Tennessee Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kellie Harper and Voice of the Lady Vols Mickey Dearstone met with the local media on Wednesday in the media room at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Harper previewed Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. ET home contest between No. 16/14 UT (12-6/10-4 SEC) and Mississippi State (15-11/6-8 SEC). The game will be streamed on SECN+, and tickets are available at AllVols.com.
Dearstone, who will be honored before Sunday’s LSU game, talked about his 23 seasons as the radio play-by-play voice of Lady Vol Basketball, where he worked alongside Harper, Holly Warlick and Pat Summitt. The Greeneville, Tenn., native also served as host of weekly TV coaches shows during his run from 1999-2022. Prior to 1999, Dearstone had worked with the Lady Vol Radio Network filling in behind the microphone for Bob Kesling when there were broadcasting conflicts.
Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper
On the challenges Mississippi State presents…
“I think the biggest challenge is they’re low with their personnel, which causes them to play four or five guards at a time. To me, the biggest challenge is the matchup and how we’re going to guard them. They play hard. They’re quick, they can get to the basket and shoot the three, which is not always easy to guard.”
On preparing for the SEC Tournament…
“Well, I’m always happy to be in Thompson-Boling Arena. It’s great to be back home, and we’re looking forward to finishing the season out here. Hopefully, we can play with great energy and find some confidence as we head over to the tournament.”
On what Mickey Dearstone means to her…
“Mickey was a familiar face and a familiar voice for me when I came back. He’s been terrific. He’s been a consistent fan and a consistent part of our program. He’s the voice. When I think of Lady Vols games and plays, I hear his voice. He’s such a wonderful person. We’ve loved being around him. (I) hate to see this time come for him, but also, I’m happy for him. He’s been able to do what he wants to do.”
On the response she has seen from her team after multiple injuries…
“I think we have players that have wanted to step up, and they are really fighting and trying. They’ve kept a pretty good attitude through some trying times. They come out every day in practice and give us everything they’ve got. I’m proud of them. I told them that we’re going to keep pushing them to be better.”
On if Jordan Horston’s absence has inspired the team…
“Yes, for sure. With Jordan (Horston) going out, you have to find some rallying, motivation, and inspiration. I think they’ve found that in each other. They talk about it, and they want to play for each other. When you know the person sitting to your right and to your left is giving everything they’ve got, it gives you confidence to go out and do the same.”
On Alexus Dye coming back aggressively following a slump…
“I think we have to stay on her and give her exactly what we want her to do. Jordan Horston was not in there to steal any of her boards, so Alexus is going to have plenty of opportunities to get in the mix. She has to stay aggressive for us. She is going to have opportunities. She has to continue to be a huge presence both in transition and on the boards. Also, although they play different positions, I still think defensively she can help us fill in some of the areas we are losing with Jordan.”
Alexus Dye adjusting to SEC play and finding success…
“For her, just playing this size and speed every single night sometimes is very challenging, but I think she continues to fight. She is out on the court working right now. It is good to see her still trying to grow and make plays. She wants to be good; she really does. She wants to find success and help this team in any way she can. I think right now, she feels really confident that she can do that.”
On how the environment will be on campus this weekend with men’s and women’s home games…
“This is going to be a huge weekend. For fans, what a great opportunity to come in and watch some really talented basketball and pull for the orange teams and just enjoy what is going on our campus. There is so much excitement right now, and it’s a great time to be a Vol.
On how Tamari Key has grown since she came to Rocky Top…
“She has improved tremendously each and every year, and even during each season. I think a lot of that is from her confidence, her maturity, and what she has been able to do. She was thrown out there as a freshman and had to learn on the fly. And since then, she has polished her game, gotten better, expanded her game, and she has become a force. She has confidence defensively when she is blocking shots. She has had that for a while, but now we see her even more confidently rebounding and looking for her shots and opportunities on the offensive end. A lot of that is the mental aspect of the game. The other thing, this is a long season. These seasons are extremely long, players get tired, and it is tough for them mentally, and I think she has handled this season really well, and I think she has grown into that.
On what she has seen from Rae Burrell after overcoming her injury earlier in the year…
“This has been a really difficult time for Rae. You’re this talented player and have an idea of how this year is going to go, and with that injury, it just didn’t go that way. Unfortunately, that’s life. Honestly, it’s kind of life lessons she’s had to learn and had to endure. I hope when she walks away from this experience that it’s made her better -a better basketball player, more equipped to handle adversity. She’s one of these players that hasn’t been hurt a lot. It’s not easy to deal with, especially with a late time in your career. So, I’ve been proud of her. She’s hung in there when it hasn’t been easy.”
On Rae Burrell’s increased productivity and how important she is during the last stretch of the season…
“We’re going to need her. She and I watched film together yesterday, just trying to figure out where we can help, where she can do things, and where she can do more things. She’s really excited going down the stretch and to what she can do. I don’t know if she’s quite back where she was, because she had such an explosiveness about her in early November. In terms of what she can bring to the team, there is still so much she can bring. I think she knows that and the team knows it.”
