Mizzou / Truman State Post-Game Quotes
Mizzou // Truman State Post-Game Quotes (Mizzou 87, Truman State 53 - Monday, Nov. 7)
Head Coach Robin Pingeton
Opening Statement…
“I told the girls last week I thought we definitely got better as a team. I was really proud of just the maturity in that locker room when we broke down film from our last exhibition and the ownership they took in areas that we can improve on. We had a really solid week of practice and I thought we competed well today. One of the areas we wanted to get better at was certainly on the boards, so we did a nice job of that tonight. There were a lot of positives and certainly still a lot of room for improvement. We know it is going to get much tougher moving forward, but I like where our team is at, I like where their mentality was at tonight, and I thought Lianna Doty had just an outstanding game for us. I thought it was a great team win for us.”
On role of freshman and their performance tonight…
“We have a short bench and we’re going to need everybody, so I think tonight gave us a chance to give Jordan Chavis and Amber Smith some extended minutes. You see great signs in both of them. I think they both are really going to have a chance to make an impact as freshmen. Jordan Roundtree was out. She kind of tweaked her knee the other day in practice, nothing too serious to keep her out on Friday. Exhibitions are important, but lights go on Friday and it’s the real deal. We have to be at our best and so we just decided we would keep her out from tonight’s exhibition. I think our freshmen are going to make great contributions this year. They play hard, they do some nice things, they make some freshmen mistakes, but I definitely think they are going to contribute big for us this year.”
On Jordan Chavis from three…
“I had a couple conversations with her about how that is one of the reasons we recruited her. She does a great job off ball screen action and she can knock shots down. I felt like early on in practices she was on her heels a little bit and she didn’t look at herself as the first or second option. We just talked to her about you have to have a scorer’s mentality. You have to be ready to shoot, and if the shots not there, swing it, but you have to be a threat for us. We need some scoring output from you. I’ve been on her pretty good because I knew we needed her to step up right away, she doesn’t get a typical freshman year. She responds so well, she is such a competitor, and she wants to be coached hard and she has responded really well.”
On start of regular season…
“We have a lot of work ahead of us. Out of the gates on Friday, it is going to be really tough competition for us. I have watched a little film on Abilene Christian, and they have their core group returning. They had an outstanding year last year with only three losses. They are blue collar and they are fundamental, so out of the gates we are going to get challenged right away. I’m excited that we are opening up in the WNIT at home and it is a journey, so can’t get too far ahead of us. We know it is not going to be easy, but I love that culture in that locker room and I love that leadership that we have. I think when you have that you can get through the bumps in the road and keep going. I think it is going to be a fun year, we are really excited and looking forward to getting started.”
Sophomore guard Sophie Cunningham
On pushing the ball and getting out in transition…
“I think our whole team was kind of focusing on that because we want to get up and down. We need to start getting up and down because that’s what the SEC is about. The whole team did really well with that tonight. Huge shout out to Doty, she started that whole thing. I mean I am not surprised by it at all because that is what we see every day in practice from her but I am just so glad that you guys got to see that because she totally deserves it. I mean as a fifth year player, she does everything right so huge props to her rebounds, her steals and just leading the team tonight.”
Redshirt senior guard Lianna Doty
On forcing turnovers and getting steals…
“I had a good conversation with Coach Pingeton earlier today about playing solid and just using our speed and just letting it come to me. Sometimes the opponent can make mistakes and we’re just trying to capitalize. I think our team had a great mentality in that we wanted to get better defensively since our last game. I think it is just a testament to everyone’s approach tonight.”
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