The Lady Vols opened up SEC play with a 76-65 win over Florida at home on Thursday. Despite jumping out to an early 17-point lead, Tennessee collapsed to let the Gators take a lead. Despite that, UT held on to win with positive play down the stretch.
After the game, head coach Kim Caldwell met with the media. She was asked about the lineup, the collapse, the response and more.
Here’s what she said.
More From RTI: WATCH: Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell, Players Talk After Win Over Florida
Opening statement
“I was really thankful for the crowd today. I think that they willed us to get over the hump. They were great. Their pumped energy into us. We’ve been talking about playing through adversity, playing through adversity. I thought we did a very good job of that, of playing as a team, sharing the basketball at times in spurts. Beginning of the game, end of the game when it mattered, and we needed it, we shared the ball. But again, proud of the mindset of the team. And again, I think the crowd really helped. And we got to be able to do that on the road in a few days.”
On overcoming the meltdown
“I have to be completely honest with you, I do think we still had a meltdown. I just think we recovered. We didn’t let the meltdown become a 22-point loss, which is what we have been doing. So that, again, we have talked a lot, we have worked a lot, we have called out behaviors, we have showed behaviors, we have taped behaviors. And they knew coming in they had to play as a team, and so, the goal is to now start to lessen the meltdowns and then eliminate the meltdowns because you blow a 17-point lead, yes, it does take mental toughness to not give up, but let’s not blow the 17-point lead.”
On if Jersey Wolfenbarger was available
“She was available. She had had the flu since she had gotten back, so I hadn’t put practices together.”
On Lauren Hurst stepping up with Jersey Wolfenbarger not playing
“I thought she did well. I think defensively, had some things to clean up, but played her role, made shots. I thought she did a really good job and we’d like to continue to get more out of her.”
On the 9-0 run to retake the lead in the third quarter
“It’s the typical behavior of the shots were going in, so then we wanted to press. We wanted to play harder on the defensive end and then we got steals and then we got scores and so it’s all connected. And so getting them, again, just continuing to mature and we got to mature quickly because in SEC play, you got to be good on the road, you got to be good everywhere. But okay, let’s go get a steal when we’re not hitting shots. We can do that, too.”
On why Talaysia Cooper was able to be the spark on the run
“We needed that out of her. We need her to put practices together consistently, because she was also out for a couple of days during our practices with sickness, so she didn’t get in quite all the practices I would like her to have. But we are not very good when she is not there.”
On the the crowd energizing the team
“I think the crowd did, but you got to be able to do it without a crowd. And again, I think that that helped, that they could help show that we could do it and really willed us back into it, sparked it. We started playing with more juice because it’s human nature. Once you hear a crowd go crazy, you want to give them more.”
On why it took the start they had to have players step up in practice
“I think that we have a lot of new players. We have a lot of players that it is new for them. I don’t know that we have good leadership and somebody said it, we have players that have been here before and we need our returners to be strong leaders. We need our returners to say, ‘No, this happens when you play fast, this happens when you take quick shots or a lot of threes.’ The game’s still on runs, you have to be able to play through them and we need our returners to step up and make more for the others.”
On Alyssa Latham turning a corner, Mia Pauldo playing well
“They’re huge and we want to continue to get more out of them. I thought Alyssa’s been really good since we’ve come back. She’s put great practices together. We’d like to build it to where we can keep her on the floor for a little longer. She doesn’t play outside of her role. She does her role perfectly and I think that’s something we talk about, too, is being great in your role.
“And then Mia was the best defender in the fourth today. She was great. She was poised, she played like a veteran. It’s a big game for her. I’m sure that there are some nerves when it’s your first SEC game. We sure hyped it up, the media has hyped it up. We really wanted to make sure that our freshmen were ready and she really put the pressure on. She was a phenomenal defender. Hit the foul shots. She is one that will play hard regardless, will practice hard regardless of if her shot is falling.”
On turnovers being an issue
“I think when we get tired, we don’t play together. When we get tired or frustrated at one person, then we start taking bad shots or throwing the ball to the other team. And it was probably higher than that, because I know there was some bad shots taken in that run.”
On what has impressed her about Mia Pauldo, shooting free throws
“Yeah, I think that’s big and that’s who she is every day. You guys talked about her getting foul shots and every single day we get a water break in practice, she’ll shoot foul shots before she gets a sip of water. So, that’s why we have the confidence to put her at the line. That’s why we know that they’re going to go in. And just like Alyssa said, Alyssa shot well from the foul line. She will come in at night and she’ll shoot her foul shots with crowd noise blaring in the background. And then you have some players that won’t shoot any at all. And so again, you build the confidence. But, Mia’s earned the right to shoot those technical foul shots and she gets to the rim well. And the better she is at that, obviously, it’s going to help everyone.”
On Zee Spearman’s offensive impact
“I think she really did a great job of letting it come to her tonight. Of not forcing it, not every time she touched it, she had to try to drive through gaps. She drove it when we had space, she cut, she went and got offensive rebounds, made huge offensive rebounds, like at the rim, ripping them down off offensive rebounds. She never, to me, showed any type of frustration whatsoever, and we need that out of her again. When she’s hitting shots or she’s not hitting shots, we need her to be a leader. She has done it before. She understands that she’s done it at this level.”
On the rebounding numbers
“It’s gonna be important every single night for the rest of the year.”
On Janiah Barker’s performance
“I know she didn’t score the ball the way she wanted to, but I thought she was much better tonight. We had talked before the game about having her make some plays, meaning get some more assists, and she had some really good passes tonight. And I don’t even know how she got some of them off, but I think that’s something that you guys haven’t seen from her yet, is she can pass like a point guard at her size. She can do it off the bounce, she can do it in full court, she can do it at any point in time. And she’ll do it in practice and I’ll be like, ‘Sheesh, I don’t know how she did that.’ And I want her to start doing that in games. Involve her teammates earlier and then she can get it back.
“And then, we have also talked about how we want her to average a double-double, and she’s got to go get rebounds and we’ve been on her about that since she’s got here. And she’s slowly continued to build those rebounds and she was great. She went and ripped them down with two hands and if she doesn’t get the rebounds that she got, and she doesn’t get the rebounds that she got, then I don’t know that we get the result that we got.”
On newcomers seeing the grind of SEC play
“It’s good. It helps. You see the size and physicality. They saw success and that was good. We just have to continue to stack games. You have to stack games early in the conference, in our conference schedule, and continue to get better there. It’s describing something you can’t describe, because they just get harder and harder and harder and harder and then you do it on the road, and then you do it on a quick turnaround, and then you do it sick, and then you do it against a better opponent, and it just, it’s every single night you have to be great for four quarters.”
On Zee Spearman
“It’s huge. We need it out of her every night. We need her to be again a leader and a defender and a rebounder, regardless if she’s taking shots or not. She took both shots tonight, which was good to see.”
On the next game, playing Auburn
“We have to play well on the road. I think it’s a tough place to play. I’ve never been there, so again, we’re all still kind of learning, but from what we’ve talked about as a staff going into that game, it’s a game where they get somebody every year. Again, they’re a new team, they’re learning. It’s going to be a similar game like tonight, where we have to be consistent and we have to play well and we have to show that we can play well on the road.”
