Mizzou vs. Oral Roberts Post Game Quotes
11/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
MISSOURI HEAD COACH, Kim Anderson
Opening Statement...
"It was a game like I thought it would be. They've got some guys who really play physically. (Obi) Emegano was just unreal in the first half. We really had no answer. The only answer was that he just got fouls, which certainly helped get him out of the game. I thought we did a great job of coming back late in the half. We got behind a little bit. Deuce (Bello) really did a great job coming off the bench. He's a guy we've been trying to find a niche for and I think we're starting to do that. He's a guy who can guard and has a great first step. I know these guys are really pleased for him because he's continued to work and I'm really proud of him. In the second half, we played really good defense. We guarded and we had great help. Wes (Clark) did a great job on Emegano. Deuce did a great job. Everybody did a great job with helping out. We finally got down to the point where we were going to trap him and he had kind of quit posting up at that point. At the end, we got all the key rebounds. We need to do a better job at the free-throw line, but overall I'm really pleased with the victory. That was a good team that will win a lot of games this year."
On the team's shooting performance...
"Coach (Scott) Sutton said when we shook hands that he thought we couldn't shoot. I said that we hadn't shot well. I thought tonight we had good rhythm. This team needed something good to happen like that. They've worked hard and I thought tonight they made the extra pass and this was the first game I think that we had more assists than turnovers. We had 16 assists on 25 made buckets. I looked at our stats today and over the first two games I couldn't believe we were even one and one. We were shooting 35-percent overall, bad from three, free throws weren't really good, and our assist to turnover ratio was negative. This team is still really young and I think this was really good tonight for their confidence level."
On confidence in shooting...
"Wes was really good and he shot the ball with confidence. In the second half, I thought everyone shot the ball with confidence. Johnathan Williams, III stepped out and shot it. He didn't mess around with it. He just shot it and didn't have time to think. He just took the shot that he's practiced many many times. I thought Keith (Shamburger) did an awful good job too with controlling the game. He didn't have as many assists, but I thought he did a great job on the floor. I think the key to the game was Wes' defense on Emegano and Deuce Bello. I thought Deuce coming in during the first half and getting a couple of buckets, and in the second half he did a good job defensively. I don't know whether it was our defense or if he got tired, but we were getting ready to double him and he quit posting up which was good for us probably. Great performance by him though."
On the team's identity...
"I'm going to stay with what I said. I think this is going to be a balanced team. I think Monday night, someone else could score 20 points and Montaque Gill-Caesar might score eight. The way we're going to win is to be a balanced team. We have to have guys come in and do a good job. We've got to have D'Angelo Allen come in and stir things up defensively and get an easy bucket. We've got to have Tramaine Isabell come in and knock down an open shot. These guys are freshmen. Namon Wright comes in and does a good job. We've got to have balance. There's going to be nights when Wes will have points or Gill-Caesar will have points or Williams, III will have points, but I think overall we've got to share the basketball and we still have to throw the ball inside and have a presence there."
On the importance of tonight's win...
"I hoped all day that something good would happen because this team is young. They're so young and I know you guys get tired of hearing that, but they're new and they're trying to do what we ask them to do. It worked. They executed well and we did a good job defensively. We did some different things defensively, which I think were really good. Hopefully we can just keep building on this stuff as we still have more to do, but tonight was a good start."
On second half aggressive play...
"I saw a couple openings and that made things a little bit easier for me. I just made shots. I stepped up with confidence and made shots."
On the team's second half run...
"I think we've always been a good shooting team. We've just been a little nervous and hadn't really found the chemistry and a feel for each other. We started to get the ball in the right spots at the right times and were able to make some open shots."
On upcoming tournament in Hawaii...
"It's going to be a great experience. It'll be good to see where our team is and what strides we have to make towards March. We're a young team and we're trying to find our chemistry and a feel for each other. So, we're just looking to see where we're at exactly."
Sophomore Forward, Johnathan Williams, III
On the team's contagious second half shooting...
"I guess we were just feeling it and were in a rhythm in the second half. Everybody just got going. You start getting stops and that creates offense."
On upcoming tournament in Hawaii...
"I know Hawaii is this nice place but we're going there for a reason and that's to win three games. So that's our main focus. Just go down there, have fun and be close as a team. That trip is a growing experience for us because we're going to be around each other the whole entire time. We need to go down there and handle business too and get three wins."
Freshman Guard, Montaque Gill-Caesar
On the difference between tonight's performance versus Sunday night
"I was a little bit more patient tonight. I was just taking what the defense gave me. When they went zone, when I set the screen and popped, nobody was there to guard me so I just took the shots that were there for me."
On the team's second half run tonight...
"I think it was crazy for all of us to see, especially for me. I think Johnathan (Williams, III) hit two and Deuce (Bello) hit one. We've all been working on our shots a lot so it was good to see that we were hitting."
On upcoming game against Arizona next Monday in Hawaii...
"We're going into that game with confidence. We know we're capable of competing with any team in the country. It doesn't matter whether it's Arizona or Oral Roberts. It doesn't matter who it is. We're going to go into each and every game with confidence."
ORAL ROBERTS HEAD COACH, SCOTT SUTTON
Opening Statement...
"I've been in basketball my whole life. For 16 years as a head coach. I'm not sure of someone shooting and scoring quite like that, especially in the second half, and that's coming from a team that has not been known to be a great jump shooting team. Sometimes in the game of basketball it goes your way and tonight it certainly went Mizzou's way and you have to tip your hat to them. If they can make shots like that, they have a chance to be a very good basketball team. Obi Emegano was the best player on the floor. It was too bad he picked up a couple cheap fouls but I made a mistake. He is a smart basketball player, we have a rule where if you pick up first two files before the half you sit. I should have put him back in the game the way he was playing. We have to learn from this game and that mistake as well because he is too good and is too smart."
On his team's defensive strategy tonight against Mizzou...
"Yeah, we wanted to keep them out of the paint. Our biggest thing is we wanted to keep them out of transition, which I think we did a pretty good job most of the night and force them to take guard and perimeter shots. That was our game plan. They hadn't shown us anything before. I believe they came in shooting 22-percent into tonight and they just made timely shots and we missed timely shots. Johnathan Williams, III hit two big shots and Deuce Bello who is certainly not known for three point shooting hits one in the corner. When those things happen you realize it's not your night."
On how Mizzou used the momentum of the three-point shot tonight...
"I believe when you make shots on the offensive side it helps your defense. It energizes you, you have a little more bounce in your step. Three point shots are especially your momentum plays. The crowd is loud and you get in the game more. I think it's a little bit of both. I was shocked. I thought this game was going to be a low scoring game. I thought Mizzou's strength early in the season was their defense. I think a lot of it has to do with making shots and we missed a lot of our free throws and open shots."
REDSHIRT JUNIOR GUARD, OBI EMEGANO
On playing with a high pace tonight...
"When I came in I was just trying to be aggressive on offense and defense. I came out and hit my first shot and I think it carried over from the first half."
On if he thought Mizzou's hot shooting from behind the arc would cool down...
"I did. I thought they had came and made their run. I then thought it was going to be our turn to make our run because basketball is a game of runs. We were waiting for our run to come and it never really came to us."
