Mizzou/Florida Quotes
2/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening statement:
“Great job by our guys. Namon (Wright) had a tremendous night. He would tell you that he got shots because other guys helped him get shots. I thought we did a good job defensively, especially in the second half. We played a small lineup and we were able to switch a lot of stuff. It was a team win, and I hope we can build on it. I think some guys had some good individual performances, but I thought we played pretty well as a team.”
On tonight's keys to success:
“We got off to a good start, and Namon made shots. The thing we talked about before the game was that we can't control what happens outside of here. All that we can control is what happens during those two hours that we're out there. Defensively, we were pretty good, especially in the second half. Down the stretch, we switched everything. We were able to keep them from getting the ball into their big guys and they weren't making shots.”
On Namon Wright's big game tonight:
“He had one (big game) in Hawaii against Chaminade. I'm not even sure if he missed a shot in that game. I know he made his first two or three tonight, and I thought our guys did a good job of looking for him. We did call a couple plays for him late. I think he had some confidence. I'm happy for him because he's worked hard. He has spent a lot of extra time in practice. Hopefully, he'll score 28 points again on Saturday.”
On the team's mindset for the rest of the season:
“I hope this gives us some confidence. This has been miserable. This has been hard for me and hard for them. Something good happened, so maybe we can build on that. I think it's momentum. It shows these guys that what they've done has paid off even if it's not in a big way. Every team that we're going to play from here on out has something to play for. Right now we're the No. 14 seed in the tournament. Hopefully, we can make it to the No. 13 seed.”
Freshman Guard Namon Wright
On if he thought this was going to be his night:
“I really didn't know if it was going to be my night or not. I just felt confident today, and we were just having fun out there. Teammates were finding each other and we got the win. So, that's fun.”
On ending the team's losing streak tonight:
“It was really fun. Like I said, we lost 13 in a row, but we are going to keep trying to play like we did tonight and finish the season strong.”
Freshman Guard Montaque Gill-Caesar
On the team's resilience playing through a long losing streak:
“We didn't give up. We don't give up in any games. We keep fighting and sometimes it just doesn't go our way. Tonight was a perfect example of us never giving up. We grew up tonight.”
Head Coach Billy Donovan
On his team's offensive struggles tonight:
“I thought we made a lot of poor choices. It left me scratching my head. Our fouling enabled them to get to the free throw line and with 13 minutes to go, we were in the bonus and we never really took advantage of it. It's also certainly hard to win when you go 9-of-23 from the free throw line.”
On Missouri's Namon Wright's performance tonight:
“We didn't really have anyone to match up with him. He did an excellent job executing tonight.”
On Head Coach Kim Anderson's progress at Missouri:
“I give credit to Coach Anderson and I'm happy for him. I have a different perspective from a coaching standpoint. You watch film of another team play. If it's a team in our league that could maybe fall apart it's these guys with their record. I don't think their record is indicative to what Anderson has done with these young guys."
Redshirt Senior Jon Horford
On the disappointment of losing tonight's game:
“Naturally, anytime you lose a game it hurts but no discredit to them. They played with a lot of heart and passion and we lacked that tonight."
On Namon's Wright performance:
“This is big time college basketball. If you let someone get hot, then they can go off. He did an excellent job tonight.”
On how the team goes forward following tonight's loss:
“I hope everyone is looking at it in a positive way. I know the season isn't going the way we would hope but this experience is giving us perseverance and ways to not give up on the team just because things aren't going our way.”
