Feb. 19, 2009

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt

Opening Statement ...
"I thought that they played with more fire and just got up and down the floor better than we did. Just looking at the game statistically, Roddy was 7-for-9, Dunlap isn't shooting the ball well but she had 15 boards. She found a way to make good things happen when she wasn't shooting well. We can take a lesson from watching that. They shot the ball well and obviously, we were 1-14 from the perimeter and it is hard to win, especially on the road, when you are not getting more production from the players that you are counting on. I will tell you and I will tell them that in 35 years of coaching this group has probably the lowest energy game in and game out of any team that I have coached. I am not really good at coaching effort and I am very disappointed in just a lack of competiveness in a number of our players."

On if they were tired after playing on Monday ...
"I don't know. I haven't been inside their head so I don't know what they are thinking. It's not basketball most of the time. I can assure you of that. We have to go back to Knoxville and have practice tomorrow. Trust me we will have a healthy practice tomorrow. Maybe at some point in time they will realize that if you don't play hard in the game you will have to practice much harder than you played in the game."

On if there is a lack of passion in this team ...
" Totally a lack of passion. That is probably the biggest thing that our coaching staff struggles with. You are talking about four coaches that have just a competitive drive in everything that we do and the fact that they don't have it. I don't know that you can give that to a player, they have to decide who they are and what they are willing to invest in their game and in this program."

On if this team has an identity right now ...
"I think that when you have players that aren't invested in your program, it is hard to arrive at an identity for the team. I can't say defense is our thing, no, or that rebounding is what we do best. Obviously scoring is not what we do best. I am kind of looking for our identity right now."

On if the team gave up down the stretch ....
"They made a run and we have done that a number of times this year. We have come from behind to win a game five times this year so they think that they can flip a switch and win and you're not going to do that when you have a team like Kentucky playing the way they were playing. They probably thought 'well this is a game that we ought to be able to win' but you have to go win it. This game would have been winnable if we would have been focused on being a 40-minute team.

Kelley Cain #52

On coming out and playing hard against Kentucky...
"Every game I give my all no matter what. I want to go out there and do what coach asks me to do."

On getting her teammates to play at a higher level...
"I believe we can get them there it's just a matter of them being receptive. We need them to jump on the bandwagon and get going."

On if there is time to turn Tennessee back around...
"With what time we have we need to use it wisely. We need to get on our best game."

Alex Fuller #2

On Kentucky's run to win the game...
"I think when they were making that run we needed to cut into it with a stop but we couldn't do that for whatever reason. They kept penetrating on us and that's what was hurting us the whole time. They knew that and they took advantage of it."

On the final three games...
"We have three more games and then the conference tournament. It's win or go home. That's what it comes down to. We are trying to get as far as we can in the conference tournament. We want to go on to win the national championship but we aren't going to win anything playing like we did tonight. It's time to grow up. We have been saying that all season but now it is crunch time."

On what's keeping Tennessee from being a great team...
"Our team is young minded. We use the young term a little too loosely. Some people have thrived on that. You have to work to be at Tennessee. It's not just a label. It's something you have to work for day in and day out."