Feb. 9, 2008
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Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening Statement:
"We were disappointed in our performance in the first half, I told the guys at halftime that we haven't played well and we are only down five, we should feel pretty good about ourselves."
"We talk a lot about starting and finishing halves. I wasn't happy with the way we finished in the last minute of the first half. But we started the second half great, a lot of guys played well in that stretch. We only had one guy play well in the first half, but all of our guys played well in the second."
On Team Rebounding:
"We were doing a lot little things very well, boxing out and going to get the rebounds. It has taken me a long time to get that through to the team, but we used our length very well today and it helped us in the end."
On Inside Game:
"We like to stay big because we are long and that is what we do. I thought we did a great job of understanding that in the second half, just jamming it inside and getting easy buckets. That's what we do."
On Playing Missouri at Home:
"I was a nervous wreck, and maybe that is why our kids played the way that they did in the first 20 minutes. I was really concerned; I know what their fans are like. We practiced real hard this week to prepare for this game, a little harder than we should have, and maybe that is why we came out kind of sluggish."
Missouri Head Coach Mike Anderson
On Missouri's 77-69 loss to Texas A&M:
"It was a tough day; I thought it was a tale of two halves. Our last game here was a tale of two halves. I've always said that the half you want to win is that second half. And today it was Texas A&M. They dictated the tempo [of the entire game]."
On Jason Horton moving into Mizzou's top five in career assists:
"Jason has been here for four years. In the first half, he did a good job getting the ball to the right people. Since I have been here, Jason has evolved...he's gotten better since day one. He also has grown up a lot since I got here."
On the presence of a leader on Missouri's basketball team:
"Sometimes you have a guy that leads by example. When you look at like T.J. [Tiller], he's going to lead by example. I think a guy like DeMarre [Carroll]...either one of those guys could probably emerge as a leader. To me, leadership that is something that is earned, and I can see the guys that are trying to do those things [as a leader]."
On the play of Leo Lyons, who scored a career-high 24 points in the loss:
"I thought there was a sense of urgency [in the last five minutes]. He saw some things he could exploit. I thought he could have done those things in the first half, but he hid at times. He's a hard match-up, but I want him to be a hard match-up the entire game."
Missouri sophomore guard Keon Lawrence
On the second half letdown in the loss to Texas A&M:
"We just need to come out with more energy, like we did the last five minutes [of the game]. We need to rebound better; I think that's what is really killing us right now. Everybody is just throwing [shots] up and we're not getting second shots, so we have to do a better job of that."
On the role changes that have taken place since Stefhon Hannah's absence:
"[The roles] have changed a lot. It gives opportunities to other people like Justin [Safford]. He has been stepping up doing a good job. The people of the bench have been stepping it up. It opens up everything because we know we have to play that part."
Missouri freshman forward Justin Safford
On Texas A&M's size and rebounding advantage against Missouri:
"I just think as forwards we did a poor job of keeping [Texas A&M] off of the glass. I don't think anybody on our team had double-figure rebounds. They're good players, but we just didn't do a good job of keeping them off of the glass."
On the disparity of Missouri's play between the first and second halves:
"In the first half...at the end there we had great energy. I think coming out in the second half we just came out flat. There was no energy in the first five minutes [of the second half] and it allowed [Texas A&M] to get back into their game and do what they wanted to do."