Dec. 9, 2002

Missouri 88, UW-Green Bay 67 9 December 2002 Columbia, Mo.

Missouri head coach Quin Snyder On the game: "I told our team before the game that I thought this game would say a lot about who we are right now at this point in the season. This was an unbelievably difficult game. I don't think our kids ever left to travel, getting in at 5 in the morning, an emotional win, heavy prep against a team that runs a lot of action. I don't think they let that stuff become an excuse."

On the play of junior forward Rickey Paulding: "Rickey Paulding was a force, and he led us too."

"He did it against Southern Cal, too. He got a couple tough calls, sat on the bench, can't get a break, can't buy a bucket, and then all of the sudden, when the game's on the line, boom, boom. Rickey's a confident player right now."

On the defensive play of junior center Arthur Johnson: "AJ deserves how he's been playing. He's been working hard, and when he works hard, good things are going to happen. AJ did a heck of a job; Babcock's a good player. AJ did an excellent job defensively."

On the play of freshman guard Jimmy McKinney: "He had nine assists, and the floor game he had ... again, he and (Ricky) Clemons need to be more disciplined defensively. That's because they're playing with people who are doing more things than they've ever had to defend before."

Missouri Player Quotes

Missouri junior guard Ricky Clemons On his second half play: "I came out more composed in the second half. I just wanted to stay disciplined on defense. I was really concentrating on our defense. I just wanted to be precise, and when my shots came to me, I knocked them down."

Missouri junior forward Rickey Paulding On coming back in games: "It just builds our toughness and our character. There are going to be games like this along down the season, and we just have to battle adversity. We're not always going to play a good first half, but we've just got to bounce back to the next play."

Missouri junior forward Travon Bryant On the Missouri's diversity: "It is because you really can't concentrate on one person. If you concentrate on the post game, you've got Ricky Clemons hitting jump shots and Rickey Paulding hitting jump shots and jimmy hitting jump shots and Kroenke hitting jump shots. And the inside game is really strong too. We've got Kevin posting up strong, and Arthur and myself playing strong too."

Missouri junior center Arthur Johnson On intense games: "I think games like this are only going to help us. We've been having to go through tough situations and that's just going to build our character."

Wisconsin-Green Bay head coach Tod Kowalczyk On Phoenix team play: "You come in and play the tenth ranked team in the country in their facility, for a program like Green Bay at our level is an opportunity to do something special. I think we were there at one point, but in order for us to do something special we've got to have unbelievable toughness and togetherness."

"We got away from what go us that lead in the second half down the stretch, and we didn't do some of the things we did earlier to get us in the position. Obviously a lot of credit has to go to Quin Snyder and his program. They stepped up their play."

On injury to guard Calix N'Diaye "He's fine. Obviously I don't think he'll play on Saturday, but I think he'll bounce back and play the following Saturday. He's a tough kid.

Wisconsin-Green Bay sophomore guard Matt Rohde On scoring in the second half: "They picked up the defensive pressure, and they're a great team. A top fifteen team that, they picked up their intensity, and we didn't stick together out there how we did in the first half.