Mizzou Basketball Post Game Quotes
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2009
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Head Coach Mike Anderson
Missouri vs. Chattanooga
November 24, 2009
On having 24 steals and shooting the ball well…
“It's mind boggling. I thought our defense was good. Chattanooga's a good basketball team. I thought we just came out and took it to them. We hit them pretty good early on and we made a lot of shots. We had 19 deflections in the first half and that just tells you how active we were. Of course, we made shots. What a night, it's mind boggling. Our guys played with a lot of energy and we played unselfish basketball.”
“The funny thing is he did all of that in 18 minutes. So that tells you how efficient he played. I always talk about the quality of the minutes. He was on fire. Our guys did a good job of getting him the ball, but hats off to Keith Ramsey and Justin Safford. Mike Dixon of course got in foul trouble early on, and I thought Zaire was solid. Marcus continues to play great basketball. Our bench, you could go on and on, but Bowers, every time I look up, he's deflecting, blocking shots and coming up with steals. He just does so many things that help our basketball team, it's unbelievable. Of course, Steve Moore, he's finding his way.”
On Miguel Paul…
“That's what you're looking for out of a guy like Miguel. He's starting to figure it out, he's starting to see the game in slow motion. Sometimes when you're a freshman, everything is so fast and exciting and we saw that even with Mike Dixon tonight, he got those quick two fouls and then in the second half he was just trying to make something happen. I think Miguel is really like a settling force out there and I'm glad to see he's starting to show that. I think that's going to help our basketball team and give us more depth at that position.”
“He just has to start stepping up. He's a senior and I'm expecting to get more out of him, so I want him to be more assertive. Sometimes you don't know he's out there until you go back and look at the stat sheet. But I thought tonight his presence was very evident early on in the game defensively, offensively and sharing the ball and even making that extra pass. I told our guys before the game, I know sometimes when we're playing, a lot of guys want to make that home run pass, and that's when you get in trouble and turn it over. The singles, to me, are more important to setting up that home run. I thought in the last couple games, we're seeing that more and more. We had 25 assists on 35 field goals, that's pretty darn good.”
Missouri Player Post-Game Quotes
Sophomore Guard Kimmie English
On Missouri's unselfish play with 24 total assists…
“Yeah, after that UT-Martin game Coach (Anderson) made an emphasis to move the ball and let everyone feed off of each other. When we're moving the ball, we're getting good looks at the basket, attacks to the rim. This is a very, very unselfish bunch. So if we move the ball we definitely can get a good look every time down.”
On preparing for Chattanooga…
“Don't get Chattanooga messed up, they're a really good basketball team. They went to the tournament last year, they won their league. They played us last year, they weren't intimidated at all. Every day and every game we get ready for the Vanderbilts and the Old Dominions and the Michigan States and the Richmonds, but we're a team that's trying to find our identity. We'll definitely get better one day at a time. We definitely don't look at Chattanooga like they aren't in the Big 12, so they're not good. They're a really good basketball team. We prepared for them mightily.”
On Mizzou's choice to attempt a large number of three-point shots…
“They (Chattanooga) like to double the post a lot and left the opposite wingman open every time. All of our guards can shoot, our big men can shoot, everyone on this team can shoot. Coach Zimmerman is a great shooting coach, we've got to give him some credit.”
On Missouri's identity as a energetic and constantly moving team…
“That's a given. When you play for Coach Anderson that's not optional. That's always going to be his team's identity. But it comes to a point when it's more than that. Right now we have pretty experienced guards, and we've got big men that are coming into their roles. They're playing right now, but you haven't really seen what they can do. I don't think everyone has seen our identity, I don't think we've seen our own identity yet. I think there's more to this team than what we've done so far.”
On Mizzou's choice to attempt a large number of three-point shots…
“Well what is was, after they double the post men we were figuring if we get it inside to them the double would come and then we'd have an open looks on the opposite sides. So we tried to get the ball inside and work inside out. And that way the guards have easy shots, being that the defense sags in a lot.”
On whether the team knew the amount of steals they had grabbed, a new school record…
“No, I really wasn't aware of it. After the game when we went in the locker room, Coach told us that is something we want to do, touch a lot of the basketball and get a lot of deflections and come up with them which will lead to a lot of steals. I wasn't sure it was a record because I know we got after it a lot last year too. But that's something I'm glad to know.”
Chattanooga Head Coach Quotes
John Shulman
On why Ridge McKeither did not start:
“He was 30 seconds late for the bus. We don't have to beat Missouri to go to the NCAA Tournament, so it's important for us to lay down a framework. Last year we came in here and were beat by 30 and still went to the NCAA Tournament, so we've got to lay down the law and guidelines now. That's why he didn't start. He didn't play a whole lot because he got in foul trouble.”
On Missouri's three-point shooting:
“That was pretty good for a team that has been going 4 for 17 and 3 for 16 in other games. They started filling that up a little bit last game. They're so good off the bounce that you kind of have to give up something. The key to them is that they make you play at a speed which you're not comfortable with. We usually want to play pretty controlled, and they just won't let you. They're unbelievable… give credit to them.”
