Missouri Post Game Quotes
1/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2010
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Head Coach Mike Anderson Quotes
Mizzou vs. Savannah State
Opening Statement:
“I thought the weather might have had something to do with us in the first half, because we played cold. First, let me just say that a lot of people might just see Savannah State and look at the name, but their coach has done a tremendous job with that program. His kids are going to play hard, much like he played at Georgetown. They're gritty, and they played us probably as tough as anyone this year has in our building. We contributed to that as well with our lack of intensity—I just thought we were a little flat. We had some guys come off the bench to kind of spearhead things. Marcus Denmon is playing some outstanding basketball, and it's not just his scoring. He's doing some other things with our basketball team. Michael Dixon—he doesn't play like a freshman. That was evident again. He came out and gave us some great energy. He has a motor. They kind of held us in until the second half, and then I think JT Tiller and Zaire Taylor, after getting chastised by me a little bit, came out with great, great energy. JT is the heart and soul of our team, and the Tasmanian Devil really came out in him tonight. It's kind of like lighting a match—it's contagious and catches on to everybody. Savannah State was kind of attacking us in the first half and then got fatigued. In the second half, we started touching and coming up with the passes that we weren't getting close to in the first.”
On how much the team feeds off the home crowd:
“We like to play in front of people, but I don't think it makes the difference—when you play, you play. Of course you go on runs, and a dunk at home is a little different than a dunk on the road. If you watch any team from around the country they play better at home. I love to see our fans, and see the place packed with black and gold. When you're in conference play, every game is a big game. I always say all games are big, but the urgency really picks up in conference. Right now everyone is tied for first place in the conference, and looking at what has taken place in non-conference games, our league is one of the best in the country. I think when you go into these arenas, you'd better come with it if you want to have a chance. When you're in that race, you have to protect the home turf, and that's our mindset.”
On Kansas State:
“They got everybody back from last year for the most part, and they also added a young man by the name of Kelly. They've got scoring, they've got rebounding, and they probably don't get enough credit for their defense. Their defense gets them points and creates some easy opportunities for them. They're athletic and have good size. They're playing well.”
On looking back on non-conference play:
“When you're a coach, you always want to do better. If you think about it, we're maybe just 3 or 4 possessions away from being undefeated right now. I think there are some lessons to be learned, and hopefully those are lessons that we can reach back to that will help us in conference play. I think that's what the non-conference schedule is for, and I like how our guys have kind of evolved. Hopefully we've still got some of our best basketball ahead of us. I think we have more guys that are playing well now for us, but the challenges get huge for us now.”
Missouri Player Post-Game Quotes
On what sparked Missouri in the second half…
“I feel that the wear and tear started to get to them (Savannah State). They came out with a lot of energy. I credit them. They played well the first half. But the game is 40 minutes. The second half, I think we started to take effect, the way guys started to communicate. We came out with a lot of energy. We were out there fixing things. We started adjusting to what they were doing.”
On what Savannah State was doing to throw Missouri off…
“They were kind of zoning and switching up the defenses. We were just trying to stay aggressive and keep attacking and we knew the shots would start to fall.”
On playing inside a packed Mizzou Arena…
“It's fun when we get all our fans and a lot of the students from Missouri in here. It can get loud. It's fun to play in front of all those people and just have that support behind you. We feed off of the crowd. When you get the crowd behind you it starts to take effect on people (opponents) with the ball. It helps us get after people a lot more too.”
On what changes Missouri made going into the second half…
“We knew, as a team, we needed to pick it up offensively and defensively. We kind of started playing their game, playing at their pace. Collectively we said that we need to pick it up in the second half.”
On playing inside a packed Mizzou Arena…
“When people get in here (Mizzou Arena) I think it's one of the toughest places to play in the country. When we're on point and playing how we're playing, its exciting basketball and the crowd feeds off of it too. The big crowd gives you a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotion.”
On if Missouri is where they would have liked to be going into Big 12 play…
“We had a couple slip-ups. Those games are in the past so you have to deal with where you are now. I think we're alright going into conference. I think we learn from our mistakes, and I think that says a lot about our team too.”
