Lady Vols transfer forward Keyen Green met with the media to discuss her offseason, the upcoming season, her decision to join the Lady Vols, her role on this year’s team, and the Lady Vol culture.
Here’s what Green had to say courtesy of Tennessee Athletics Communication:
On her impression of the team and her excitement to play:
“I love the girls. I feel like I came in and just fit right in (and) didn’t step on any toes while assuming a leadership role on this team. I feel like we’re all just family, like we’ve known each other much longer than these past couple of months. I’m super excited to get to play with them. Just feeling the general vibe in practice and how hard everyone is willing to go and compete for each other—that always makes for a great team. I’m excited to get out there and compete with them.”
On transferring and playing in the SEC this season:
“That was actually one of my reasons for leaving the mid-major level. I wanted a bigger challenge. I think that’s what it’s going to be. I think the SEC is going to be more of a challenge for me. Games like UConn, they’re a challenge for everybody, but that’s what I was seeking when I came here.”
On her completely-virtual recruitment process and now being on campus:
“I had conversations with (the coaches) and Zoom calls with them, so I felt like I kind of knew them pretty well already. Meeting somebody is different, but I think I was lucky in this case in that, and a lot of players aren’t in this position, that the coaches were the same people when I met them that they were over the phone. That doesn’t happen too often. A lot of coaches are just selling the dream, but these coaches were the same, and they’ve been the same. They’ve been very consistent.”
On her role this season and being a senior leader on the team:
“I see my role as just that. I think I’m a leader no matter what room I’m in. I feel like I just kind of assume that position, not in a narcissistic way, but just because that’s the way that I am. I think that will be my role on this team, just to continue to encourage and lead with my experience – lead vocally (and) lead by example. (I’m) just really trying to get everybody going in the same direction and on the same page.”
On her impression of the Lady Vol culture:
“I think it’s just the family aspect. I don’t really know what I thought it would be, but I’ve heard that at a lot of Power Five schools, the biggest difference from mid-major to high-major is that it’s more of a business. I feel like I have the same family feel here that I did at the mid-major level. It makes it easier to compete when you love the people that are standing next to you.”
On not being the only transfer this season:
“It’s been super nice to have JoJo (Jordan Walker) here just because we’re on the same page. We both have not been here. We both came from a mid-major level. I think the biggest thing that we can kind of relate about is the gratefulness of being here. We’ve seen what our schools had, and we see how much more Tennessee has to offer us. I think that comes out in how we play. We play hard because we know that this level is going to be more difficult than what we came from. We play hard because we love our teammates. We know what it is to lead a team and what a team needs to succeed. It’s been great to have somebody else with that kind of experience.”
Go to the next page to hear from Lady Vols transfer guard Jordan Walker.
