NC Central 62, Mizzou 52 - Postgame Quotes
NC Central 62, Mizzou 52 - Postgame Quotes
Head coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement…
“Certainly a disappointing performance. I thought early on we just had a lot of shots, a lot of good shots, and we just didn’t make them. The good thing about basketball is you always have another game coming up. You have to put this aside, and get ready to come and play Saturday. Certainly, you have to congratulate North Carolina Central. They played with a lot of effort. I think they really came after us, but they came harder when they started to smell blood. We didn’t respond well. The only thing you can do is go back to work and try and get better.”
On the team's shooting percentage…
“I think on the team’s first possession, we took six shots and seven offensive rebounds, and it really set the tone for the rest of the game. I have to be honest with all of you, I have played in and coached a lot of basketball games, and I have never seen anything like what happened tonight. We just missed so many shots at the basket. I’ve seen teams miss a lot of three pointers, but never this many so close to the basket. And I am sure that was deflating for our guys. We had many, many, many chances to come back, and we fought hard to get back, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. When you miss 51 shots in a game, and nine free throws in a game, it is going to be hard to win. I wish I had an explanation. You have to just try and come back and get our confidence back up.”
On the performance and leadership of Terrence Phillips…
“I mean, he was the only guy who could make a shot. And he did make some shots. It is tough for us whenever he goes out of the game.”
Sophomore guard Terrence Phillips
On his feelings after multiple missed shots…
“I couldn’t believe we kept missing. I kept telling people, keep shooting. I told Cullen [VanLeer] to keep shooting, same to Frankie [Hughes], just keep shooting, the shots are going to fall. They just never did for us. That’s not an excuse, but toward the end, when we cut it to four, we could get the stop but just couldn’t get the rebound. That is really deflating to a team like us.”
On potentially feeling helpless on the bench after he fouled out…
“I didn’t feel helpless. Obviously, I got in foul trouble early. But, we have plenty of guys who can shoot and make plays. Jordan Geist is a great player for us. I didn’t feel hopeless at all. I was the biggest cheerleader I could be on the bench. I just had one of those nights when I got in foul trouble. I have to stop that, like I did my freshman year. We just have to learn from it.”
Sophomore guard Jordan Geist
On what it was like on the floor…
“It was definitely difficult, because we didn’t hit shots. At the end of the day we just have to grind, hit shots and finish plays. We’re definitely disappointed, but we’ll get back to it tomorrow, hitting shots and making layups. We’ll be ready.”
