Everything Kellie Harper Said After Tennessee-Stanford

Following UT's loss to Stanford, Lady Vols head coach Kellie Harper addressed the media to give her immediate takeaways. A full transcription of the post-game interview is below.

The Lady Vols head coach Kellie Harper addressed the media following Tennessee's loss to No. 3 Stanford. Although Tennessee suffered their first loss of the season, Harper had some positives to go along with the negatives from the game.

Harper's post-game press conference transcription is below. 

Opening Statement
"Well, it was obviously a fun night. (We had a) great atmosphere in Thompson-Boling Arena. That was exciting - I think for both teams - to play in that environment. You know, obviously, we knew Stanford is extremely talented. They're very experienced, very poised. They play with great pace, both in transition and the half court, and that was definitely difficult for us to guard in the first half. I thought it took us a while to adjust to the pace. You practice all week, you work on it, but when you when you see it live and in a game, it takes a minute. We knew that might be the case and just wanted to hang in there. The tough part there in that first half while that was going on, we just could not make shots. The good thing about this team, there's no quit. They will fight; they're competitive. They're tough and gave us a chance in the second half. I thought the big turning points in that second half, I thought the three at the end of the third quarter was huge to get them back up to six, and then probably those 3-pointers really broke our backs when we were really trying to make a push."

On learning from the loss…

"I did tell them if we're not going to learn from this loss, then why'd we lose? So, let's just go ahead and learn from it. I think part of what we're going to learn is positive and part is negative. The positives: we know how we need to play, we know what needs to look like. I think today, we've got to find more consistency. We've got to be able to do it for longer stretches. We have to be able to make better decisions on both ends of the court that aren't going to lead to easy buckets or aren't going to lead to tough shots. So, I think there are a lot of things there. Obviously, we got out-rebounded. That's lesson number one. I don't think we had to lose to understand that. I think our players understood it. We're going to be able to see some things in film and show our team and continue to push them to grow. They're going to be very motivated."

On what happened in the second quarter...
"Well, I think their shooting percentage was really high that quarter, because they got open looks. They had so many layups in that quarter. Some were in transition, and some were in our half-court defense, and that's not who we are. Our defense can't give up easy buckets. You know, Tamari (Key) not being out on the court definitely hurt us. Everybody that stepped up there in that second quarter... by that point in that second quarter in particular, I think we just were two steps behind. Part of that was our offense. We weren't scoring; therefore, they're getting the ball and they're pushing it up the court. Everything was going wrong. Occasionally, you've got to score to slow them down. The easy buckets, we've got to do a better job of that."

On using Stanford's losses to common opponents to prepare…
"I think when you look at head-to-head matchups, I think it's less about the end result and more about the matchup and the style. There are teams that you just match up well with, and there are teams that you don't, and I think that's what you see there a little bit. I think Stanford ,early on in the season, was trying to figure out life without their point guard from last year, and I think you could see that a little bit. In that moment, Texas was the probably the worst game on their schedule to have in that moment. They're definitely more comfortable now. They've been getting better and better. For us, I think we still have to focus on what we need to do. We can't go out and be somebody else at this point. We need to go out and be the best version of us. For us, we went out and we were us. We just weren't the best version of us for 40 minutes."

On missing due to foul trouble…
"It completely impacts everything. You know, we were able to get the ball. We were going to her offensively, and then she's gone. Defensively, she's a game changer. She had several boards and didn't play a lot and had five boards there. Most of them probably came in third quarter. You know, she impacts the game on both ends of the court. We don't have that coming off the bench. I thought Keyen (Green) did a nice job coming in and being aggressive on offense. Obviously, in the second half, was aggressive offensively in those positions. Sara (Puckett) can stretch the defense out a little bit, so we can't do the same things when she's on the bench. I mean, that's basketball. You have to play through it. You have to figure it out. You have to come up with a plan B."

