort plays. Her defense has come such a long way. She plays so hard, she can guard multiple positions now. And she was probably one of our weaker defenders to start the year and then she’s attacking with confidence. And I think our team is doing a really good job of pouring into them and hyping them up at times of go to the rim, go to the rim. And once they hear it from multiple people, they know that they can go do it and they’ve seen it.”
