Mizzou-Texas Postgame Quotes
2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2010
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Post-Game Quotes
Texas vs. Missouri
Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Mo.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Mizzou Head Coach Mike Anderson Quotes
On Michael Dixon...
"He did step up and play. With him it's the little progressions. His energy was really big tonight, he and Miguel Paul. We gave our starters a good rest and when they came back out you could see we had a good forward rhythm to the game. You've got to take your hats off to Texas. We had our work cut out for us, but our seniors they stood out again. Talk about Ramsey, what a double-double."
On Keith Ramsey's game...
"Keith was huge, Justin was huge, Bowers was big. I thought Keith was a big time stick tonight. He got to the basket and I thought he had a great energy level. He showed up big time."
On Kim English's performance...
"I thought he played wonderful. 23 minutes, 18 points, good from the free throw line, and good from the three point line. That's good basketball."
On the fans...
"Great, great atmosphere. The fans are right behind us. It got real exciting in here, a real exciting game. We want to thank all the fans for coming out. For all the fans that didn't make it, you better go out and get your ticket. It's the hottest ticket in the Midwest."
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
On center Dexter Pittman's struggles...
"Obviously we like to establish something inside with Dexter (Pittman). But he's still playing way too fast. And he's not getting ready to catch the ball and do something out of the dribble. He kept pivoting and walking with the basketball. I think you've got to give Missouri a lot of credit. They do a great job of pressuring the basketball. And I thought we weren't as poised as we needed to be. And we didn't look inside enough early in the first half.
On the lack of toughness that the Longhorns showed...
When we get those younger guys in, we take guys like (Dogus) Balbay out of the game and we lose a lot of toughness. Our younger guys right now just don't understand you need to be a little tougher in there. Nobody could really handle the ball today for us. And it was just really surprising to me that no one could handle Missouri's pressure.
On not getting to the free-throw line and their inability to penetrate...
"I thought Dogus (Balbay) really should have been going by people. We really wanted to get to the free-throw line in the first half. I think that you really need to drive against a team like Missouri and we didn't do that enough tonight. Again, it goes back to the turnovers; they did a great job of getting in passing lanes. But that goes back to driving the basketball, that is how you get good looks against Missouri, and we didn't do that."
On his scoring run in the second half...
It was an important time, because Texas came out and scored fast, so we wanted our defense to get stops, but we wanted to score fast as well.
On the importance of the victory:
Every win is a big win. It's obviously a big win because it's against a ranked team, and a Big 12 South foe that's really good--they were #1 at one point. We don't look at any team more than we look at another team, though. Each team in this league is good--I feel like this is the best league in the country. It's a huge win for us, but Coach said to enjoy it til midnight, and then we're focusing on Nebraska.
Missouri Guard JT Tiller
On the physicality of the game...
I feel like an old man--my body hurts. Coach says you've got to come out here and give it all you've got, and I just wanted to do my part out on the floor. Running into that goal really hurt my side, and just hitting on the floor hurt my whole body.
On Texas' reaction to their style of play...
I wouldn't say they were scared, but our pressure really got to them. When we were making plays in the second half, we could really see in their demeanor that we were starting to wear on them.
On the importance of rebounding...
That's been a thing all year for us--Coach always gets on us about rebounding. We know that Texas is bigger than us, so we had to fight.
On Dexter Pittman's early foul trouble...
I think it was our pressure. [Dexter] Pittman was so worried about us doubling up on him he tried to get his shots off really quick, and he kept on traveling. He ended up having to come out, so it worked out for us.
