Jan. 4, 2006
South Carolina Coach Susan Walvius
Opening Statement:
“Honestly I believed we could win this game. Tennessee is a very good team, and we didn’t get the job done defensively this night. They did a nice job on the boards. We knew defensively we needed to get the job done rebounding, and we didn’t.”
Regarding Defense:
“We had a real solid defense for the first three to four minutes of the game. Then we had a breakdown. We were in position to keep the game close at halftime. Then we had another breakdown and let Shanna Zolman knock down a couple of shots.”
“I was proud of our team and how they played. However, I want to see more consistency.”
Regarding Tennessee’s 2-2-1 Press:
“It slowed us down a little bit. They’re known for their 2-2-1 press, and I thought we would go through it a little quicker. I thought we were a little tentative in the second half attacking the press.”
“We stood around a lot offensively. We held the ball, didn’t attack the zone with penetration, and when we got down a little bit, we stood. Tennessee’s zone defense is very strong.”
Junior Guard Lauren Simms
Regarding Tennessee’s Press:
“We weren’t anxious. We just weren’t attacking as much as we should’ve. They played good defense in the second half, and we have to learn from that.”
Regarding Team Confidence:
“We have a lot of confidence with this team. We can step out with anybody. We learned a lot from this game, and we’ll use it in the SEC and get wins.”
Freshman Center Demetress Adams
Regarding SEC Opener:
“It was a great game. It was a good learning experience for the team as well as myself.”
Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt
Opening Statement:
“It was a good win for us. I’m really pleased. The first half we didn’t shoot the ball well. In the second half obviously our shots were falling and we had better shot selection. I’m really pleased with how we executed.”
Regarding USC:
“I was concerned about this game, being our first SEC game. Watching the tape on South Carolina, this is obviously one of their better teams. (Our team) went about it businesslike as you’d hope as a coach.”
Regarding USC’s Early Lead:
“We had careless turnovers. We weren’t getting good looks. The looks we got that didn’t go down, it wasn’t time to panic.”
Regarding UT’s 2-2-1 Press:
“Our defense, our 2-2-1 press, delayed them a bit. It got them down in the clock.”
