In Kim Caldwell's public debut as the Lady Vols coach, she steered Tennessee to a 135-49 win over Carson-Newman.

After the game, she met with the media.

Here's everything she said.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

It was a good test for us to play in the arena, in front of the fans. It was really nice to play against somebody other than ourselves. We appreciate Carson-Newman for coming. That that's a very good Division II team and they're gonna have a good year and we're gonna be rooting for them all the way.

I just think that I look at it with a very different lens and I always will. And I'm used to this, and a lot of people aren't. Our staff is and our players aren't. And when I look at it, I see what we need to fix and I imagine that we're playing for a national championship game and we can't give up 38% from three. We can't let them have that many threes. We gotta fix our half court defense. So, I look at it very differently. I was happy that they came out aggressive, that we had a good first quarter, that we forced pace and tempo and it looked like our practice from the very beginning. I thought that was a big improvement from where we have been.

I didn't like our shot selection in the first half. I think we were kind of playing a little rushed. I don't necessarily know that selfish is the right word, but I think we all wanted to see the ball go in as individuals and we weren't really sharing the ball the way we should. Taking some bad shots and we took a few bad shots in the second half, but it wasn't nearly as noticeable. And so, I thought they did a really good job of making that adjustment.

It's big and it's gonna get a lot better. It better get a lot better. And so I think as we go through this, again, like, we have a very high ceiling. We're not there yet and they're gonna learn to play with each other so much better than they're playing with each other right now and they just don't see that yet.

It's not hard at all, but it does take time to figure it out. And so where it is difficult is this time of year. In December, January, February, it's not hard. And so the point is, if you come out of that game and you're not tired, you don't need a break, you're not doing it right. It's not a situation where they're just being pulled out just to be pulled out. They're being pulled out because they're gassed. They get their break and then they can go back in whenever they want.

She was phenomenal. She was phenomenal. She didn't take any bad shots. She was great on defense. I don't think there was a 50/50 ball around her that she lost. She had seven assists, 0 turnovers. She's been in the gym this week shooting threes. She shot the three very well tonight and so maybe she didn't have as many points as she wanted, but I think her stat sheet is really great for her.

We've been on Ruby a little bit. Get in the gym, shoot more threes. Let's work on counter moves. Let's go left. And so to see someone come out in their home opener, and it meant something for her tonight, and to see her come out and be able to use all those tools and and have a great game, it's one of those situations where she doesn't see how good she can be yet. And so we're just gonna keep hounding and keep making sure she gets better, but I was really proud of her. She had a very efficient night, 11-for-15. It's a really good stat line and I don't care who you're playing.

I don't really give them any advice for this. It is what we're gonna do. Do it. Figure it out.

They're big and I think she was a really big piece. We haven't in our scrimmages and sometimes when we get up and down in practice, we were off to cold starts, and I think her hot start helped us offensively. And she didn't really necessarily force it. She had a couple turnovers, I think, that were rushed, but her shot selections were good. And she found open teammates and she took shots and she was hitting threes. So she was really hard to guard.

She's one of the smallest people we put out there, and she had seven offensive rebounds. She's gonna be really good at this. And so she's a true freshman in a sense that her journey is a little bit harder because she's had to sit out. She didn't play basketball for a full year. And so not only does she have a bright future over four years, she has a bright future over this season because she's just a little bit rusty and she's young. Once we can just really get her confidence going, I think you guys are gonna see a different player.

I think she did a really good job. She didn't play fast or too fast. She didn't try to force anything. She played within our system. She got people open shots, so I thought that was really good.

I think my the thing I'm the most happy about is our steals and our forced turnovers. It just came with pressure. Some of the previous times, we have to bark at them and yell at them, get up, get up, get up and they did that without us barking tonight, which was a good sign.

It's big. It's everything we want. It's why we press.

That's a hard balance. It takes time and it comes with roles. It comes with watching individual film, space. And we do wanna play fast, but we do wanna share the ball. And so that is a little song and dance that takes a month, month and a half and when I say it looks ugly early, little things like that are what I see.

It was huge. It didn't only fuel her offensive confidence because I know she was a little down. She was missing some shots, but it fueled our entire team's offense and it fueled our entire team's defense and so that was really big. And to have someone at the top of your press that can guard like that, I don't know that I've had a player of that caliber that can really just say, 'Hey, I wanna go get a steal' whenever she wants and so that's gonna be fun.

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