NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - TENNESSEE VS LOUISVILLE

March 26, 2022

Kellie Harper

Rae Burrell

Jordan Walker

Intrust Bank Arena

Tennessee Lady Volunteers

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Louisville 76, Tennessee 64

THE MODERATOR: We have head coach here, and we will start with an opening statement. Coach?

COACH HARPER: Yeah, you know, it's always hard every year when you play that last game. You never know when that last game is comin'. It's always so abrupt. I'm disappointed that we don't get to keep playing basketball because this group has been so much fun to coach and work with every day.

But Louisville is really good. They're tough on both ends of the court. We needed to play with a few less mistakes on both ends of the court. You've got to make your free throws, you've got to be low turnover, you've got to finish around the basket. We didn't do that enough.

I'm really proud of our team. They don't have any quit in them. They're going to fight. Cut it to 2, gave ourselves a chance there in the fourth quarter. I love them for that, love them for their competitiveness and how they have represented the Lady Vols.

Q. (Away from mic.)

RAE BURRELL: It's meant so much, I get to be a Lady Vol for life, and that means a lot to me. I've been here for four years, and it's been a great ride. I'm just very grateful for my team and the people that have helped me along the way.

Q. I know it probably doesn't feel this way right now, but is there a sense of pride in being able to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years after what that team has gone through and how the season ended?

JORDAN WALKER: There is a great sense of pride. Only 15 other teams get to be here and get to have this opportunity. So for us to be one after all we have been through this season says a lot about us and who we are and what we do on the court. There is still a sense of pride.

RAE BURRELL: Like what Jo-Jo said, it's an honor to be here. Only 15 other teams were here, and we haven't been here in a minute. We're just grateful to be here and honored to be able to play.

JORDAN WALKER: I feel like to add to that, we have earned it. We have earned the right to be here this season. Even with all that we've been through, we earned the right to be here.

Q. Rae, TV pointed out an interesting fact about your freshman class, you were part of a freshman class of four, and you are the only one who stayed and made it this far. What made you stay at Tennessee and believe in Kellie Harper?

RAE BURRELL: I made a commitment and I was going to stick to it and stay loyal to the program. When Kellie came in, she came in, national championship, so why wouldn't I want to stay? She showed me that she knows what she's talking about, and I really wanted to follow her lead.

Q. With the injuries you faced, you had a lot of reworking in the last stretch of the season. What can you say about Kellie's leader championship throughout that and what it meant to you to finish out the season like this?

RAE BURRELL: Well, I mean, after Keyen got hurt, we made these little keys.

JORDAN WALKER: Just a little key can open up a big door.

RAE BURRELL: So she made sure that we stayed together and no matter the adversity we went through, we were going to be okay because we had each other.

Q. Jordan, I know it just happened, but is this a type of loss that you will use with you as motivation next season?

JORDAN WALKER: Honestly, we are still processing this one. Personally, it hasn't hit me yet; otherwise, there would probably be a lot of tears. I think still just processing this one.

Q. Rae, was this your final game in orange and white?

RAE BURRELL: I mean, yeah, same as Jo, I'm just processing everything, and we will get those decisions made later on.

Q. Jordan, you said you are coming back, Alexus Dye is out of eligibility, Keyen Green is out of eligibility. How hard is it to say goodbye to those seniors after what they have meant to the team this season?

JORDAN WALKER: Honestly, still processing it. I know they're going to be around for a minute, till graduation and all of that, but it's still just really hard because those are your girls. You go out every night and fight with them.

The relationships on and off the court, you're going to cherish those for a lifetime. To think of not playing with them, it's hard, just because of the impact that they've had on this program and what they brought to the team.

So, honestly, I don't know if I have words for it right now, but I know that's going to be a little bit hard for me.

THE MODERATOR: Ladies, you are excused. Thank you. We will open the floor to questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, I know you talked about how proud you are of this team, but now that this season has come to an end, how proud of you of their fight and they never quit?

KELLIE HARPER: Yeah, sometimes when you are in the middle of it and you've got something you're still playing for, it's hard to reflect on what this team has been able to accomplish. Not just what they've done but how they've done it.

I'm so proud of what they've done and what it's looked like, how they've acted. Their attitude and love for each other has been really special. It's been a lot of fun to coach. They've been really good. I'm proud of what they've done.

Q. Coach, we see it from the second level, how tough this team is, and all the injuries they have dealt with and fought through, but can you tell us just how tough this team really is?

