Lady Vols basketball is set to host Mississippi State on Thursday for the program’s second meeting of the year. Ahead of the game, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media to field questions about the game.
She was asked about the rescheduled game against Ole Miss, the importance of rebounding, the injury status of Janiah Barker and more.
Here’s what she said.
More From RTI: Lady Vols Basketball Guard Talaysia Cooper Named to Coveted National Watch List
On the challenge of playing Mississippi State a second time in one month
“I think the biggest thing is we both played pretty well offensively in our last game, so getting ready for adjustments that they may make. They’ve been doing some different things defensively, so making sure that we’re prepared for that and any adjustments that they may make. It is kind of a quick turnaround to play the same team twice. Hopefully, we look better than we did at their place.”
On altering the schedule after the rescheduling of the Ole Miss game
“We found out right before we started practice that the game was gonna be postponed. And so we had to tell our team right before practice because had we switched up the practice time that drastically before the game, they would have known something was up. So we told them and we practiced pretty hard and we were off the following day. And I think all in all they handled the news well and with not a lot of turnaround time to kind of process the fact that the scout that we were prepared for and we were getting ready to go on the airplane right after practice no longer existed, and we were gonna go for two hours as opposed to an hour. I think they handled it well. We had a pretty good practice that day. We were off the day after.”
On if they focused on anything specific with the open date
“We tried to focus on us and then we put a little bit of Mississippi State in there. And it did help that we had already had a scout done from them from the last time we played. So we just switched what our practice guys were doing.”
On limiting Mississippi State, Favour Nwaedozi on the glass
“We’ve been practicing with a lid on the rim all week and they killed us on the glass at their place, and that’s been a point of emphasis and it’s gonna continue to be a point of emphasis.”
On who has grown mentally this year
“I think for the most part our whole roster has taken a step forward, and it’s, again, our schedule’s gonna get tougher so you just gotta continue to build that day by day.”
On what her team does to get more shots than the opponent
“I think we had the forced turnovers. I think in that game the turnover differential was the best it’s been in a really long time and in a significant game. And then you got to out-rebound your opponent, which we have to get better at.”
On how her team is better or different since the first meeting with Mississippi State
“I guess we’ll find out after the game. You know, it’s been a little bit of an interesting two weeks. I feel like we haven’t played very many games, because we had the bye week and then we had that game be rescheduled. And so that’s tough for us and we haven’t really been able to string games together. So I know I want us to look better in our press. I want our offense to continue to be more efficient. I think that when we played at their place it was one of our best offensive performances, so it’s gonna be hard to replicate that because we’ve only kind of seen it once. But again, I want our pressure to be better and I need our rebounding to be better.”
On if the league office has said anything about how they will reschedule the Ole Miss game
“It’s gonna get rescheduled. We’re still working with them to figure out when. Hopefully, we’ll have something out soon and it’s gonna be a rough next month.”
On flipping the switch after the Kentucky game
“We did a pretty good job bouncing back. I think we were fired up to play at Ole Miss and then it was tough because we didn’t get to do that game. But that would have been another ranked opponent on the road, which was gonna be a good test for us. But it’s the SEC so we got another test coming up tomorrow and we gotta be ready for that. And so again, second time you play a team is always different, so that’s just another piece of toughness that we need to continue to work on and develop.”
On if there is a certain number of shots she wants the team to take more than the other team
“20.”
On conversations with Talaysia Cooper about Caldwell taking the blame for the Kentucky game
“I talked to her right after I did media and she was fine. And she’s been fine in practice. She’s had pretty good practices, so I really hope it translates to our next game.”
On the status of Janiah Barker
“She’s back. She’s been practicing. She looks how she looked before she got hurt.”
On limiting Mississippi State in the second half
“Yeah, it definitely happened the first time we played them and I think they’re very similar to us as we both have new rosters and they’ve been reconstructed, so the farther the season goes along, the more consistent you get. So we need to be prepared for a more consistent team. So they’ll put more quarters together and we need to do the same.”
On keeping forwards out of foul trouble
“Yeah, that’s a key, big key going into our next game. I was very thankful that we could get out of that Kentucky game without bigs because that was an important section of JB not being in. But I think we got killed in the paint vs. Mississippi State, so we’ve worked on post defense, we’ve worked on contesting, we’ve worked on boxing out.”
On the status of her halfcourt defense
“We look a lot better. We’re tougher, we’re keeping the ball in front of us, we’re playing together, we’re rotating, it’s creating turnovers in the half-court, as well. And so I don’t wanna jinx it, but that’s been kind of one bright spot for our team, has been our half-court defense.”
On transitioning out of the press to half-court defense
“Hasn’t been an issue with this team. You have some teams that won’t do it at all and they wanna press and they wanna get the ball back, and this team has never one time been an issue to get up and sit down for it.”
On progressing in stringing together practices
“I think we’re not as consistent as I’d like us to be, but our highs and lows are not as dramatic and drastic. So our bad days now are what would’ve been not terrible days before. And, you know, we are not seeing the floor in practices that we were seeing in December. It’s getting easier for them. And so the hard practices are not as uncomfortable and our threshold for discomfort and how to handle that is getting stronger and better. And I’m proud of them for that, and I hope that’ll carry over for the rest of the season and for the rest of their lives that they can handle hard things and they can withstand uncomfortability and they can move on and they can not lose their character in those moments. And if that’s what becomes of them in the workplace and what they do next, then it’ll be a pretty good coaching job by all of us.”
On the importance of Deniya Prawl
“She played pretty well last time we were there and so I hope that she can continue to put that together. I think that they will. You know, they’re not gonna be great every single night, but I think that she has seen it, she understands it, she’s one that it’s really not as hard for anymore. She’s starting to get it, to get the speed, to get the tempo, to understand that you could make up a lot of ground just by playing hard and working hard and she has really done that the last couple weeks. And I think she’s got it. Again, she’s not gonna be great every single night out, that’s a really high bar, but I think she’s got it figured out.”
On seeing things click in practice
“It’s good to see. It’s nice when you can finish your practice plan. It’s nice when you can skip things or trim time off your pra- practice plan. And to be very transparent, we weren’t getting through our practice plans. I mean, we were having to modify, we were having to get on the baseline, we were just having to move on. It was not great because it was too hard for them. And again, they’ve kind of just bought in and been okay with the hard and now the hard is not hard. I don’t know if that makes sense, but if you’ve seen us practice and see how we go and see how we work, they’re starting to understand that and they’re starting to see their bodies change, they’re starting to see themselves be more successful and I think that they’re proud of that and are willing to work and I think that’s been the biggest difference maker.”