Mickey Dearstone, Voice of Lady Vol Basketball
On his decision to retire…
“I actually started thinking about it, maybe when there was a coaching transition between Holly (Warlick) and Kellie (Harper). Then I thought about it, knowing Kellie from her playing days. I thought I’d do it for a few more years to give her a chance to get her feet on the floor solid. So I decided to do it. So then, this July, I started thinking about it, and I told the Vol Network that I’d been thinking about it. They said don’t tell us now and wait until we get closer to the season. In October, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and that kind of sealed the deal cause I knew I was going to have surgery in January and miss some games. I missed two games last year because of COVID and three games this year. I’ve always been the kind of person that if I couldn’t do them all, I don’t want to do any. I never really liked somebody to do my job for me.”
On the relationships he made along the way…
“It’s coaches, particularly Pat (Summitt), Holly (Warlick), and Kellie (Harper), and assistant coaches, the administration here back when the athletic departments were split. (It’s) Joan Cronan, her staff, and then all the players and then all the fans too, because one thing I always tried to do is to be cordial with the fans. Like at the SEC Tournament when they just dominated the attendance at SEC Tournaments, if I was leaving and somebody hollered, I’d stop and talk to them, and we talked about Lady Vol Basketball. Those are the thing that I’ll always cherish because there are hundreds and hundreds of them that I’ve been able to form in my 20-30 years.”
On how he tries to connect with his listeners…
“I always tried to do one thing. I was trained by one of the best, my father. He was the best play-by-play guy people that people don’t know about. He always told me, ‘The only thing you have to do to be successful is help people with three things. Those three things are time, score, and where the ball is.’ I can remember when I started and I would say ‘right side’ or ‘left side.’ I remember he called me in the office, and he goes, ‘Do you have any idea of how big a college court is?’ I told him that I had no idea. He said, ‘It’s 94 feet long, 50 feet wide. The right side in the front-court is 47 by 25. That’s a lot of area that a basketball could be in. It means a lot more if it’s in the corner than if it’s in the half-court line.’ I tried to do those three things. At the same time, I tried to be a Lady Vol fan like they were sitting in the arena. People talk a lot about how I criticize officiating, but fans criticize them too. If you’re in Thompson-Boling Arena and the fans think the officials made a bad call, they moan, groan, boo and everything else. I always try to be a Lady Vol fan with a microphone. I try to bring the game to the people that are listening to it so they can see it like they are there. It means a lot to me. I had a guy when I was in sports radio that called one morning and thanked me for doing the games. He appreciated it and he said, ‘When you do the games, I can see the game. By the way, I’m blind.’ That said it all right there.”
On if there was a particular memory that sticks out to him…
“Of course, all the Final Fours, all the national championship games, but there’s one in particular. In ’96-97 when the team was struggling and after an early exit in the semifinals against Auburn in the SEC Tournament… it was our 10th loss. I remember that they were just spiraling downhill. And I remember that after they got back to Knoxville – I heard this story from multiple people – that Pat (Summitt) told them that if you get us to the Final Four, I promise you we’ll win it. Now, earlier that year, we lost in Norfolk, Va., to Old Dominion. And it just so happened that we made it to the Final Four, and in the championship game we played Old Dominion. I don’t think Pat slept for two nights. That game, I saw Tennessee as the most prepared basketball team that I have ever seen in my entire career. They knew exactly what they wanted to do. They knew who was going to throw it, who was going to catch it, and who was going to handle it. They knew everything before Old Dominion did it, and we ended up winning the National Championship. It showed how Pat outworked everybody. She made that promise, and she kept her promise by winning a championship.”
On the call-in show…
“It all started with Pat (Summitt) when, I think it was Kevin O’Neal that started the call-in show for postgame after home games, and Pat decided she wanted to do that. It was more lighthearted. I enjoyed doing it, because it showed a lighter side of her. She had a great sense of humor, and she loved to gig me. I remember there was one time there was a lady that called up from the northeast somewhere. She said I really enjoy listening to you, and blah-blah this and blah-blah that, and when I said thanks and she hung up and Pat said, ‘I didn’t think we were supposed to have family members call in.’ Just stuff like that. So it kind of was a banter back and forth. A lot of times she’d say, ‘You stick with the radio, I’ll do the coaching,’ and things like that. Well, Holly (Warlick) was the same way. Holly and I were friends. Holly was going through a little tougher time; she wasn’t in as good of a mood as a lot of times what Pat was. And then, Kellie (Harper), it basically started from the day she arrived and held her press conference. I was across the street, and she comes in and sees me, and she comes over and gives me a hug and says, ‘I knew you’d still be here.’ When you form friendships and not just working relationships with incredible women like that, it can’t help but come across whenever we’re doing shows and stuff.”
-UT Athletics