On if Stanford's Ashten Prechtel was a matchup problem for Tennessee…
"We knew it was a possibility, but it was completely due to breakdowns on our part. They did a nice job of going to her to try to stretch us out. We knew that would be something that they looked to do. If we're playing football, it was busted coverage. I'll just say that."

On the message to the team at halftime that led to inspired play in the third quarter…
"You guys are probably thinking I went in and ripped them. I didn't. That's not what that was about. It was about, let's figure this out. Let's pick our body language back up and let's give ourselves a chance. I think what coaches have to do is coaches have to know their team. You have to know what they need in that moment. You've got to know when you can push, and you've got to know when you've got to pass. I didn't feel like going in and ripping them was the thing to do. So, we went in we talked about, 'This is the challenge that we have. This is why we haven't done well. This is what we need to do. These are adjustments that we need to make and we've got to go.' It was more of an inspirational message rather than a bark-at-you halftime. They wanted it. You could walk in and see their body language. They were already there mentally. They already knew, 'We've got to be better. We can be better. We've got to find a way.' I was proud of them. I thought they handled the halftime talk well. I thought they came out, obviously, very inspired. The biggest thing was we got stops. We got stops and when you get stops, you have an opportunity to close the gap."

On if the team's rebounding struggles were due to lack of aggressiveness or Stanford…
"I thought it was a little bit of both. Stanford's very disciplined in the way they box out. I also felt like we weren't getting the attack on the offensive boards that we needed in the first half. We got a little better in the second half, but not nearly where it needed to be. They know it. They take great pride in that, so that was a gut punch for them. We come into the first quarter, and we shoot 30 percent. We had zero offensive boards after the first quarter. That was a gut punch for our team. That's not who we want to be. They felt it. There's a little bit more try, but you've got to be able to capitalize on your strengths as a team."

On if there's concern that COVID-19 could impact on the team's season…
"I think all coaches right now are concerned. We do the best we can and handle the protocols the best we can. It is what it is. We're still in the pandemic. We've been very fortunate, and we're hopeful that we can stay that way, but I hate it. I hate it when teams are having to cancel, because that's the last thing any of these players want right now. They work so hard to play games. They practice so many more times than they get to play—so many more. I hurt for every team that has to miss a game. But, also, I'm very grateful when we get to play them."

On not overlooking Monday's home contest vs. ETSU…
"I will say this, I talk very openly about this every single year with every team I've ever coached. I might have to go back and check it someday, but my teams don't check out. They will not check out on Monday. It is not an option. We'll figure out what we want to do tomorrow. We'll have a holiday get together with our team tomorrow as well. I think that will be really good after this loss. Sometimes, you just need to be with your teammates after a tough loss. Hopefully, that will be the case, and then we'll figure out how we want to handle the court stuff tomorrow, in terms of our prep. They'll come very motivated on Monday. I'll be honest with you, I think they would have anyway. That's how much confidence I have in in their competitiveness."

On the team's solution for when is not on the court…
"I thought we settled for jumpers a little too much at times. We'll go back, watch it and really be able to break it down, but we didn't get a lot going strong to the basket. That's where I think we need to find a few more opportunities to get to the basket. A great example of that in the first half was catches it and she's trying to shoot a jumper over Haley Jones. In the second half, she rips, drives and gets a layup. I think with those types of plays, you're not going to get a layup every possession. It's just not going to happen. But, we have to look for a few more of those. I think that's where, especially when you've got Tamari sitting on the bench, we still have to have paint touches. We still have to have paint points. I think that's one way we can do it."

On positive takeaways from Saturday's game…
"I challenged some players. I challenged Tess (Darby) on the boards, and I thought she did a great job in the third quarter of boxing out. Several times she was in there battling. I thought our pace was better in the second half. We will compliment our players on that. I thought we got the ball inside better in the second half. We will compliment them on that. I thought our awareness defensively, other than I can think of three plays, was better in the second half. We didn't give up a lot of easy buckets in the second half. We made them work and earn their points. They're good enough. They can do that. They can work and score. But you can't beat Stanford if you give up easy buckets."

Harper's entire post-game availability can be watched above. 

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