Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening statement…
"I thought in the last 10-12 minutes, we finally started playing well. We really didn't do a great job defensively for a while. I think we were maybe trying to guard too close. In the second half, we kind of backed off a little bit to keep them from driving to the basket and I thought that was big. Then, we created some things offensively. I thought D'Angelo (Allen) came in and did a real great job, not only defensively but also on the boards. He was active. I thought he made some things happen. K.J. (Walton) was really good when he came in. We were a little bit stagnant passing the ball on the perimeter, but when he came in and he just put his head down and drove, he got 10 free throws. Then, Cullen (VanLeer) came in and makes a big shot. Everybody contributes and that is what is important for this team. Some nights, some guys will score more points than other nights and play more minutes. As long as we continue to accept the fact that we have 11 guys who can play I think we'll have a chance to definitely improve on what we've started off with."
On what the message was at halftime…
"Thirteen of our 27 shots were threes at half, and against this team, you cannot do that. Especially when you aren't making them. You've got to get the ball to the basket. So we talked about that. I thought it was important that we get the ball in the interior more. The other thing we did was we were out there guarding guys from 40 feet away and they were breaking us down and taking it to the hole. So we needed to back our defense off a little bit. We got at least one good trap on the post man and we kind of mixed some stuff up there in the second half that we hadn't done in the first half. But, they were relentless. I was hoping this game wouldn't be like this, but I figured coming off of a Friday with all that excitement and everything then coming back and playing Sunday there might be a little but of a stagnation and that was what we talked about. Don't get stagnant offensively. Obviously, we didn't shoot the ball as well as we did two days ago, but it is really nice to be able to have 11 guys to come in and contribute."
On K. J. Walton's performance…
"It was a difference in the game probably. I don't know what would have happened if he didn't do that. We might have still won the game, but I thought he really took off. That little stretch in there with him and Cullen (VanLeer) hit a three and D.A. (D'Angelo Allen) got a tip. It's great to have those guys come in and make plays like that."
On his expectation for Xavier…
"When you think Xavier, you think of a great basketball program, and they have been very consistent over the years, so it will be a good test for our guys. We're looking forward to going there to play. Third game in five days and we have a lot to learn in one day. I'm sure they'd rather be playing than practicing, so we'll strap it up tomorrow and then head to Cincinnati."
Mizzou Guard Wes Clark
On bigger teammates stepping up…
"It makes it a lot easier knowing that we have big 6'4", 6'5" guys going into the lane to either make a shot or kick it out and then be aggressive which creates open shots for Terrence and I."
On finding success after minimizing his impact in Mizzou's season-opening win…
"It was challenging for me, but at the same time I wasn't pressing it. We got the win and we played hard and that's all we are really asking for. Shots are going to come throughout the season. We have plenty of games and I am going to make shots. We go through practice every day and we grind. We kept pushing until we could make the breakthrough."
On the upcoming road games…
"Xavier is a good school, and they put a little bit of a spanking on us last year, so we owe those guys a little bit. We are going to come out there with the same intensity and look at them like just another team. We need to stay aggressive. At times last year, some guys would be looking around to who is going to step up. I don't think that will happen this year. We have a lot of guys that have confidence in themselves and we are going to keep pushing."
Mizzou huard Terrence Phillips
On UMES possibly underestimating his shooting ability…
"It's always great to have nights where I shoot the ball well. It's what I've been working on all summer. At this level, I'm going to have to knock down open shots like that when it gets reversed to me, but it was awesome to have a night like that."
On playing Xavier …
"I'm very excited. I hope we can go out there and steal one. I think we can open some eyes here. I think we can make something happen."
UMES Head Coach Bobby Collins
Opening statement…
"We wanted to attack inside and we have a pretty good inside presence and thought they struggled to defend us on the inside. We never really got any rhythm going. Our big man got in foul trouble and the times that we did go, we scored and other times they got blocks. I'm very proud of my guys. I thought we competed and gave ourselves a chance. I told them we had to play perfect, and that one turnover, one bad shot was going to start a run. We took a bad shot and they went on a four or five point run. We came back down and we forced another shot, which in those moments are when we really try to get the ball on the inside to our big man, but he was in foul trouble for most of the game. They made a run and I thought they did a very good job of hitting big shots to stretch the lead."
On the play of Terrence Phillips…
"The surprise was Phillips. He hit some big shots for them. It seemed like he was on the end of every big run they had. I see that he was 3-of-4 from the three and he did a very good job of knocking down those shots, shots that we were not counting on. We knew he could shoot, pretty much a set shooter. We tried to run him off the line and he shot a few deep tonight that kind of stretched the lead."
On the Mizzou team…
"They were everything we thought. We thought that they were very physical. We thought they were very sporadic as far as their wings, which sometimes they can get out of control, but they can score the basketball. Coach Anderson gave them the freedom to play and they made the plays. They do a great job of playing off the ball screens."
On UMES improving…
"We outrebounded them and I was proud of my guys. Against Kansas State, we had 22 turnovers and tonight we only had 13, but the line that needs to get better is our assist line. We only had seven assists, and we need to start playing more as a team, together. We have 10 new players, and we are really trying to find our rhythm and the way we want to play. So tonight, I thought we took a great step in the right direction of getting better as a team."
