Lady Vols basketball has now been on the wrong end of the scoreboard in five-straight games. The latest was an 89-73 defeat at No. 6 LSU on Thursday evening.
After the game, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media. She was asked about what went well to start, the struggles of guarding LSU’s guards and more.
Here’s what Caldwell said.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways: Lady Vols Basketball Extend Losing Streak with Loss at LSU
Opening statement
“Yeah, I thought we looked pretty good in the first half, and then when we came out, they really picked up their effort on the offensive glass, and I think they had 14 second-chance points in the second half, and we didn’t have any. And that was really what a lot of our offense was coming from in the first half. So a big swing in the game for us, but a great environment today for their senior day.”
On her long embraces with Kim Mulkey before and after the game
“She can share that if she wants to.”
On what went well in the first half
“We were moving the ball as a team. Again, I think we were doing a really good job on the offensive glass. They obviously made the adjustment. That was harder for us coming out, and they really picked up their effort at the rim, and we gave up a lot of second-chance points, and we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. I mean, there was a couple possessions where they got three or four in a row on us.”
On what is hard about guarding Mikaylah Williams
“Yeah, she’s a great three-level scorer, and we had a hard time staying attached, and she has such a nice mid-range shot that we weren’t really able to get connected to it, and she just shot right over us.”
On how she assessed the fouling on defense after putting an emphasis on it
“It was better than it has been, still needs to be a little bit better. A little undisciplined, fouls at the rim, and we’re stuck in a hard place. Sometimes we’re trying to block shots at the rim, and they’re coming away with and ones, and sometimes we’re standing there, not even moving our feet, and they’re getting a clean look. So we have to find that balance. I think that’s really been the detriment of our team is guarding in transition, and when teams put their head down and go, we have to find a solution to that.”
On guarding MiLaysia Fulwiley, how she can build on what they did tonight against Vanderbilt
“I think kind of to that point, she’s one of the best players in the country at just putting her head down and getting to the rim. And she can just get right by you, and you can be in your gaps, you can give her a step, and she’s shooting the ball better down here, down the stretch, as well.
“And we’re gonna go play a team that has two great guards, as well. And so we talked about that in the locker room going into our next game. But really, we talked, we call it two dribble wars, and they can pick up their bounce in two dribbles, not going where they want to go.”
On former Lady Vol Andraya Carter’s GameDay comments on her team
“I haven’t made a comment yet. I think that it’s fair for the most critical people of this program to be the people who have built this program, and it’s hard for me to get upset with a lot of critique when I’m my biggest critic. And I know that things aren’t going the way that they need to be going. And I’m not leaving work every day, happy and satisfied and patting myself on the back. No one in our program is. We have a program full of love, we have a program full of honesty, and we know that, and I think that that’s why they’ve been able to be so resilient through this.”
On perimeter shooting, the rate of it
“It was funny, I told my staff after the game, because we started the season not shooting well, and I said, ‘If you would have told me we would have been hitting 10, 11 threes a game over 34%, I would have told you they would have been translating to wins.’ Part of it has to do with how our schedule has stacked up this back half of we’re playing some of the top teams in the country, a lot of them on the road, and part of it is our defense has taken a step back.”
More to follow: Tennessee Sports Betting
