Mizzou 85, Omaha 78 (Dec. 9, 2015)

Head coach Kim Anderson

Opening Statement
"Certainly happy we won the game. It was an ugly game. I'm sure that is probably the way they wanted it to be. I thought Omaha did a great job of pressuring our guys and forcing us to make some mistakes, especially in the first half. I think we had 13 turnovers at halftime. But having said that, we did a decent job defensively, we held them under 80 points and the way they play, they like to get the ball up and down the floor. I'm happy with the win and I'm proud of these guys. This was a game that really they made a run and we fought back, they made a run and we fought back. From that standpoint I think it was good."

On his team as a whole…
"I thought we had some guys step up and play. We just weren't very consistent. We had a chance when we had a 14-point lead and we let them get it back down to five. I thought Wes Clark played really well at times handling the basketball. They get in you and they get after you. That is probably one of the first teams that has really gotten after us like that, so you are going to turn it over but you shouldn't turn it over 13 times in the first half. I thought we made the plays we needed to down the stretch and made free throws. They are a team that scores points, our first-half defense was pretty good. We got it going a little bit in the second half but both teams started shooting some free throws so that added to it."

On the past three games…
"I thought this one might be a little different because of the way they played us. In the others we tended to relax a little bit. In this game, I thought they did a really good job. We have to do a better job of trying to deliver the knockout punch. That's what we need to do. On the other hand, we are getting great experience handling late game situations and different combinations. It's stuff you can't really choreograph in practice, but we've been able to win some close games. I'm pleased from that standpoint. I don't know a year ago if this team wins that game. I thought we had some guys who stepped up and made some free throws and made some plays at the end."

On Jakeenan Gant's play tonight…
"I was thrilled. I was really happy for him. I thought he gave us some energy and gave us a pickup. It allows Kevin to play fewer minutes. I think I even slid Jakeenan in there tonight with Kevin for a few minutes. It's kind of our starting line up at the beginning of the year. It's good to have him playing. I think there were a couple missed rebounds at the end and block outs on free throws just stuff like that. We can't make those mistakes but I'm happy for him and I think his confidence level is rising and he feels comfortable on the court."

On Namon Wright's versatility…
"He's improved. He's become more than just a shooter. His ball handling has improved but what has really been good is his rebounding. He's done a really great job rebounding. He's up close to being our leading rebounder. Tonight he made some good passes, I think' he's starting to see the floor better with four assists. But all of us need to be able to handle the ball better under pressure with guys guarding us. We struggled with that for a while."

On Russell Woods shooting the ball…
"He doesn't try to do something he can't do. That's the great thing about Russ. He knows where he can score from and those are the shots he takes. You very rarely see him get very far from the basket unless he's coming out to set a screen. That's smart and he made some shots for us tonight that were important. He's really learning to play within himself and we need that form everybody. He's still really active."

On the Arizona team…
"They are a great opponent and it is a great opportunity for us to go play one of the top programs in the country. It will really be a tough game for us down there but we are looking forward to the opportunity. We played them a year ago and they beat us soundly but I thought we played them pretty well for a while. It will be great for our guys and it will be a great chance to go play a top 25 team and a team with some really outstanding players and Sean Miller has done a great job."

On preparing for Arizona…
"Obviously you have got to play a higher level than we have in the past three games. We have to be more efficient. We can't make the type of mistakes we made tonight and expect to beat a team like Arizona, at Arizona, but that is why we play. We are going to have to play our A game. You are not going to roll into Arizona and play our C game and expect to win."

On previous tough games…
"We have talked about those games and I thought we played Xavier pretty well but Kansas State was awful, we were terrible. I think we learned from that but it took us tile the second half of Northwestern to learn. You can't afford to have that lapse. I do think what these games have shown us is that we have to play harder all the time. You can't take a break. You can't back off for a while and relax and we have done that some. You can't do that against Arizona or North Carolina State or Illinois."

Freshman forward Kevin Puryear

On his late game surge…
"I was definitely more aggressive late in the game because I felt like I needed to do something. Whether it was scoring or rebounding the ball, I just wanted to contribute to the win and put them away. So, I wouldn't say that I put any pressure on myself to make big plays. That's just how it happened."

On the difference in turnovers between the two halves…
"I think the difference was our composure. In the first half, I felt like we were careless with the ball and gave possessions away. We outrebounded them, but we were giving them points because we were careless with the ball, which is something we really need to fix. In the second half, I thought we did a great job of staying composed and trusting each other, and it really showed on the court."

On Mizzou's next opponent, Arizona…
"We certainly can't have 18 turnovers. We just have to go there, and give it everything that we have. We are really excited. It is a great opportunity for this team. I'm sure everybody is psyched for it. I know I am."

Freshman guard K.J. Walton

On how Omaha's pace fit his style of play…
"Yeah, a little bit. But, I just kind of took what the defense gave me and listened to the coaches. They told me to keep being aggressive and I went with that."

