Kellie Harper recaps Lady Vols’ win against ETSU

Tennessee defeated ETSU, 67-50.

The Lady Vols (2-0) defeated East Tennessee State, 67-50, Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Second-year Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper met with media to discuss the Lady Vols’ win.

Tennessee will return to action Sunday at West Virginia for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. EST and the game will be streamed on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.

UT transcript:

Opening Statement:
“I’m glad we won the game. Obviously, for us, it was a little sloppy at times. Our execution needs to be better. I think the good thing is that we got to see a feisty team, a team that’s athletic on the perimeter. Hopefully, that will help us in our next few games. I’m disappointed in our execution on both ends of the court. We’ve got to get a lot better, but we’ve got time to do that, and I’m confident that we can.”

On what the team needs to do to build leads of 20+:
“Our first quarter, I think we shot over 60 percent from the field. The problem was that we had too many turnovers to start the game. We just needed to get shots up. If you get shots up, then you’re putting points up on the board at a pretty good clip. I think defensively, in the second half, I didn’t think we guarded very well. I don’t think we guarded 1-on-1. We’ve got to get down and guard. That has to be a priority for us, to defend better. Really, those two things will take care of a lot. If you take care of the basketball and get more shots up, you put more points up on the board. Then, if you prioritize defending on the other end and limit some of their easy buckets, then that lead grows.”