MU-KU post-game quotes
3/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2004
Missouri head coach Quin Snyder: On the loss: "This is as difficult of a loss as I've ever been associated with. There were so many things about this game that made me think we have to win. The urgency of the situation is not lost on a team by any means. I think early on we had a hard time finding some emotion, but we got a little better as the game went on. Kansas played well. They really shot the ball. It's just a tough loss and a tough way to lose it. We just couldn't get a stop."
On AJ: "He's been terrific. He was terrific today. We've really just tried to go to him, and go to him. He's made it easy to play through him, because he's very unselfish. We didn't make the extra pass as much today, and I was disappointed with our shot selection at times, the fact that there's a tendency to feel like you want to have a big game, and our focus got away from us. The collective focus that we had was gone, and we wasted a great effort by AJ.
On getting over the loss: "Throughout this year, things haven't gone the way they were supposed to go. It hasn't been storybook. There hasn't been a chapter that has ended storybook. I think myself and our team feels bad for our seniors. We just couldn't close the building's winning tradition out on a winning note. I think that was something that was really important for them, and the only thing you can do with that is persevere. That's the one thing that we really stress throughout the season, and you really find things out about people when they're down than when things are going good."
On expectations for the future: "We're not playing for expectations. We've been kicked around enough not to listen to that stuff. We kicked ourselves around, and any opportunity for us is something that we're hanging onto. I don't want our season to end. We've been through a lot, and we've really come on. We've gotten a lot better, and you know what a price you pay to have that happen. You don't want to let go of that."
On the senior class: "They're as special a group as any group of guys you can have. I hate for them that they didn't get to enjoy a win today because they deserve that. They're terrific young men and they've been unbelievably successful. When you look at their careers, there are so many highlights, individually and collectively. That, to me, is an unfortunate part of this day. Those accomplishments get washed around in the disappointment of the day. It would have been more fitting to recognize that with a win. I told them I'm not ready to shed tears and say goodbye. We're still playing."
Missouri senior guard Rickey Paulding: On the atmosphere: "It was incredible. It was what we expected. It just got louder and louder, and we fed off that as the game went on. It was a great. It was fitting for our last game.
On an NCAA tournament bid: "I know this was a game we probably needed to win, but we have to be optimistic. We still have the Big 12 Tournament, and we still have a chance to do well at that. We just keep getting better and better, and hopefully we'll have success in Dallas."
Missouri junior Jason Conley: On Kansas' last shot: "I thought about the last year, and how Aaron Miles hit that shot, and I thought 'it's not over, we have a long way to go.' He hit a good shot, and there was nothing we can do. I'd probably be more upset if this was it, and the season was over."
Missouri senior forward Travon Bryant On the play of Arthur Johnson: "It's the best I've ever seen him play. He just went out there and played like and animal tonight. You really can't say anything to him because his performance speaks for itself. He was the man, a man against boys tonight. I can't put it into words how well he played tonight."
On Coach Snyder's remark "worst loss associated with": "It is definitely, just because of the circumstances and the situation that we're in. Being down 10, we dug ourselves a hole and took quick shots. We didn't rebound, we didn't play defense, but we ended up getting ourselves back into the game. You can look at a lot of things that happened and say that a lot of the calls out there went the other way, but we were still in the game. We had to make plays, but they ended up making plays. You've got to give them credit."
Missouri senior center Arthur Johnson On the loss: "We've just got to keep pushing. It's not over; we've still got the Big 12 Tournament. Who's to say that we can't go down there and win five games? If we're in the tournament, I want to win it."
On his game: "I had it going early, and I knew they couldn't check me so I just wanted to keep it going. I knew doing that, that the guys would feed of that and hopefully it would get them going."
Kansas head coach Bill Self On spoiling the party: "We didn't come here to spoil the party; we came here to enhance our chances and a shot at getting a tie for second place in the league."
On the game's momentum: "The atmosphere was great today, their fans were terrific, and the noise level was tremendous. Even though it was back and forth early, I felt that we were still a little bit in control because we went on the longest runs. They would usually cut it to one or two, but we were able to make a basket and keep the lead. Of course, late we couldn't but it was a great win for our program."
On the last shot: "It was an unbelievable shot. It's probably the biggest shot I've ever had a freshman make. Keith [Langford] made a great pass. The timing was perfect so we thought we'd shot up a three so there was maybe time to get an offensive rebound. I thought it was long personally."
Kansas freshman forward David Padgett On taking the last shot: "The ball was suppose to go to Keith, and I'm sure they knew that. I just happen to be open and he made a good pass to me. I didn't think there was enough time left to pass it to somebody else; I was just trying to get it up there to maybe get a tip in or something. Things just went my way."
On hitting the game winner: "It was like the last shot I expected to go in. I just kind of threw it up there hoping maybe Wayne [Simien] could tip it in or something, but things were just going my way today."
