Women’s BasketballOctober 23, 2024
The Tennessee Lady Vol basketball team hosted its 2024-25 media day on Wednesday afternoon at Food City Center, as the team continues its run-up toward the upcoming season.
First-year head coach Kim Caldwell participated in a press conference, and she, her staff and players answered questions from local media members afterward. The team practiced after the interview session, with media members viewing or covering a 30-minute open period of the workout.
The UT women are eight days out from their exhibition game on Oct. 31, when Carson-Newman comes to Rocky Top for a 6:30 p.m. contest (SECN+). The season opener will be held on The Summitt on Nov. 5, with Samford appearing for a 6:30 p.m. contest (SECN+).
The Lady Vols enter the 2024-25 campaign under the direction of Caldwell, who possesses a 217-31 (.875) career record. She guided her previous squads to eight NCAA Tournaments in as many seasons, including two NCAA DII Final Fours and a 2022 NCAA DII National Championship. Caldwell directed Marshall University to a 26-7 overall record, 17-1 Sun Belt Conference record, a sweep of league hardware and the Thundering Herd’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 1997 in her only season there in 2023-24. For her performance, she earned SBC Coach of the Year and Spalding Maggie Dixon WBCA Division I Rookie Coach of the Year acclaim.
The Big Orange women feature six experienced players returning from last season, including 33-game starters Jewel Spear and Sara Puckett, and welcome five Power-4 level additions from the transfer portal as well as a pair of highly-regarded redshirts. The squad will employ Caldwell’s trademark high-octane offense and intense pressure defense, looking to propel Tennessee to its 43rd-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
Head Coach Kim Caldwell
Opening Statement…
“We are very, very close to finally getting to be able to play. We are excited that our exhibition game is coming up, coming up quickly. We’re tired of playing against each other, we’re tired of playing against our practice team. We are a little beat up, banged up, so we are really, really, really looking forward to putting the finishing touches on some things and getting things started.”
On how losing Kaiya Wynn for the season impacts the team…
“Really, as a coach, you have these really tough moments, and those moments are sometimes when it’s your final game and you have to go address your team and you have a lot of seniors, or when you have a senior that has an injury. You can’t help it. You feel really helpless as a coach. That one really broke my heart for her, because she was getting so much better. She was working so hard. She is such a valuable person on this team. We are going to lose a lot, or we are going to lose a downhill driver. We are going to lose somebody who would have the ball in her hands. We are probably going to lose our top defender — somebody who plays incredibly hard, who would go get rebounds and kind of sets the blue-collar culture that we want. So, it’s a big missing piece for us. I think she is a phenomenal human being. Just by being in the gym, she is still in great spirits, she makes people laugh, she still leads, she still talks. The only good thing to come out of this is to get her for another year, and I get to be around her for one more year.”
On the “more relaxed” schedule to begin the season…
“I think the way we play takes a long time. It takes a couple of months to figure out how to play quickly, how to get used to shooting quick shots, how to transition on defense. You can only practice it so much, but I think usually the teams I’ve had in the past struggle for the first couple of months. That being said, I think we play two top-25 teams, so we don’t have an easy schedule. We have a really nice mix of in-state competition as well. So, I think we still have our work cut out for us.”
On how positive Kaiya Wynn is about the injury situation…
“It says a lot. I know she was heartbroken on the day it happened. We talked about it. I talked to her mom about it, that God has a plan that we don’t really understand right now and we can’t see. So, the three of us talked on Facetime about that. Just who she is as a person. She is going to come, she is going to make jokes, she is going to make people laugh, she is always going to bring something positive to the table. That is just who she is.”
On how she has been able to generate so much buzz about this team…
“I think that probably has way more to do with you guys than it does me. I appreciate that. I appreciate the coverage. I appreciate all of you guys getting us out there. Our team is working incredibly hard, and it’s just been a whirlwind of a few months, but I know there is some excitement next to the buzz.”
On the final touches she is harping on before the season starts…
“Just little details. Putting more sets in, some putting more baseline out of bounds plays in. Cleaning some things up that we probably will see that we haven’t seen, so we have been really spending a lot of time laying the foundation on defense and offense. But, now we just have to get into the final little details of things.”
On what she is looking for from her team at the beginning of the season…
“It’s not going to be pretty. I promise you it’s not going to be pretty. We want to work hard, we want to play hard, we want to force the pace, we want to be all over the floor. We want to be the team somebody hates to play, but we are still going to make a lot of mistakes, we are going to foul a lot, we are going to turn the ball over a lot. It’s still going to be pretty raw on that end.”
On what makes Jewell Spear who she is as a player…
“She is remarkable, she can score at all three levels. She is a phenomenal leader. Will put people in the right spot, she is an absolute gamer. She can shoot the three off the bounce, she can shoot it deep, she can shoot it off the catch. Those are the players I really like to have. Especially people who are just great teammates and I think that’s just who she is. She comes in every day with a great mindset of not only getting better herself but bringing people around her. When you get to this point in the season, we have been going for a long time, so they are kind of just dreading it, and she does a really good job of making sure everyone is focused.”
6:04 – On what she has learned from the veterans on the team…
“I think they have done a great job of explaining what they want and of what their goals are. Of kind of how they want to be the team people hate to play, and how they have a chip on their shoulder. They have something to prove. They want to get Tennessee back to where it used to be. I think that is something that is in our daily conversations because of them, and they were very vocal and adamant about that from day one.”
