Mizzou Post Game Quotes
2/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2009
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Missour
Missouri Head Coach Mike Anderson Opening statement… “You guys all witnessed it. This is a rivalry game. I thought both teams left it out on the floor. I thought we made just one more play than Kansas did. They came out and I thought they took it to us in the first half, but we were much more aggressive in the second half. In the second half our guys came out with a different mindset, and we just kept hanging around and hanging around. Our defense in the second half was the difference in the game.” On Keith Ramsey's play… “I told our guys if I had a game ball, one game ball, I'd give it to a guy you guys wouldn't even imagine. I thought Keith Ramsey, I thought he was the guy who kept us in it. The way we were shooting the basketball we could have easily been 25 points down. But his fight and his resolve, his stats may not show it, but his fight, he fought enough for our other guys to start picking it up.” On Missouri's last offensive play… “It's no secret, put the ball in Zaire's hands and let him go to work. We were going to take it to other side with Leo, but hats off to Zaire. He made a play. The lane was open, we had the floor open and when you talk about putting them into position to make a play, he did. He did what I told him to do, take the last shot. His confidence has to be soaring, you have to admire a guy like that, who wants to make plays down the road.” i vs. Kansas 2/9/09 Missouri player quotes
On coming back:
“We came together as a team, we just said to ourselves we're not going to lose on hour home turf and we're just going to have to take it. But honestly, if you really want to know what turned the game around its' these two guys (guards J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor) because Coach (Anderson) was on them the whole game, every mistake they made Coach was on them, and you see their response.”
On the early similarities tonight's game and the Illinois game:
“It's our home turf, and I have to give credit to our fans…their guys real tired and our fans got into it and they got us into it. You know, coach says when you get the fans here to keep them here you've got to win, so we just tried to go out there with a collective effort and come away with a victory.”
On how this team has evolved since the Illinois loss:
“Experience, leadership, mature freshmen, I don't call them freshman no more they I call them sophomores. Then you've got to give credit to our coach, he harps on us every day about defense, defense and as a team I think we came together in the second half and we really went out there and played a lot of defense, played great defense.”
On last shot:
“I feel like any of us could've made the shot, it started with Leo (Lyons) he made an attack, got J.T. (Tiller) the ball, it was what coach set up, J.T. attacked and he found me I had a pump fake and an open look and I knocked it down. It's just a blessing to play on a stage like this, it's amazing.”
On his emotions in the second half:
“Honestly, it was J.T. (Tiller), I mean, when you see him make the plays he's making out there then I find myself always competing with J.T. because he says he plays better defense than me and when you see him getting out there and the intensity he's bringing you really don't have any other choice. I mean it was all or nothing at that point, you're down and you're down 14 at the half, you've just got to chip away, I mean you can't get 14 points in one play, so it starts with defense, you've got to get stops to win when you're down.”
