Post Game Quotes: Mizzou 56, Valparaiso 41
11/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
MISSOURI HEAD COACH, Kim Anderson
Opening Statement...
"First thing I want to do is congratulate the Mizzou football team. Good game by our guys tonight. Just from the standpoint of one-day preparation and the way we played Friday night, and then we were able to turn it around yesterday. Yesterday was a long day and we had a lot to do. We had a lot to prepare for. This is a team (Valparaiso) that scored 90 points the other night against Tennessee. To hold them to 41 was really good. I was really proud of the way we responded. We struggled offensively in the first half. I thought we had some open shots, but we just didn't make them. I'm really proud of the way we responded."
On today's offense against the zone...
"We spent a lot of time yesterday working against zone defense. Watching the tape as a coach, you're thinking maybe we're running the wrong play but we're running the same play that a lot of teams run throughout the country and the same play we ran in 1975 and it worked then. We weren't attacking the zone, getting the ball in the middle of the floor or getting it to the short corner. We were just standing up top and passing it around. I thought D'Angelo Allen was a really key player. He came in and hit Keanau (Post) on the bounce pass for the dunk. He caught it and he looked around, and then he shot it and it went in. Which is something he can do. I thought that was really key getting it into the middle of the floor and that's something we didn't do Friday. Then we made some shots. We didn't shoot the ball great from the three, but we have to be a team that gets to the basket. We have to be a team that gets some free throws."
On Missouri's offense early-on tonight...
"Friday night was an embarrassment. Not taking anything away from UMKC. They played great. I think to lose at home your first game, I think our guys were somewhat tentative. I think they were nervous, and they played through it by playing good defense. That's how they did it. I'm the salesman trying to sell good defense. It wins games. Today they held them (Valparaiso) to 41 points. When you hold someone to 41 points, you'll usually win."
On achieving his first win as head coach at Mizzou...
"Obviously it's great to get the first win because I was really disappointed Friday night. I didn't think we played well, and obviously I wanted to win that game. Tonight was a big win. I think we are a work in progress. We have a lot of things we still have to do. We haven't touched on some things that we still need to do offensively or defensively really. We threw some stuff out there today that was a little different. It's a work in progress, but we don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. I told them yesterday you can feel sorry for yourself, you can pout, you can complain, you can do whatever you want to do, and you're going to get beat again. Don't lose to UMKC twice and we didn't."
On their upcoming game against Oral Roberts and head coach Scott Sutton...
"When I left Missouri in 1999, I actually interviewed for the Oral Roberts job but Scott got it. He has done a great job there. He's a very good basketball coach and he's got some good players. I haven't looked at them a whole lot yet. It'll be a tough basketball game."
MIZZOU PLAYER QUOTES
Sophomore Forward, Johnathan Williams, III
On recovering from Friday's opening night loss...
"It was pretty tough. We got through it. We had a hard practice. We came in Saturday and watched film in order to learn from our mistakes. We also watched film on Valparaiso. We just watched their games and tried to learn from them, and try to come out today and have a better game."
On the team's adjustments in the second half...
"We weren't making our shots at first, but both teams were playing good defense. We finally found our rhythm in the second half, but just tried to get stops because if you get stops then that's how you win games. You also have to score the ball too. That's what we did. We tried to get stops and convert on the other end."
On getting coach Anderson's first win tonight...
"It was really important. We are coming together more as a team. We are just trying to learn each other a little more. We've only been practicing with Coach Anderson since June, and we've just been learning a lot from him and just bond together as a team."
On the team finding a rhythm in the second half...
"We just played as a team and not necessarily playing nervous or timid like on Friday. We played more aggressive and looked for our teammates to better each other and we also got stops."
On playing against Valparaiso's zone defense...
"We were just being patient. We took time and looked to the short corners, which was one of the main emphasis on Friday that we didn't do. We were very passive on Friday on the attack, so we took our time, were patient and found openings in the defense and contributed."
On rebounding tonight after Friday's opening night loss...
"We definitely needed a win. It brought confidence to the team. We were a little nervous and didn't know exactly where we stood before our game on Friday, so it just woke us up and made us a little more aware of where we need to go and how to get there. We just built off that loss and made the most out of it."
Valparaiso Head Coach, Bryce Drew
Opening Statement...
"Congratulations to Coach Anderson on his first win. I think the way they played a couple days ago is not indicative of the team they are and will be. Today, I think they returned to a little bit more to who they are. The game was obviously close for a while. We had some opportunities, but we couldn't knock down some shots we usually like seeing knocked down. I want to give a lot of credit to Missouri. They did a great job keeping the ball in the paint, and they switched defenses a lot which kept some of our better scorers out of the position they wanted to be in. Again, we need to credit their defense for some of our 41 points tonight."
On second-half differences...
"I think a big one was that they have a lot of size inside. We aren't as big which is easy to tell out there. I think we wore down a little bit and we couldn't hold our position and push as well. When you get tired, I think a lot of our shots became short at the end because of fatigue. That's something that we'll get better on with our endurance and pushing against bigger bodies for more minutes. I definitely thought that played a role in the last 10 minutes of the game."
On his team's use of zone defense tonight...
"Obviously, I think everyone struggled with the zone that game. I think they just didn't make shots they needed. If they had made three pointers and built momentum, they probably would have pulled out that game. One important thing is shots going in and going out. Today, they made shots in the zone and hit a high post at the buzzer of the shot clock and hit a three the next time down. If they had missed those two shots, it would have looked like they were having trouble with the zone again. Sometimes, I think it just boils down to if that ball goes in or not. We're more of a man team, but we were getting tired and they were really hurting us physically so we thought zone would allow us to free some guys up and not push as much."
On Alec Peters' foul trouble...
"It definitely hurt us. He had 27 in our opening game and he is a first team All-Horizon League pick, so it definitely hurt what we do on the offensive end. It took away some of his aggressiveness to post up. Usually he's very good at position defense and taking charge, but he was a little scared to get a block-charge judgment call. It took us out a little bit, but the great thing about our preseason non-conference games is that it's good to see when stuff like this happens because it helps us prepare when we do get to conference. We know that we'll need to get some other guys to step up and run some offense."
On E. Victor Nickerson's play tonight...
"Many people don't know that he had two major hip surgeries in the offseason and this was probably his sixth time playing live five-on-five since last winter. It was an incredible game to come out and go four-for-five with the practice time and double-hip surgery he had, so I'm proud of Victor."