COACH HARPER: Yeah, you know, on paper I'm not sure we're supposed to cut that game to 2 in the fourth quarter. But you don't play on paper. You play with players who are out there fighting and clawing.

And I feel like we have had to do that all season long. They had to learn how to be a top-5 program. They had to learn what it was like to have a target on their back and be able to bounce back from that and recover from that.

Toughness is not just the physical, more importantly it's the mental and the emotional toughness that this group had. It's a long season. From top to bottom. You know, I will give you an example, Karoline Striplin was fantastic today. She didn't get a lot of minutes early in the season, and her and Kai Wynn got in the gym every single day, and they worked hard every single day.

That is really hard to do. That takes a love for the game. And those two did it, and they played big minute for us in the postseason. That's the toughness we had throughout the season from everybody. When you have everyone like that pulling together, it's just a good feeling and it's why we were able to accomplish what we did.

Q. Coach, I was going to ask you a question about a freshman and a senior, and you pretty much just answered it about Karoline Striplin. I was going to ask how much she has been able to use postseason to work her way into --

THE MODERATOR: We will try to get her back up.

Q. Rae sparked you guys in the last minutes and she wasn't ready to go home. What does it mean for you to see her reach that level again after going through an injury having to come back during SEC play, and maybe ending her career on a note like that?

COACH HARPER: Yeah, you know, this is not how she envisioned her last season going, right? She didn't think she was going to be sitting out with an injury and then, you know, she came back, wasn't 100%, was still able to play. It's really -- I'm really happy for her that she could go out on a positive game, because when you're playing and you're -- this is what you're going to remember. You want it to be something that's going to make you smile. I'm happy for her that she'll be able to do that.

Q. Kellie, I was going to ask you about a freshman and a senior. You answered it about Karoline Striplin and the work she did in postseason to make herself part of the rotation. I do have to ask about Rae. Did she leave the door open or what do you think?

COACH HARPER: No, I don't think she was anticipating getting the question right now, but her plan has been and it still is that this was her last game.

Q. I know you never want to "what if" a ball game but the loss of Jordan Horston, how difficult did that end up being in hindsight now that the season has ended?

COACH HARPER: Well, I thought it was difficult before, Maria. I didn't need hindsight; I knew it. The problem was she wasn't just our leading scorer. She was our leading scorer, our best rebounder, our best defender, leading assists. She was -- she did everything for us. You might can cover one area, but it's just really hard to cover all those areas.

That's where I'm telling you, our team just -- so proud of our team for stepping up and giving it their all to be able to do that. That was hard to do. That's an All-American candidate that they lost. They hung in there and made plays, found ways to win without her. It's been -- she's been great, I need to say that. She has been absolutely fantastic.

She has had a positive attitude, and I know it's hard, personally, when you get injured; it's hard to watch your teammates because you just want to be a part of it. But she's been a fantastic teammate for everybody, and I appreciate that from her.

Q. Coach, can you give us a sense of how you think Rae, her game, will translate to the WNBA? You have a lot of great pieces coming back and some additions. Can you give us a sense of what you think the Lady Vols will look like next season?

COACH HARPER: Yeah, first off I think Rae has a great ability to score, and she's got great size, great athleticism and a really good motor. So I think those things are going to be her strengths at the next level. I still think she is still working on getting her explosiveness back. She is not as explosive as she was before her injury, and she'll get there. Sometimes that just takes some time and reps.

It is hard to flip the switch and think about next year at this point, but I'm really excited about the returners and what they were able to experience this year. I'm a firm believer in you've got to experience it before you can do it. It's a long season, and I think they have a better feel of what that is now. Hopefully they're just putting this stuff in their pockets and they're learning and growing from each experience that they have had.

Q. Kellie, I know that you are used to pressure as a player but now that you've reached this milestone, you've gone to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016. Does it feel like now there is that standard, that expectation that this is where this program can get again, and is that something you look forward to as a coach?

COACH HARPER: I came to Tennessee as a player to win championships, and I came as a coach to win championships. That's why our players choose to be Lady Vols. That's the expectation. You can look at it as pressure or you can look at it as that's just the standard. For us, I think we want to be the best we can possibly be. That's what we want. We want to be the absolute best we can possibly be. We want to maximize our potential. As we continue to grow, continue to get a little bit better, hopefully that means we're taking steps forward and really knocking on the door of a championship.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.