Mizzou vs. Hawaii Post Game Quotes
11/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 16, 2013
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Missouri Post Game Quotes
Interim Head Coach Tim Fuller
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, first and foremost, we know Hawaii was a prepared and talented opponent tonight. We had to be focused and prepared. We were counting on our 13,000 fans tonight from Kansas City to be behind us. This is Mizzou West. We continued to reiterate that to our team throughout the pregame shoot-around and throughout the whole day and we don't lose at home. This is our home away from home. Obviously, I am very proud of our front court, Ryan Rosburg, Johnathan Williams III, and getting Tony Criswell back and the minutes from Keanau Post. As I totaled them up, 33 points and 24 rebounds from our front court and that has been a question that everyone has had. They answered that tonight.”
On Earnest Ross being more aggressive in going to the basket…
“Earnest is our best athlete. He runs faster than anyone else on the team. He is stronger than anyone else on the team. He jumps higher than anyone else on the team. He has fallen in love with shooting the three because he has worked really hard on it. One of the things that we called him over to the side when Jordan was sitting out was saying 'if you shoot another three I am going to take you out, so drive the ball.' Sometimes it takes just being that point blank with him. Then, he started driving the ball and once he started seeing the ball go through the rim that way, he just continued to do it.”
On the feeding the front court…
“That is how they are going to play. Our bigs are just going to have to play off of penetration. The first two games we saw a lot of zone and it is hardest to throw the ball inside when you don't have traditional back to the basket players. This team did play some man and we were able to get into the paint.”
Missouri Player Quotes:
Missouri Junior Guard Jordan Clarkson
On his technical foul early in the first half…
“I was a little bit surprised, but in was in the heat of the game. We were kind of doing some yacking and I took it too far. That is on me. I just cannot do that again, so you will not be seeing that anymore.”
On having to sit out all but 3 minutes of the first half…
“It is always tough sitting on the sideline when you are in foul trouble, but I think we did a great job. Wes (Clark) came in and did a good job of handling the team and so did Shane Rector and then we had our older guys like Earnest (Ross) and Jabari (Brown) handling, scoring, rebounding and playing defense. Our front court also did what they had to do, so I think we still did a great job.”
On the new hand check rules…
“I like them a lot, but you have to be more conservative on defense. Your first reaction is to put your hands on somebody, so we have to keep working on keeping our hands up and moving our (feet). I feel like the new rules work in our advantage so we are going to keep attacking and working hard on defense.”
Missouri Senior Guard Earnest Ross
On why he was more aggressive driving to the rim tonight…
“At practice Coach (Haith and Fuller) has been talking to us about driving to the lane and creating for the bigs. So attacking in practice had me well prepared for the game.”
On having Tony Criswell back in the lineup…
“It is nice having him back, he brings more depth to the frontcourt. He definitely brings his defensive intensity every time he steps on the court, we know he is going to play hard, we know he is going to rebound and we know he is going to go after loose balls. Little things like that contribute to our team and we need him and we are glad to have him back.”
On getting post players more active tonight…
“We made sure they were focused on the two bigs for Hawaii and tried to give them energy and let them know that even on the defensive end they were not going to be by themselves. We are going to help them and, for the most part, they did a good job on both of the front court players and as long as we got the win I am happy.”
On how the freshman point guards handled the game…
“Wes and Shane did a great job handling the pressure and were good at assisting the ball. They are great point guards and I look forward to them doing well in the future.”
Hawaii Head Coach Gib Arnold Quotes
On the game…
“For the most part I thought we played some good basketball. On the offensive side, we did some good things. I thought especially in the first half when we got the lead…. Made some runs. Weathered a few storms. Great passion. It was fun. Second half I really commend Missouri. They did some good things. They really drove the ball. I think that Jordan Clarkson should send a lot of his scholarship money to the new rules committee because I don't know how anyone in the country is going to guard him. He's really good and he's going to make a lot of money because of the new rules. He's a talent and we tried a lot of different things. We trapped him, jumped him. We blissed and switched it. Him driving with those new rules, it is hard to defend. I really liked how we played though. It was fun. Great arena, great event. But we came up here really believing that we could win and we thought we had a shot. Late in the game I thought we were right there with them but we're all proud of the guys. That's a good team.”
On being proud of his team's resiliency...
“I'm actually really proud of that. Tonight we didn't really shoot the ball well. We are actually a really good shooting team. We really weren't getting any flow out of making our three's, so it had to come out of our defense. So yeah, you bet. I really never thought we were out of the game and thought we were able to do that but we just didn't do it tonight.”
On Jordan being harder to guard then what you saw on film…
“It wasn't hard in the first half when he was playing assistant coach, but once he was back in the game he was real hard to guard. We watched, he had 22.8 coming in. And we knew what he did. Yeah he was. He is just relentless. He is not afraid to get the ball in his hands. There was one time that he literally dribbled that sucker for around 25 seconds and drove it. He tried it and we stopped him. Came back out and we did it again. It's good basketball. I'd like to have the ball in his hands for 25 seconds because usually something good is going to happen. And a lot of those bigs got baskets because even when he did drill we had to come in and they would get the rebound.”
On Clark and Ross giving trouble in first half…
“Ross has the ability to do it too. I knew that he could do that. In the games previously, I knew that he had become a stand-still shooter. But if he continues to drive it, when you have size and strength like that, it's going to be huge for opportunities.”
On what Missouri did against Isaac…
“They sagged off and he had to play in traffic tonight. They would run at a guy on the dribble and Isaac is one of those guys that is really unselfish. I wish he would shot it more, I wish he would be a little more aggressive. When he gets that he is a heck of a talent. He could play with anybody in the country. But they did a good job and once he gets double-teamed he is not the guy who tries to split, he'll pass it back out. They had a good game plan.”
Christian Standhardinger, Senior Forward
What was the spark for you guys late in the first half?
“I think since we just stayed together, we worked a lot, had a lot of hustle plays, things that help you get back in the game. That's where our spark came from, the hustle plays and staying together. We huddled up a lot of times, which is important when not playing at home. Staying together and hustling, that was the spark.”
