Mizzou / Auburn Postgame Quotes
Mizzou Women’s Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Mizzou 68, Auburn 53
Head Coach Robin Pingeton
Opening Statement…
“I appreciate everyone here tonight. I have a lot of respect for Auburn. They are a really good team and we knew it was going to be a challenge coming into the game. They are a team that is relentless with their full court pressure and I thought our kids did a very solid job of handling that pressure. I thought we moved the ball really well tonight offensively. Defensively, we talked a lot about rebounding going into this game and the importance of that. I thought we did a pretty decent job on the boards and really guarded personnel hard. This is a good win against a very good team.”
On preparing for Auburn…
“This is a team that, as we prepared, it was pretty clear to us that this a team that can really make you play at a pace that you are not comfortable with. A lot of that happens when you put your head down and start driving to beat the pressure. We talked a lot about wanting to have more passes in the half court than dribble penetration. Against this kind of pressure we really wanted to space the floor with our passing and ball reversals. I thought our girls did a great job with involvement tonight and we played with a lot of poise.”
On looking forward to Kentucky…
“We go back and practice tomorrow. That is their reward. We are going to keep going one day at a time. We are pleased and excited about some things that are happening but I think our girls are a long way from being satisfied. We understand that there is still plenty of work to do and there are a lot of SEC games left. A lot of things can happen. We have some veteran players so they understand that. This is not tough to keep focused.”
On poise of team…
“Our focus is controlling what we can control and there is never going to be a perfectly officiated game. Sometimes we can all get wrapped up in that but we don’t want to do that. We are trying to be mindful of that. Those are uncontrollable things. We have to make adjustments and focus on what we can control. We have emphasized a lot on playing 40 minutes in the SEC so we are really working hard at putting together 40 minutes. At halftime, they had already had an intentional talk about things that we need to be mindful of in the second half. They made a list and put it on the board. There was good intentional talk and that is great leadership in the locker room. I trust the voices in there. I feel like our focus over the last several weeks has been very good.”
On growth of Cierra Porter…
“High school can be very hard sometimes. I think college is a more physical game. With our motion offense there are more opportunities for her to show her versatility and step away from the basket and also play with her back to the basket. She has done a great job getting into the weight room and getting stronger. Being able to practice against a scout team is definitely beneficial because they are bigger, faster and stronger. The natural growth and maturity of body has helped a lot.”
On physical play of team…
“I don’t think we are a dirty team. Do I think we are a strong team? Yes. Do I think we have a lot of toughness and grit and play with some innards? Absolutely. I think we play with passion and I don’t associate that with being dirty. We don’t teach that. We don’t encourage that. I think this is SEC basketball and it is physical basketball. I would never take pride in being called a dirty team. If you want to call us a gritty, tough, hard-nosed team that is absolutely true.”
Sophomore forward Cierra Porter
On the feel of the game…
"It felt really good but I was getting really great, high percentage looks because of the passing of my teammates. Our coaches game plan was inside out and we just trusted the game plan and it was a good result."
On breaking Auburn’s trap defense…
"We just said take a deep breath and have some poise, we got this. There’s a lot of gaps in that press as good as it is. We just had to slow down and look for those gaps. It worked out.
On her career-high 27 points…
"I was just thinking keep attacking. That wasn’t my career-high, that’s all my teammates. I had great passing from them so it wasn’t really about me."
Freshman guard Amber Smith
On settling in to the game quickly…
"Well I looked at what my teammates were doing well from the bench and coach has always been saying in practice to get the ball to the middle, face up, look for a shot, and that’s what I did. Every time I looked for the shot there was a big gap in the defense."
On becoming more comfortable during her freshman season…
"I’m very comfortable now. Because our coaches tell us what the game plan is and we follow the game plan. The more you read your scouting report, it comes to you and you can visualize it."
