KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Kellie Harper has helped raise banners to the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena as a player for the Lady Vols. Tuesday night, she stepped onto "The Summitt" for her first game as the program's head coach, a 70-44 exhibition win over Carson-Newman.
"It's hard to put into words that I'm here. I'm back at my alma mater, a place that I love. A place with such rich tradition and history and I don't take that lightly, it's just really cool. There's no way to explain it. It was great to walk out there and see our fans, hear Rocky Top, to finally get to this point, to finally get to play a game. It was really special. I want it so bad for this program. I want it for these players because I know what it's like when it's amazing, I know what these players would feel like," Harper said in her postgame press conferece. She won three national championships as player at Tennessee.
All 12 players on the Lady Vol roster played at least 10 minutes in the game and junior Rennia Davis led the team with 20 points on 9-14 shooting. Tennessee shot poorly as a team, just 35.4 percent from the field and 2-15 from three-point land.
"I'm a coach so my level of concern is high on everything that we're doing. I don't attribute our shooting percentage to any one thing, I thought we rushed a few shots that we could have easily made, we had some just lip out, I think we got a little excited a few times," Harper said.
Carson-Newman head coach Mike Mincey thought Tennessee could've made the final margin wider than 26 points if it wanted.
"Kellie worked on things that they needed to work on. They probably could've done some things to expose us a little bit more. They probably could've ran out a little bit more. They probably could've pushed the point totals a little bit more. I think they had a game plan. They wanted to get the ball more inside, and I think it was reminiscent of those days back when she was playing about how they played and how they were huge and big. They were trying to get that ball inside. From a head coach, I appreciate how they took the exhibition game because I have been down here when it has been a lot worse. I think they could've potentially exposed a little bit more, but I appreciate that they were working on things that they know they will have to play against South Carolina, Texas A&M and those type of teams. It won't be as easy to press us and take the ball from us. They are going to have to get to half court and play and probably get easy buckets near the rim," Mincey said.
Tennessee admitted that some players were dealing with some jitters and nerves playing in their first game in Thompson-Boling but that's out of the way now and the Lady Vols first game that counts is November 5 on the road at ETSU.