Mizzou Men’s Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Illinois 70, Mizzou 64
Mizzou Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening Statement...
“Congratulations to Illinois on winning the game. I thought they set the tone early in the first half. We dug ourselves a hole that was tough to get out of, but I thought we put forth a better effort, more like us, in the second half.”
On the play of Blake Harris…
“We need to utilize his speed. More than anything, he finished at the rim. He’s fast. He has that speed at the point guard position. Once you turn the corner the defense breaks. I thought we had some really good looks in the second half. I thought we settled for some threes in the first half. I think he had a lot to do with generating those good looks in the second half. I thought his energy was good, and he set the tone for us in the second half.”
On how the last two games will prepare the team for conference play…
"It was great from the standpoint to play two teams that really deny like that. It helps you understand spacing and the importance of ball handling. Making plays, attacking the rim, we showed all that in the second half. That’s the work you have to put in, not just point guard but every position.”
On moving forward from this game…
"We would have liked to win the game, but I like where we are offensively. Taking care of the basketball, that is the most important thing on the offensive side of the ball. I haven’t watched the film yet but I liked the looks we got in the second half. On the defensive side of the ball, we have to be consistent. I said to the staff before the game we have to try to survive tonight, because we have to get back to the basics. When you’re playing a lot of games, finals week, so much stuff going on, you lose some of the basic principles. The jump stop, pressure the wing, denying in certain situations, shield drill defense, because you’re game planning for other teams. So this break is much needed for all of us. I want them to settle in and enjoy the holidays. It will sting a little big but we’ll learn from it. We’ll get back to the basics of what we do as a team, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”
Senior forward Jordan Barnett
On the play of Blake Harris…
“I thought he played with extreme intensity in the second half. Blake definitely brought it in the second half. We need to see that from him every day.”
On the first half…
“Illinois pretty much denied everything to make it difficult to get into our offense. We can’t let that affect us. We still have to figure out how to take care of the ball, because I know we had about 16 turnovers in the first half. That can never happen again. It’s still a learning process.”
On how the team did in non-conference play…
“I’m always going to think it could have been better. We had a game against West Virginia we should have won but, we didn’t. Turnovers have been our biggest issue all year so we have to find some way to cut down on those. I think that will make us a much better team. We’re 10-3 and still have a ways to go. Conference play is coming up and we have to be ready.”
Senior guard Kassius Robertson
On the team’s slow start…
“We, for some reason, didn’t come out with the energy we did in the second half. Why? I can’t tell you. But we’re going to get that fixed.”
On the team’s turnovers…
“Turnovers almost cost us our last game, playing against West Virginia, turnovers cost us that one too. We have to start learning. We had 21 tonight, that’s unacceptable.”
On how the team moves on from this loss…
“We talked in the locker room, as much as this loss stings, we have a huge game coming up. It’s really tough to put something like this behind you so quick but, like Coach said, we have to go home and enjoy a little time off with our families and really focus on this next game. Because you get down in SEC play early it’s going to be really hard to come back. We have to put all our efforts to prepare for this next game when we get back to campus.”
