March 3, 2012

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HEAD COACH Pat Summitt
(On Tennessee's win being similar to Friday's)
"It did (feel that way). I really thought we got a lot of people in and did a lot of good things. Glory Johnson obviously rebounded well for us. I thought Vicki Baugh came in and played well."

(On Alicia Manning)
"I think she has started and done very well. She is playing hard, distributing the ball and knocking shots down for us."

(On Tennessee's performance)
"I just thought we did a better job across the board. We only had two turnovers in the second half. We took care of the ball and that was big for us."

(On facing LSU in the SEC Championship)
"Nikki Caldwell does a great job. Her team is playing very well here. It's going to be a great game. There's no doubt. It will be a hard fought one."

ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH Holly Warlick
(Opening Comments)
"It was a great night for us. I thought the first half Vicki Baugh was just dominating. She kept us in the game. Great team effort, great team win. Let me say this. Our fans are just absolutely incredible. I never thought I would say this, that the arena would sound like Thompson-Boling. But that was a loud crowd tonight and we're so appreciative of them coming out and supporting us. It's a tribute to this team, to Coach Summitt. I'm just proud to be from Tennessee and know how many people we have that love our basketball team."

(On the rematch with South Carolina)
"I go back to our defensive effort. South Carolina is a very athletic, very well-coached basketball team. We weren't ready to guard, defend their athleticism in Knoxville. Glory got into foul trouble and we couldn't get in a rhythm. It had a lot to do with what South Carolina did to us. So we've gone back and we really put in the time with our defensive effort. I think you're seeing it pay off for the amount of time we've put in working on our defense."

(On pulling away in the second half)
"Well, it was huge. Anytime you can get transition points and you score off your defense, it's huge for us. It's a momentum builder. It's a transition basket. That's what we want. We've always prided ourselves on defense and rebounding. I thought we did those two things tonight. So, absolutely, when Strick and Vicki had blocks, it's a great momentum for us. When we can convert and score, it's huge for our basketball team."

(On negating South Carolina's athleticism)
"Well, we started off in our zone defense. Against athletic teams, it's really helped us, gotten us off to a great start. I think the games that we have lost or not played well in, we have not gotten off to a good start. I credit our seniors. It's probably our best defensive team that we start with. It's really worked for us. And we mixed it up. We felt like once they got into a rhythm against the zone, we would go to man. We tried two different zones. We tried two different types of man-to-man. So it was a collection of our defense. Our players were very receptive. As Glory said, we worked hard on it and we communicated. That's been our second biggest problem, is communication. When we're doing those things, we're playing good basketball."

(On her relationship with LSU head coach Nikki Caldwell)
"Yeah, Nikki, we talk before each game. It's going to be different because I'm not calling her tonight or tomorrow. But it is, Nikki has done a great job. She prides herself and her team on defensive rebounding. As I love Nikki Caldwell, she's not going to be a great friend of mine tomorrow. Maybe after the game. But I respect what Nikki and her staff has done. She's just an example of the success of people who have played and have coached for Pat Summitt. I'm not surprised how successful Nikki has been. She had a great high school coach. Obviously she had a great teacher in Pat and a great friend. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a great battle. It's going to be physical. It's going to be two good teams going at each other. I'm excited to have the opportunity to play Nikki again."

ASSISTANT COACH Mickie DeMoss
(On Tennessee's defense)
"We had a few missed assignments and didn't close out tight enough on the shooter. We let them get around us a couple times. All in all, I thought our defense was pretty solid. We forced them into some crucial turnovers there at the end. South Carolina is not known for its turnovers."

(On Alicia Manning)
"She started off and on all year. We weren't getting this type of performance from her. I do think she probably settles in better when she starts. I think the seniors realize that time is running out a little bit. A-Town's focus to me is a little bit keener than it was, say, midseason."

(On wearing down South Carolina)
"I felt like we kept the defensive pressure on them. They were running some handoffs and we jumped out very aggressive on those switches. South Carolina the last probably even or eight minutes of the game got a little leg-weary. This was their third game in three games. We kept the pressure on them. We kept running in transition and pressuring the ball, hoping we could wear them down."

(On UT's fan support at the tournament) "The atmosphere here is unbelievable with all of the orange. It's almost like a home court. This team gets really motivated for the SEC Tournament."

SENIOR FORWARD Vicki Baugh
(On playing in the SEC Championship)
"It means a lot. We're always a great team and we were tired this year of saying what potential we have. Now it was time to apply it. We just worked hard in practice. I think finally we figured out that defense and rebounding is the philosophy here. That's Tennessee basketball. It opens up a lot in the transition game, especially where we're most comfortable. So I think we're figuring that out, just taking it game by game. Now we're where we want to be."

(On the difference between the first and second halves)
"We put together two halves of basketball. That's something we struggled with. We needed to mature. I think we stepped it up this tournament and we definitely need to do it one more time tomorrow."

(On playing teams in the tournament that beat them in the regular season)
"We were definitely motivated. We were fortunate to play the teams that we wanted to play. We wanted revenge. I think that was our motivation stepping into this tournament. We just wanted to prove that we were the better team. We played two great teams that pushed the ball, great tempo. It was going to be a challenge. But in order to get to where we wanted to be, we had to overcome that."

(On LSU's physicality)
"It's definitely going to be a physical game. LSU is a very strong and great team. So I'm looking forward to a good basketball game tomorrow. We have to be mentally strong and physically matching it up with them."

SENIOR FORWARD Glory Johnson
(On playing in the SEC Championship)
"Getting into the championship game is huge. We put in so much work in practice, out of practice for so long. I think it means a lot that we can show people what we've been working on. We've had lapses throughout our season. We are strong players and being together and working consistently is what we're trying to do. It kind of show, three years getting back to the championship game. That was huge for us."

(On the difference between the first and second halves)
"Meet at halftime, discuss what we're doing wrong. The coaches are really positive with us. We can fix it. We know we did wrong. We talk to each other, try to communicate in a positive manner. Second half is our half, we can correct it."

(On playing teams in the tournament that beat them in the regular season)
" It shows our development, shows what we've been working on. When we make mistakes, lose games, come back and play the teams, we've got better. It shows our team has grown since then. It's a steppingstone for us."

(On what she needs to do Sunday)
"Go up strong, stay strong with the ball, whether it's a guard passing inside, or a post going up. Play through fouls. Don't worry about how the other team is playing. We're trying to play good as a team first. We'll figure out how LSU will guard us, figure out what we need to do on defense to stop their offense. Right now we need to focus on the small things and work on ourselves and then it will all come eventually.

(On LSU's physicality)
"LSU is a physical team, just like us. They match up with us well. One thing we have on them is speed. Our post has been working with Heather Mason all season long and we're willing to run. I think that's going to be the huge difference, is running in transition."