Everything Tennessee women's basketball coach Kim Caldwell said ahead of the South Carolina game

Tennessee women’s basketball coach Kim Caldwell spoke with the media on Sunday ahead of Monday’s game against South Carolina. Here’s everything she had to say about the game versus the Gamecocks.

QUESTION: The plans are for you to coach on the sideline Monday against South Carolina?

CALDWELL: That’s the plan.

How many days would that be after you gave birth to be back on the sideline?

I was back in practice on Friday, and we had our son on Monday.

How was it to be back on Friday?

It was good. It was good. It’s hard to leave your little one, but then you miss your team, and you kind of feel like you were just not there for them. And so to be back, and to be around them, and to be back in your routine was good.

Defensively, it’s one of the best South Carolina teams I’ve seen it a while on defense. What are the challenges for your team Monday?

Yeah, we have to take good shots. We’ve got to try to go in transition. But we have to take good shots, work the ball around a little bit better, try to make them guard for longer. But they’re very good on both sides of the ball.

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They have one of the best benches in the country. How do you prepare for that, especially after considering their starting five?

Yeah, I mean, they’re incredibly deep. And so we talked about it yesterday that every single person that’s on the floor – we go deep, too – but we need everyone to show up and for everyone to be able to guard.

(LSU coach Kim) Mulkey said yesterday that she wasn’t sure that she’s ever played against a team that had 10 McDonald’s All-Americans. Have you ever experienced that? And what does that even look like when you’re trying to prep for a team like that?

I don’t even know 10 McDonald’s All-Americans. And so, of course. And so when you’re prepping, it’s just a different level. And they’re all so talented. And so just making sure that everyone is prepared and you can’t fall asleep on defense. And even if you do, even if you are locked in, they’re probably still going to hit tough shots. And you’ve just got to be ready to weather that storm.

You said you’re back in practice Friday. What did you see from the team after another tough loss that was close? And just how do you feel like they’re handling it? This is obviously a really tough stretch in conference play. Just kind of take these losses and keep moving. Just how do you feel like they’re handling it?

Yeah, I think they’re handling it OK. I think that we just have to see it translate. And so we can’t continue to have the same conversations about rebounds. And we can’t continue to have the same conversation about fouls. And so we have to start to make adjustments.

How have you worked on the press after struggling a little bit against Texas and then going into this matchup with a veteran South Carolina team?

We’re just continuing to work on pressure and getting turns. I think our press looked great for the first minute against Texas. I think we forced three turnovers in maybe the first minute and a half. And then we only got one more steal for the remainder of the game. So, just back to consistency of let’s just continue to do this for longer. South Carolina is going to be really hard to see any improvement on because playing in transition only fuels them.

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It’s that time of year. Players are sick across the country. Just health-wise, how is your team doing right now?

Yeah, we’re sick. I had the flu the day that I gave birth. We have some of them that are sick. We are just trying to patch some holes and get some fluids in us. And hopefully, everyone will be ready to go tomorrow.

It feels like the team has been able to make a little progress in transition offensively. Against Texas, 17 points, I think, on breakaways. What do you think has helped that? And do you feel like they’re making progress in that area?

I do. I think they’re kind of seeing a little bit of success, especially our rim runners. I don’t remember if it was before or after. It must have been before the Vanderbilt game. We showed some clips of, this is what you look like, this is what it’s supposed to look like in transition as far as just running and pushing. And so I think we’ve had some people, especially our bigs, have kind of taken that to heart. Again, I think that they could do it more, just being more consistent with it.

When you were showing those clips of what it’s supposed to look like, was that from this team? Was that from past teams?

No, it was the past teams. When we taught it, we showed past teams. And we just pulled the same film.

What stands out to you most about (MiLaysia) Fulwiley?

She’s just incredible. She can score in any type of way. She can turn it on. She’s great in transition. So just making sure that we try to limit her. But when she’s in the game, they’re special. I mean, they’re special at all times. But she really is a tough matchup for us, seeing who can guard her.

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You’ve mentioned that things translate from practice to game. Do you subscribe to the theory that you have to learn how to win, and particularly close games? I know it doesn’t come down to one play at the end all the time. But do you think this team is learning how to win and getting closer to being able to close out the way you want to in the final four?

I do believe in that theory. I think you have to learn a lot of things. I think you’ve got to learn how to lose. You’ve got to learn how to win. You’ve got to learn how to win big. You have to learn all of those things.

You’re so close, too, which I know is sort of maddening to be that close. And you can point out physical things that need to be done. But is there a mental component to reach, too?

Absolutely. I think we don’t learn very well. We don’t learn. We will make the same foul every game. We’ll foul late shot clock. We will foul jump shooters. We’ll foul when we don’t need to. And again, we’re so close. And it is maddening. And you will drive yourself crazy as a coach of, hey, let’s just fix the fouls. Forget the rebounds. Forget the offense. Forget the defense. Forget anything else. Forget the foul shots. Just fix how much we foul. Fix that one thing. Let’s learn from it. And then maybe our record is different. And then you can go down that rabbit hole with every single thing. And then you put them all together.

The mental toughness. I mean, that takes time. Experience.

It does. And you have to be open to just learning from your mistakes. And you can’t continue to go on the floor and not adjust to the officials. And not to see somebody get a moving screen, and then you go on the floor and get a moving screen. To see somebody get a clamping call, and then you go in and get a clamping call. You have to be able to learn from those things.

Why do you think this team is struggling with that? With learning and applying it?

I mean, I would imagine we, as coaches, need to do a better job. And we just talked about that as teaching. Instead of instructing, instead of telling, of explaining the why, and teaching, and showing. And I do think we are getting better. But just breaking things down a little bit more, and teaching them before we go into it, and explaining the why.

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