On Kaniya Boyd being the only freshman on the team…
“I don’t think there is any hiding the fact that we work really hard and do a lot of running in this program. I think that’s pretty much well known. So, everyone gives her a hard time – ‘Oh you have to do this for three more years,’ but we love it because we tell her she is going to be a beast by the end of it. She is getting better and better by the day. She was truly made to play this way. She can press, she can score downhill. I think she is going to have a bright, bright future, because I think she is going to have a really good year. I am really excited to see what she does by the time she is a senior.”
On whether anybody has separated themselves to get the starting spots…
“We do starters a little bit differently. A lot of people don’t like it, but we’re going to do it based on productivity. Whatever your productivity was the last game, that’s who’s going to start the next game. We told our team I think maybe Monday that’s how we are going to do it. I have had some teams in the past where the same people start every game because you always have the same production, and then you have some teams that it’s mixed up every game. We don’t really have to fool with starting lineups a lot. It is earned every single game.”
On how she gets her players to keep their confidence despite the growing pains…
“We’ve talked about it a lot, in that how you’re playing right now and that you’re going to be significantly better in January. They just have to trust that I have seen it enough to know. They can go back, and they can look at stats. There is proof there of former players who maybe didn’t have the best non-conference schedule, but by the time we got into conference they were playing their best. Generally, our numbers will go up. In the past, I don’t know if that will be the same going into SEC play, but they will get better, they will get more confident, they will get more comfortable.”
On what we should know about Ruby Whitehorn…
“Ruby [Ruby Whitehorn] is a phenomenal leader as well. Especially for somebody that has come in new. I think that is something that is really special about this team. We have people that have been here for a while and then you have some people that are new, and I think that they blend very, very well. If you didn’t know, we wouldn’t know who is new and who has been here. From the day when we got here she has either done a really good job of holding people accountable, being the first to 50/50 balls on the floor, playing hard, talking. She has a bright future. I think she is going to be one of those ones we just talked about that may start off a little slow and then you are going to see her take off.”
On how she balances the full court and half court press…
“You break it up in your practice plans. By doing a segment of full court and then a segment of half court and as you get into specific games like right now we are going to start working on actions that we haven’t seen in the half court because if you are playing against yourself or guys you are only seeing kind of the same thing. So – doing more of a four-out, one-in, because we will see more of a traditional post player back to the basket working on a lot of those things. That’s what we are putting in this week and will continue to do week-by-week based on who we play.”
On when her system is going to be fully in play…
“It usually depends on each team. In the past, November is horrendous, and December is a little bit better. And then you kind of hit your stride, and they get more comfortable going into it.”
On what made her decide to bring in assistant coach Gabe Lazo…
“He is phenomenal recruiter. He is a very good on-the-floor coach. He is loud. Significantly louder than me. That helps when you have somebody that is high energy…can back up what you say with a louder voice. All of those things bring a lot to the table. He has been on the road recruiting a lot, and we can definitely feel the days that he is missing.”
On whether she believes her assistant coaches have helped with their SEC background…
“Absolutely, that’s why they are here, because I definitely knew that I had blind spots, and I think people around me that didn’t. They have done a really good job on the recruiting trail of knowing the players that I didn’t know when I first got here. Knowing the SEC and talking about scouts and dividing it up, personnel, playstyle…they are huge on all of that.”
On how critical Jillian Hollingshead and Zee Spearman are going to be this season…
“They’re going to be huge. I am excited to see what they do, because they have been playing as guards this whole time. As we get into SEC play, they are going to be down there banging around the basket. We need to be able to rely on them and trust them to do that. I think they are two phenomenal bigs for what we like to do on the offensive end. Again, we would be toast without them trying to protect the rim and the paint.”
On whether there are any injuries lingering currently going into the season…
“Yeah, we are a little banged up, and so Kaiya’s [Kaiya Wynn] was a heart breaker. Jill’s [Jillian Hollingshead] returning this week, so she is still in her concussion protocol, she is limited. She can shoot, but she is still not full contact yet. Then we have a few more that are banged up, but they should be back hopefully by the exhibition.”
On what are some of the ways she has seen her team change this offseason…
“I think they are getting more comfortable being uncomfortable, which is huge. It is something that I always wanted out of our teams. We push them pretty hard every day. They’re just understanding that’s part of it; that’s what it takes. That is big. They are coming into their own roles, which is something that also takes time in this style of play. When traditional basketball puts you in a box, you’re a four, you’re a driver, you’re a shooter. We are trying to get you out of that box, and we are trying to push you to do something that you haven’t been doing, we try to make you uncomfortable. Now is the time where we try and harness your roles. What are you good at? What are you going to be doing? I have seen them come into their roles more and more the last two to three weeks, and it’s made our team better.”
On how important Jewel Spear and Sara Puckett leadership has been…
“I think how consistent their leadership is. How they lead from a genuine place. They don’t lead and bark at their teammates. They just lead as great people who have earned the right to talk to their teammates. They want what’s best. They have the team’s ear, and they can bark if they need to or they can just say it and everyone will listen. It’s very, very difficult when you have a head coaching change to lead. Because nobody knows what to expect. Nobody knows what the standard is. Nobody knows what’s going to make me mad or what is not going to make me mad. For them to be able to step up and be able to do that the right away, it says a lot about them.”
On whether there was a player that has surprised them on how she will use them this season…
“I think in the past month Zee Spearman has gotten tremendously better, which is big for us. Kaniya Boyd is another one, because she sat out an entire year. She started off a little rough, and she has really, really taken off. Hers will be more of a confidence thing of just letting her do more with the ball. Pouring into her a little bit on that end, but those two are the first that come to mind.”
