Nov. 18, 2003
Missouri Head Coach Quin Snyder
"That was a great game for us to play. Joey Meyer's is a terrific coach. They have not been together very long, but you can still see the quality of players that were out there on the floor. I though that was a great challenge for our guys especially early in the game when we were really having a hard time making a shot. I though that forced us to dig in even more defensively. We are trying to play faster and we made mistakes handling the ball. We need to do a better job of handling the ball. I felt like Jimmy McKinney controlled the game you could see it in his eyes, he is a heck of a player."
On Linas Kleiza...
"This is the first time in Linas's life that he is jus not playing the whole game. AJ's minutes will probably so I think it is learning not to pace ourselves, and knowing that the guy coming in after you will do is job. Our big guys wore them down inside; you could see that on the glass in the second half. Those four guys just battled. We are still learning about each other as a group."
On Jimmy McKinney...
"He is fearless the way that he is out there attacking the basket. He needs to keep doing that it was a freak play."
On Spencer Laurie...
"Your first game against a pro team there are things that you have to play through and I thought that Spencer did good job of that. The biggest thing was for him to guard the ball. That is something we have watched in practice. We did not want to make a decision until he had time to practice. We believe he can help us win this year.
On Kareem Reid...
"We felt that this would be a great test for us. Just look at the little things like how we played the screen and roll we had been aggressive guarding the screen and roll which shows a real collective emphasis on the defense, and you do not get those unless you play good players. I thought their physical strength and athleticism bothered us the first half and we were not attacking. I thought we got knocked back and made some mistakes because we were weak with the ball. That is something we have to work on, to attack and be smart about picking your spots and attacking with intelligence."
On running...
"When you are playing at that speed things are sped up more and you have t make quicker decisions. We will need to get better. We have a tough game coming up against Oakland. The shooting adversity was good because we had to dig in harder on the defensive end.
On Jimmy McKinney as a point guard...
"Jimmy is a point guard and a playmaker. He has always been a point guard it was just the Floyd Irons had some quick guys (at Vashon).
Asheville Altitude Player Quotes
Altitude forward Desmond Penigar:
On the Missouri Baskeball team:
"They're a good team. They're ranked #5 in the nation...they have a nice group of players. They've got two main players, and the group of guys around them compliments them very well."
On Johnson & Paulding:
"They're All-Americans, and they play like it. The guys around them, they help them a lot. They compliment each other."
On Travon Bryant: "We played in high school against each other. I know his game, and he knows mine. I just had a better night tonight."
Altitude guard Kareem Reid:
On the slow start of the game:
"We were both slow and sloppy because we were trying to figure each other out. They were trying to adjust to a semi-pro team, and us trying to figure out the college game. It was a difficult thing. We had to losen up on our defense, and they had to play more physical."
Missouri player quotes:
Missouri senior forward Travon Bryant
On minutes/playing time
"We don't look at it that way [not enough minutes], we just know we have to go out and produce. We've just got to go out there and do the things that Coach wants us to do. We really don't focus on what the minutes are like, that's what competition is all about. Whoever is out there playing defense and competing is going to stay out there."
On playing against Desmond Penigar:
" It was kind of funny when I saw his name on the roster. It brought back a lot of memories of playing against him in high school and stuff like that. It was good to see him again and compete against him, hopefully I'll compete against him again later on."
Missouri freshman forward Linas Kleiza
On being an emotional player:
"I definitely am emotional, it keeps me going. I made my shots, got a couple of rebounds, and my team got up, and that just got it going."
On second half play:
"It's a big deal getting comfortable. I'm getting better at that. I'm used to playing every minute, 40 minutes of a game, and it's an adjustment to me right now."
Missouri sophomore guard Jimmy McKinney:
On shooting free-throws:
"It's definitely a focus, that's how most of the guys in the league get their points. If the shots not falling, I hope to get there [foul line] and knock them down.."