Jan. 24, 2013

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Mizzou vs. Arkansas
Women's Basketball - Jan. 24, 2013
Mizzou Arena
Mizzou 50, Arkansas 50
Postgame Quotes

Mizzou Head Coach Robin Pingeton

Opening Statement. . .
"Tough night, obviously. Offensively (I am) really disappointed with our execution. Obviously too many turnovers; 25 of their 58 points came off of turnovers. You're not going to play the game flawlessly, but we had way too many empty possessions. Overall I thought we did a pretty good job defensively. I thought we had a couple of possessions where we gave up second- and third-shot opportunities that really came back to bite us, but overall through the course of the 40 minutes, I thought we did a really nice job of rebounding."

On Arkansas' Sarah Watkins and Missouri's defense on her. . .
"She is a nice player. I think preseason picked second team all-conference, and a senior. She is a really nice player; kind of like our Morgan Eye - their secret weapon coming off of the bench. I was pleased with our defense. We talked about guarding inside-out. They have a couple of kids that can knock down 3s, but we didn't think that it would be enough to beat us. I'd take 58 points and do it all over again. It was strictly on our offense and our ability to take care of the ball. I felt like for about 38 minutes we did an outstanding job of eliminating their second shot opportunities. Again I think there were two big possessions where we gave up three and four offensive rebounds that really came back to bite us. But outside of those possessions, I don't think we'd make any other adjustments defensively. I was pleased on the defensive end."

On Missouri's turnovers. . .
"Understanding the importance of really valuing the ball - give ourselves a chance. I don't think we gave ourselves a chance. They didn't guard us like Kentucky, and Tennessee, and Georgia, and, no offense, they are a very good team, there's a reason they are receiving votes for the top 25. I just felt like we didn't have the poise and the discipline offensively. I felt like we played a little bit rushed and we've talked about this before, we are a young team, but we need to start growing up and learning and making those adjustments. Our execution needs to get better; I felt like empty possessions, not knowing time and score, shot clock violations - are unacceptable, and it felt like our execution within our entries wasn't where it needed to be. Certainly some frustrations on the offensive end. It's not because these kids don't care, it's not because they aren't passionate about putting this program on the map, it's just part of the growing pains, and we're going to have to stay the course come back and get back after it tomorrow."

Mizzou Senior Center Liz Smith

On Arkansas' defensive prowess early in the game....
"I think we struggled early recognizing what defense they were in. They were really high and wide in their defense and they did a good job of taking away our shooters."

On Mizzou's inability to assert itself, offensively, on the low block....
"I think part of that is on me; I need to get in the paint and demand the ball as opposed to exclusively setting screens. I'll get better at that and I think we'll all learn from the game, from this experience."

On the season, going forward....
"I think everyone in our locker room has a growth mentality and that's what's special about our group. We'll learn, get better and hopefully come back stronger than ever."

Mizzou Sophomore Guard Morgan Eye

On what Mizzou can take from tonight's 58-50 loss to Arkansas....
"We've talked a lot about it - we need to stop hurting ourselves. Looking back on the game, we should have imposed ourselves better offensively and maintained confidence in ourselves

Arkansas Head Coach Tom Collen

Opening Statement...
"I think any time you go on the road in the SEC and get a win it is a big deal. You can't get to the NCAA (tournament) by playing home games and winning. I told Coach (Pingeton) that I thought their win down at Ole Miss was a good win for them, it was their first (road win) in the SEC. We knew this would be a tough guard - they really do a great job with the three-point line. I feel like we put in a good game plan, we executed it. We needed to find a way to score and Erin Gattling stepped up and did that almost single-handedly for us; she was a real difference-maker tonight.

On how his team kept Missouri from making shots in first half...
"We switched 1-through-4 and if you are capable of doing that, that's what you have to do. They have had teams do that to them before but we did a good job communicating. I knew we were doing a good job of it - not just by the number of threes that they were missing - but when he got them so late in the shot clock, I knew we were doing a pretty good job of it. I give my wife Nicki credit for that because she is the defensive coordinator and I give our kids a lot of credit for executing."

On finding open space when shooting the three...
"I think the strength of our defense on the stat sheet is our inside game. Philosophically, they feel like they can beat people from the 3-point line and that they can't be beat from the 3-point line and it's a good philosophy and it's one that I had at my early days at Colorado State when we led the nation in three-point field goals. I told the kids, "you're going to get an open shot, if you move the ball around it's going to come to you."

On Liz Smith's defensive performance on Sarah Watkins...
"I think Liz is really physical and gets down there and pushes and shoves on her and Sarah doesn't like that. I told Sarah that she needed to get out to that 12-14 foot-range and get some shots there. There is no doubt that when she was down low they were physical with her and she took a lot of off-balance shots. When she is on-balance she usually scores. They did a good job on her tonight."

Arkansas Senior Guard Erin Gatling

On defensive approach to Missouri's three point offense "We knew that the way they play defense that we would have open shots and it would be up to us to knock them down. Thankfully we got a few of them to fall early and I think that sparked us for the rest of the game."

On finding space in Missouri's defense to take open shots "As you can probably see, I'm not the tallest person on the court. Since I've been little, I've always had to work on getting a quick release and getting my shot off. The way they play defense; they sag a lot. We've got a lot of people on our team that can step up and make shots. I don't think they were able to focus on just one person. We've got good guards that move the ball around a lot. They got it to me in the right spots and I was able to knock them down."