On Omaha's ball pressure…
"It was pretty tough, but it allowed us to get to the line with back cuts and everything. It was kind of a disadvantage, but we took our opportunities from it and got to the line well."

On whether he came to Mizzou to play against teams like Arizona…
"I came to Mizzou to win. So every game matters, especially after last season. We are definitely getting ready to play Arizona. It is going to be big and we are going to give it everything we got."

Omaha Head Coach Derrin Hansen

Opening Statement…
"A couple of things. Even though I think it started off back and forth a little bit early, some of my concerns coming into tonight's game coming off of a 100-97 high intensity game on Sunday in Montana, I thought we were a little bit stuck in quicksand tonight. I didn't get to my bench as quickly as I would have liked to, but I didn't think our starters had very much pop in their legs. I thought that hurt us a little bit. That being said, we went on a little bit of a run at the end of the half, got it back to seven, and got a couple of fresh guys in there. We finally got a loose ball or two, we didn't get many of those tonight. Bad start to the second half, but like I told my guys, our biggest worry was this: I don't think we played smart all of the time. Missouri had something to do with that. I don't think we played well all of the time tonight. I think our trip had a little bit to do with that.  I thought we got a little bit frazzled tonight, which we have not been in our nine games. We've been in a lot of environments like this and have fared a little bit better. I just felt we got frazzled a little bit tonight, but like I said, give Missouri some of that, because I thought they jumped some passes that teams have not jumped this year. They took away some things that other teams probably have not taken away from us this year and put us in a couple of bad situations. They made us a little bit uncomfortable. Looking at points in the paint, points off of turnovers, teams have not done that against us this year and they did that today, so I credit them."

On what improved for Omaha in the second half…
"I think a couple of our starters maybe got their legs back in the second half. We finally made a couple of jump shots, which we could not do in the first half. We tried to pick up the tempo a little bit with some traps on the wing. We tried to speed them up a little bit, which tends to get a few more possessions. Our zone, even though we wanted to speed it up a little bit, I thought our zone got them to miss two or three shots and we got to the other end to make some shots. I thought that was a three or four possession part of the game that helped us a little bit."

On the difficulty coming up with loose balls…
"We could not come up with- I mean, there was one time I thought we were going to have the loose ball going to the other end, and all of the sudden it went right back to, I think, [Terrence] Phillips for the layup. Or maybe it was [Tremaine] Isabell, I'm not sure. All of the sudden he was at the rim, wide open on the left wing in the second half.  It is what it is. We didn't get to as many of them tonight as we normally have. I wish we would have, but like I said, give them credit for that."

On whether the game was played at his preferred pace…
"Maybe a little bit. Were we at our best tonight? No, but we do want to play fast. 85 to 78 is good for us. A little bit more would be better, but like I said, we maybe should have went a little more to my bench. I thought they helped us some, but at the end of the day, 5-for-22 is going to hurt us. Then I thought they got some easy things that we have not given up. That hurt us too, because then all of the sudden we're playing down 8-to-12, instead of maybe 4-to-8. If we get a couple of those loose balls and kick outs, we would have been one basket away from a one-possession game."

On whether Missouri did anything he had not seen on film…
"I thought they jumped some of our passes on the wing to initiate some offense. I thought they did a good job there.  I thought they did a good job of switching some of our quick hitters so we couldn't get to the rim. I thought they did a good job on that. They took some things away people haven't taken away form us yet, so that's good for us. We can learn from that. We will."

On whether he knew that Kevin Puryear was capable of playing like he did in the second half…
"Oh, no doubt about it. Kevin's a really good player. We have his high school teammate coming to us next year, K.J. Robinson, he was on Blue Springs South's really good team last year.  We've seen a lot of him, and a lot in AAU. I thought Puryear and [Ryan] Rosburg got a couple of deep catches early in the first half and a couple of deep jump shots, and that definitely gave some separation that was too much for us to come back from."

On Tre'Shawn Thurman's foul troubles…
"Well, he struggled tonight, and give them credit. They had some bigger, longer bodies than what we've seen in a while. Probably didn't make as many jump shots as he has made, which makes people come out and he can rip and go by them. That wasn't as much tonight, but we probably have to do a better job of finding him in his spots, too. So that's probably a little bit twofold."

On Tre'Shawn Thurman's technical foul…
"Oh, I know. And that's the first time that's happened to us this year. I just said 'Hey, we can't do that. We don't do that. You have to keep your cool, now they're going to go down to shoot two. You've got to talk to us on the bench here as much as you can. Tre'Shawn Thurman is the biggest 'yes sir, no sir' kid I've been around in 25 years. He's a wonderful kid, so that's uncharacteristic for him. It happens, that's athletics. We can learn from it and move on. That's why we're here."