Mizzou vs. SEMO Post Game Quotes
12/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Mizzou Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement...
"As far as the game goes, I didn't think we played very well the first half, obviously. We really challenged some guys at halftime, primarily the three guys sitting here at this table. I thought we got some stops and we made some shots. I thought this game tonight contained a lot of `hope' shots by both teams. Shots that maybe weren't off the offense or late shot clock shots, but that's basketball. We were able to get some stops when we needed to. Guys made plays at the end. We have to give them credit. I thought they played really well. I'm proud the way our guys fought back. We played a lot of young guys, and I thought we got after it pretty well especially in the second half."
On the "hope" shots like D'Angelo Allen's late three pointer...
"As long as they're yours. That was a game that there were a lot of late shot clock possessions. We made a couple and they made some. They made that one at the end when we had a five point lead. It was one of those games. As long as they go in for you then they're good."
On the slow starts with the young guys and picking it up sooner...
"I think we're an extremely slow starting team, and we've tried all different ideas. The one thing about this team is that with so many young guys, we need that guy to step up and be a leader. Not one of the young guys, but one of the older guys. We haven't been able to get that established, and that's not a criticism of anybody. We need that emotional leader. We need to do a better job early in the games. We need to execute better. How many times did we miss free-throw rebounds? We put ourselves in such a hole so many times by just making silly mistakes. We have to transfer what we do in practice over to a game. As a coach, you beat yourself up thinking, `what could we do?' We've been practicing this stuff every day. The young guys responded. I think you have to give them credit. They very easily could have rolled over because SEMO played a good game. I thought they played a really good game."
On getting Johnathan Williams, III, to be more assertive in the second half...
"Well, if I have to do that, I'll look like Gary Link. I'll have no hair. He's such a great kid. I mean I yelled at him tonight. I said, `You've got to quit being such a nice guy. You've got to be a meaner guy because we need that.' A year ago he was a secondary guy. I'm going to guess from the games that I watched, you had Jabari (Brown), Earnest (Ross), and Jordan (Clarkson). Now he's a primary guy. He's just got to learn and it takes time. It takes time, it takes encouragement, and it takes falling down and getting back up. I'm really proud of him because I got after him. He responded. I think he had three rebounds at half if I'm not mistaken, and he finished with a double-double. That's the type of game we have to have from him every night."
MIZZOU PLAYER QUOTES
Sophomore Forward Johnathan Williams, III
On Coach Anderson's halftime message...
"It was not necessarily anything bad. He got on me a little bit, and I kind of needed that. I can handle that kind of coaching. I'm not a player that's not going to listen to the coach. I'm always listening to him, trying to understand what he's saying and trying to do better. I think I did do better in the second half. I want to say thanks to Coach Anderson for pushing me."
On coming off his preseason injury...
"The knee is feeling great. I think tonight I forgot about the knee and just went out there and played. Coming off an injury, I just tried to forget about it and just play instead of worrying about it. I think SEMO came out and threw the first punch. I think we need to learn as a team how to come out and throw the first punch instead of getting punched first. I think we will work on that more and talk about it in practice. We need to set the tone instead of another team setting the tone."
Senior Guard Keith Shamburger
On the absence of Wes Clark's defensive presence...
"I think we just got out-hustled the first couple of minutes and a couple of minutes in the second half. They got a lot of rebounds and second chance points. We just need to play harder. It wasn't us just missing Wes. We did miss Wes tonight, but we just have to learn from that and keep going."
On Missouri's play the last ten minutes of the second half...
"The last ten minutes was our best play. We locked down on defense, and we just had to keep going. We got our offense to transition more, and once we started to transition we just needed stops. That's the team we are. We're going to have to get stops to score sometimes."
On D'Angelo Allen's three-point shot...
"I yelled at him to shoot the three because I saw the time was running out. He has a lot of confidence in himself, and he went out there and did it. That's like all of our freshmen. We have a lot of top recruits, and they all have confidence in themselves. They're just got to keep doing that and keep believing in themselves and everything will work out."
On Missouri's emotion tonight...
"Running into the timeout, Coach (Anderson) said we were playing with no emotion. We didn't show any emotion as a team. That's all coach was talking to us about was emotion, and that we needed to pick it up second half."
On SEMO's Jarekious Bradley...
"(Montaque) Gill-Caesar did what he could do. He played him tough and took his shot away. He's a good player. He still did well tonight, but we just tried to have our best defense on him."
Freshman Guard Montaque Gill-Caesar
On the difference between his offense in the two halves...
"I think the first half they were keying in on me, but then when we came out in the second half they were playing me a little different. I had a lot of opportunities to score so I just took them."
SEMO Head Coach Dickey Nutt
Opening Statement...
"First of all, I certainly give them credit for a job well done and finishing at the end. I felt like we were in total control the entire game, but free throw shooting was a big source of fire with us. There are a 100 things we could do, but at the end of the day I was proud of our guys and I credit them for shooting the ball the way they did. They were looking for good things to happen and they found it. I also give them crowd credit. I thought the crowd made a big difference when things became a little tight. I thought our guys handled it and played well. We will not duck our heads. We will learn from this. We have to find a way to be a better team in the last five minutes. I also believe (Keith) Shamburger was the difference when he was able to get loose."
On being surprised at the tough shots Missouri made in the second half...
"Very much so. I thought our game plan was good. I thought zone and man was good, but there at the end they just got loose a little bit. There was a little bit lack of experience on our part, and they hit a couple of shots that really buried us."
On SEMO's offensive efficiency tonight...
"I thought we were good. I thought we handled the ball well and were very patient. They did a good job on Jarekious Bradley. That's our go to guy in any given game. He ended up with 12 points and they were a hard 12. Defensively, they are a good team and that's why they are going to stay in some games with that. Offensively, we were tough, patient and we hit some shots. We shot 47-percent from the field and that's a good thing. It went down to free throw shooting for us. Bottom line, and end of story."
On the tough matchup Mizzou's Johnathan Williams, III, presented...
"We do respect his shooting. He can knock down shots. We didn't follow particularly well with our game plan. The scouting report is that he is a driver. He was a problem for us. He's long and lanky so he can get to places with either one dribble or one step. He's pretty crafty and he can score. He was a tough matchup for us and we couldn't stay out of foul trouble."
On the team's outlook going into tonight...
"We expected to win. We worked hard before, and we knew what we had to do in order to win. Just in the last couple of minutes we broke down and we should have stayed together, but it came down to free throws. We missed way too many."
