SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2021

Jordan Walker

Tennessee Lady Volunteers

Postgame Press Conference

South Carolina 67, Tennessee 52

THE MODERATOR: We're first joined by Jordan Walker. We'll take questions.

Q. Playing South Carolina before and then playing them now, do you feel like they've improved on some things? If so, what do you really feel like those things are?

JORDAN WALKER: Yes, I definitely think that they have improved on a lot of things since the first time we played them. In specific, their defense. Their defense was a lot better. We didn't get as many easy looks, transition looks, as we did the first time when we played them. I think that is a big difference from the first time.

Q. You guys got off to a rough start in the first quarter. There were a lot of whistles. Did that get you out of your rhythm to start this game?

JORDAN WALKER: I mean, I feel like any player, any person out there would say yes. When you hear the whistles, it's like, Okay. You try to get the momentum going, then you hear a whistle, it's like it just stops that.

It definitely affects us, but we were continuing to encourage each other, let each other know, it's okay, we'll get the next one, get it back on D. We tried to stay encouraged with that.

Q. 41 turnovers in the last two games for you all. What do you attribute the high-volume giveaways to at this point in the season?

JORDAN WALKER: Right now I would attribute it to different teams playing better defense than times we've played them before, just being a little bit more aggressive on their end.

On our end, we are aware of it. We know we need to fix it. But we're going to solve that and get ready for the NCAA tournament.

Q. How much did fatigue of yesterday's game, how tough it was, play into tonight's game? Do you still believe you made that shot yesterday versus Ole Miss on halfcourt?

JORDAN WALKER: Well, actually I think you got the wrong Jordan. That's Jordan Horston who made it. When it left her hand, I knew it was going in. I still do believe that (smiling).

As for your first question, can you say that one again, please?

Q. In terms of the fatigue of yesterday's game, if it affected you today?

JORDAN WALKER: As far as fatigue, no. Our training staff, our strength coach, they took really good care of us. We got an ice bath last night. We were stretching. We had Normatec. We had everything we needed.

Obviously playing two games within 24 hours is tough on anybody. But I felt like when it was game time, we were ready to go.

Q. It took you guys a while to get out of the locker room at halftime. Were you trying to grab a little extra time to rest? What was the reason for coming out with under two minutes to go?

JORDAN WALKER: Just listening to Coach, just talking to each other, just getting encouraged, all that. We knew what we needed to do. Just getting out there and getting warmed up, a couple ups and downs with our layups was really all we thought we needed, so...

Q. You all obviously don't have to worry about making the NCAA tournament this year; pretty much a lock going in. As you look at this next week and a half off, what do you feel Tennessee really needs to focus on during that off time?

JORDAN WALKER: I just think we need to focus on us completely. We need to focus on taking care of the ball - myself included. We need to focus on rebounding, boxing out. Tonight was pretty rare. We usually are not out-rebounded. So that was different for us.

But we're going to get back to it and just continue to work on us, continue to build on our strengths, and build those weaknesses, as well.

Q. Focus has been mentioned the last couple of games with this team. What do you think is maybe attributing to a lack of focus early on, particularly in your games?

JORDAN WALKER: I personally don't believe that our lack of focus. I believe when we go out there, we're all focused. We have one goal in mind. So focus is, in my opinion, in my book, not a question for that, but...

Sometimes teams throw different things at you. You just get adjusted. In most of those games we get ourselves out of it, but tonight we weren't able to do that.

Q. Rennia and Rae both scored single figures tonight, second time it happened all year. On a night like this, what did the rest of y'all have to do to step up when their defense is containing them?

JORDAN WALKER: When the defense is collapses on them, the rest of the team, we just have to step up and be ready to knock down those shots when the ball comes our way, be ready to make plays, know they're going to continue to do what they can, and we have to do what we can.

THE MODERATOR: Jordan, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

JORDAN WALKER: Thank you.