Mizzou 76, Auburn 61 - Postgame Quotes (Jan. 9, 2016)
Head coach Kim Anderson
Opening statement…
"I thought our guys played so hard, and really prepared themselves over the last couple of days. We talked before the game about getting 50-50 balls, and I thought that we did a pretty good job of that. The key was to do a good job on Canty, because I think that he is a tremendous player, and we did. We kept him from having a big night. We were able to do a good job on the boards, and we were able to attack the basket and get some free throws. I just thought that our activity was really good, and that's the way that's we have to play. The best thing, and I don't even know who played what minutes, but everybody, I thought, came in and contributed. For us to win, we have to do that. Maybe one night somebody won't be on, somebody else has to come in. So, great win, I'm proud of these guys. Now we've got to get ready to play another game on Tuesday."
On the play of D'Angelo Allen…
"I think it was big. I've talked about this before, it is hard to play 11 guys in a game. And D.A. [Allen] has happened to be the guy that hasn't been able to play as much. I actually think that he has practiced better since he hasn't been playing as much. I think his effort in practice has been good. He's much more active now than he was a year ago. He's running around, attacking the boards. It's almost like he is hungry. It's like 'Hey, I don't get very many minutes I better take advantage of them'. I thought he did a great job when he came in tonight. Our bench outscored their bench 40-5. I think that's pretty impressive that our guys came in and played well like that. Tramaine came in, D.A. came in and played well, Jakeenan got some points. Everybody chipped in and I think that that is important.
On how the team attacked the glass…
"We've been talking about it. It's planned every game, by the way. This was as ready as I have seen this group all year. I can't put my finger on why it was. We had a pretty lively pregame talk. But I think that we were lively from the start. I thought the beginning of the game provided a really good atmosphere. There was a little stuff going on, Wes [Clark] gets a "T", Kareem [Canty] gets a "T" and I thought that that kind of sparked the crowd, sparked the game, and really got everybody fired up a little bit."
On the next game against Arkansas…
"Arkansas is a really talented team. You know that they are going to play a style that forces you to get up and down the floor. They're going to press. We still have to get more physical. We have to get stronger. We're not strong enough yet. We're still young. We're still freshman and sophomores getting stronger. I think that it will be physical, but I think every game in the SEC is physical. Every team plays with that kind of style."
Freshman forward Kevin Puryear
On the impact of D'Angelo Allen's play…
"He was tremendous tonight. I am super proud of him, super happy for him. He has been through a lot this season, and to see him have a moment like that, I am extremely happy for him. He is definitely deserving."
On the first double double of his college career…
"It was actually motivated by my mother. She called me on the phone yesterday and told me that she didn't think I was being intense enough. I told her 'Alright, I'll see what I can do with the intensity'. I just wanted to be angry about it. I wanted to be as aggressive as I could in all aspects of the game. My teammates did a great job of feeding me the ball. And we did a great job of feeding off of each other. It was a great experience also to get our first SEC win at home. That was a great feeling."
Sophomore guard Tramaine Isabell
On the 21-3 run in the first half…
"I think D'Angelo Allen deserves a lot of credit. His niche is that he is an energy guy and he brought that. He brings it every day. We know, when we put him in, exactly what he is going to bring. He is going to bring toughness, he's going to rebound, he's going to run the floor, he's going to talk on defense, and he did that. He hit a three, he got a couple tip-ins and that is what we needed, that's what got our bench going and it got us all motivated to play harder and that's how we went on that run."
On what was said at halftime up 39-24...
"People were in there cheering, and we just said, stay focused. Keep playing team ball. I feel like that is what put us over the top. If you look at the stat sheet, the shot attempts are pretty even, everyone was moving the ball. I feel like today we had one goal and that was to win the day, and it feels good that everyone was giving their all, moving the ball, and this is the result we get."
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement...
"I thought Missouri played well, they're a talented team. They have a lot of good young talent, 10 guys who played double digit minutes and five guys in double digit scoring. They have great balance, we got beat 40-5 off the bench. They play better at home because they're a young team and they'll beat people in here. We didn't play well, they had somethings to do with it. I thought we had pretty good preparation but we didn't execute the game plan. I'm disappointed."
On the team's small margin for error with a thin bench…
"I have three scholarship guards for three positions, (TJ) Lang, (Kareem) Canty and (Bryce) Brown. We played New Williams a little bit tonight. We didn't think he would be quite ready to go but he got a new brace and had a good week of training. Right before the game the trainer told me he was going to be available. We're thin in the backcourt. But our best players have got to play way better for us to be able to be competitive. Tyler Harris competed and produced some but we need more out of him."
On what to take away from the second half, where both teams scored 37 points…
"I thought defensively we were pretty solid throughout and I thought offensively we executed a little bit better in the second half. That's going to be our biggest problem. We had 14 turnovers and I don't know how many of them were forced."
On not being able to press due to a short rotation…
"We didn't press at all. I pressed a lot last year and earlier in the year but because we have a tighter rotation, playing seven or eight guys, it's tough to press."
