Post-Game Quotes: Iowa State
Mizzou Men’s Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Mizzou 74, Iowa State 59
Mizzou Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
On the performance of his defense…
“Just play hard. We talk about it all the time. Defend, rebound and play hard. As hard as you can play. There’s still plenty of work to get done. I thought our guys had great energy. I think our fans had a lot to do with that, I think this day had a lot to do with that. We’re making progress, I thought we had great shot defense. They shot 39 percent for the game, but I thought we were better than that. With all that being said, I think we did a great job of still taking good shots and not forcing bad shots, trying to get the ball inside. We didn’t get to the free throw line like we would have liked as a staff.”
On Tilmon’s performance…
“He’s a great, talented player. In Jeremiah’s case, his gauge is not how much he scored, but he has a tremendous amount of energy and passion and enthusiasm. He brings life to everybody. I don’t think there’s been a day that we’ve practiced that he hasn’t brought life to the table. And I think that’s a big attribute.”
On the atmosphere at Mizzou Arena…
“It was great, I thought our fans were tremendous. I think the most important thing, and I applaud our fans for showing up and doing a great job, but in order for us to be a great program, it has to be every night. It has to be every night. Because when you want a great program and you ask for that, we need you in the arena to support us so we can maintain that.”
Mizzou junior forward Kevin Puryear
On where the defensive performance came from…
“Honestly, I would say it all started in practice, you know, what he’s (Coach Martin) instilled in us, toughness from day one and not giving us any breaks. Even if we play good defense and the guy scores, that’s still not good defense because he scored, so I mean he’s just extremely hard on us all the time and expects a lot out of us. I don’t think tonight was any different. We were battle-tested, because we go at each other every day and make each other better. I think that translated to tonight.”
On the atmosphere of Mizzou Arena…
“I just love the game and I was just so excited. One, we sold out today for the first time in a while. The environment and a new journey with these guys, we’ve been practicing really hard, so the games are like a celebration. There was a bunch of excitement going into today, the turnout was great, and we had a good showing, so I’m happy.”
On Jeremiah Tilmon’s play…
“Jeremiah was an absolute beast down low. One thing I don’t think he gets enough credit for is his footwork. It’s extremely good down low, and he’s a great rebounder and very physical. He put a pretty good game together and I’m proud of him.”
Mizzou junior forward Jordan Barnett
On the atmosphere of Mizzou Arena…
“It felt amazing [to play in front of a sold out crowd]. Last year, we didn’t get a lot of games like that. To start the season like that and come out in front of a packed house and get a good win shows a lot about this team. We have tremendous potential to be a really good team.”
On Kassius Robertson…
“Kassius is a seasoned vet, and you can tell when he plays he is so composed and when he has the ball in his hands, he makes great decisions and he is a great shooter. We’re going to count on him and he’s going to make those shots. We have the utmost confidence in him and that we trust him the ball in his hands. He’s just a great player and a great leader and a great person to have around just as far as his knowledge of the game. He’s the leader of the squad pretty much and we are all looking to him to lead the way for us.”
Iowa State Head Coach Steve Prohm
Opening Statement…
“Congratulations to Missouri. It was a good atmosphere, those are the games you want to play in. I’m glad we played this game right out of the gates, because we needed to know where we’re at as a basketball team, adjustments we need to make and focus on. I thought this game showed us those things. We lost, but I think there were positives, I thought the two guys up here played at the level they’re capable of. We ran, took a few steps, started getting more comfortable. I understand we’ve got a long way to go from a standpoint of both ends of the floor, but I think we’re headed the right direction, we understand what we’ve got to get better with. Obviously it’s frustrating because we didn’t play well, but I’m glad we played this game so we know what we’ve got to get better at.”
On executing his game plan…
“I’m so glad we played this game – both teams. If you talk to Coach Martin, he’ll probably say the exact same thing. Win or lose, you play these games and then you look 25 games into the season and the team that lost tonight may be doing a lot better than the team that won. It’s a good measuring stick. Especially being on the road, we had chances, we got it to eight of 10, but we couldn’t execute offensively. You can’t give the little stretch when they went on an 8-0 run to take it from 18. It was all open threes and layups, and that’s what we’ve got to get honed in on transition defense. We doubled the post, but they split the double and if they didn’t split the double we didn’t have our shut down guy.
Iowa State Players Quotes
Redshirt junior guard Nick Weiler-Babb
On the offensive struggles…
“The main thing was that I saw was we were struggling offensively. But the offense really doesn’t matter when we’re not getting stops. We can’t trade basket stops for the entire second half. I just had to change my mentality. I should have been doing it since the jump, but it just took a little time just to change my mentality. I saw that my team needed me. “
Redshirt Junior Zoram Talley, Jr.
On the atmosphere of the game…
“Playing Mizzou, it was a great atmosphere and a SEC match up. I just wanted to come out here and play my hardest and get the W. We didn’t get that but after we get back, we are going to watch film and work on everything we have to work on.”
