On Friday, Lady Vols basketball got its first win of the season via a 97-47 victory over ETSU. However, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell was far from pleased with the performance.
Afterward, Caldwell met with the media. She fielded questions on why she wasn’t happy, specific players, the path forward and more.
Here’s what she said.
More From RTI: WATCH: Lady Vols Basketball Coach Kim Caldwell, Players Talk First Win of the Season
Opening statement
“I don’t think that is necessarily the step we needed to take after the NC State loss. We don’t really have a lot of time in our schedule to fix it. We have a one-day turnaround before our next game and then we have a little bit of break and hopefully we can clean some things up and start looking like who we have been for the majority of our preseason.”
On if she’s okay with her team taking 38 3-pointers in a game
“If they’re good threes.”
On if they took good threes tonight
“No.”
On if the press was improved, where it needs to clean up
“I think we did a better job of cutting off the sideline. I think our back did a better job of rotating that way. We did a better job of closing our traps. Part of that is speed of the game was a little bit easier for us to get our timing. Not so much of a nerve-wracking stage, where people had confidence to go up and not play scared. I think that we will have some good film clips to show off of this from that.”
On why the team isn’t boxing out
“Them. They’re going to have to box out consistently. They’re going to have to realize they can’t out-jump every opponent when we get into SEC play. When we play taller teams on our schedule, we’re going to get killed. We’re going to get killed on the glass. It’s a hard adjustment to make in a game. We talk about it every single day, we stat it every single day, we show it on film every single day, we put a bubble on the rim so that people can’t make baskets, so we have to box out and we have to rebound. They just have to make up their mind that it’s important to them.”
On forcing turnovers, creating points in transition
“I was not happy with our overall offense, but I think our best offense is from our defense. I think that is probably what this team is going to be. Our defense is going to spark our offense, when we go into slumps and we’re having a hard time scoring, we’re just going to have to tell someone to go get a steal and make something happen so we can get a layup.”
On what Janiah Barker and Zee Spearman did
“I think it was good. I wish we had a few more people who would put their head down and get to the rim. It’s some things we looked at after NC State of why? Why are we not trying to do this? And I thought those two really did a good job of putting pressure on the rim, going to the rim, not fading away once they got there. And again, we just have to be consistent in doing it against bigger opponents.”
On what they need to do to limit fouls
“We need to stop touching the other team. We don’t make adjustments, we grab them, foul them, get them on the arm. We always think we didn’t touch them, and we are fouling. That’s another point of emphasis, it’s something we talked about. It’s something we specificially said before the game, we don’t want to put them in the bonus at all. Not one time today, we don’t want the game to last four hours. And they were in the bonus for three quarters. And they know it, they talk about it and then they go on the floor and they foul.”
On Zee Spearman’s strong game
“Her and I met after the NC State game and watched some film of what she was doing last year that was successful and what she has been doing that was not successful. Just kind of reminded her who she is. I think she can be one of the best bigs in the country at what she does, and I just reminded her of that. We watched the film and she was exceptional the next day at practice of doing that and putting people in the right spots and coming off a ball screen. She did a really good job of just seeing that and making the immediate switch.”
On why Jaida Civil started
“I think she earned that right with her stat line vs. NC State.”
On the disconnect between practice and games
“I did not like our response after the NC State game. I did not like our practice after the NC State game, so I’m not one bit surprised that I don’t like this game. And it’s probably growing pains, it’s probably a little bit of selfishness, it’s probably a little bit of we didn’t come in and try to fix what we needed to fix vs. NC State. And we have to grow up and we have to make it about winning. We have to be obsessed with not fouling. We have to be obsessed with boxing out. We have to be obsessed with sharing the basketball. And we have a very good team on paper, but if they want to continue to just take days off and not move with a sense of urgency, it’s going to be a very long and frustrating year. Today, personally, for me was frustrating.”
On off-ball movement during the game
“I think right now we’re having a little bit of a hard time, everyone wants to be a driver, everyone wants to be the person that bounces it, and we don’t have a lot of catch bounce, and we don’t necessarily have people that are willing to be connectors and pass it and then cut and then get it back. So we’ve talked about that, we’ve talked about those roles, we’ve talked about putting people in as just designated screeners. Again, yesterday’s practice was horrendous and we didn’t really get a whole lot of time to get to that part of it and we’ll need to find time in our schedule to really hammer that home. But we had times in the preseason where our offense looked great and now we get under the lights and it doesn’t look the way it needs to look. And I think, again, it just needs to be player-led and they need to get back to what we have spent time practicing. And we will spend the majority of our time tomorrow working on moving without the basketball. We’re going to see a lot of different presses in our next game and we got to be ready or it’s going to be – it’s not going to be fun.”
On what Jersey Wolfenbarger has done through two games
“I think she was foul-prone tonight. I think she needs to get more rebounds. She’s one that knows her role pretty well. I’d like to get her into ball screens quicker on the floor. She’s a very good cutter. Her and JB have played well together and I think now that we’re off the practice floor and into games, she’s not cutting the way she has been in practice, so just getting her back to those things.”
On playing Pat Summitt’s alma mater, UT Martin
“I think it’s important. Pat has done so much for the state and for us. To get back there and to create a buzz for the state, to create a buzz for what she has done, for the Pat Summitt Foundation, for anything that has her name on it. I think this is a good opportunity to do that.”
On what tomorrow looks like with a game on Sunday
“We’re going to watch film. We’re going to watch film on us, we’ll practice, then we’ll watch film on our opponent. We’ll spend a lot of time working on our offense again. Then, we’ll do everything scout related that we want to do. But it can’t be a lot.”
On what players she hopes will prevent another bad practice
“The players I have been leaning on have been Coop, Janiah and Nya, but we’re a point where anyone can step up. We all need to step up. We need to start taking steps forward.”
