Mizzou Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes
Mizzou 83, Arkansas 78
Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement…
“I’m really proud of these guys. Forty-eight hours ago we got beat by 39 points by Florida. They have been resilient all year and they just haven’t had the success that they deserved. Today, they played to win as opposed to playing not to lose. It certainly was a good basketball game. I thought we did a good job of taking care of the basketball. We didn’t turn it over a whole lot against their pressure. The big thing is that when you make shots you win games and we made shots tonight. We made the easy shots that we had been missing. Cullen VanLeer gave us a big lift early. Jordan Barnett came in and gave us a lift. K.J. Walton and Terrence Phillips were both solid. Jordan Geist, Kevin Puryear and Russell Woods battled all night. Reed Nikko came in and gave us a big boost in the first half. I’m happy for these guys. It’s a special day obviously. Rhyan is 2-0. We continue to pray for her and hope that she recovers.”
On first conference win…
“I think these guys have worked really hard. The only game that I was disappointed in was against Florida. That is the only time that we really didn’t bring it. Florida played well. It is a special day and I am glad that we could match Rhyan’s fight. The one thing that we talked about in the last timeout was to play to win. We hadn’t been doing that. I am glad we got over the hump. Hopefully we can carry this in to Wednesday’s game. I hope they feel better about themselves. A lot of people but not everybody beat them up. When you lose that many games in a row you are not the big man on campus. This win is good for all of us. Through all of this I haven’t changed and they haven’t changed. We come to work and practice. I think they were just tired of losing and they wanted to get their chairs back.”
On Arkansas’ second half run…
I told them at halftime that Arkansas was going to make a run. They are a good team. Twenty points is nothing to them. You could be up 20 and they could come back and they nearly did. We could be down 20 and we may have a chance to come back. I thought our guys continued to execute. We had seen this story before of being up and blowing a lead so I am glad we could finish. We made the shots that were close to the basket. They got us pretty good on the boards in the second half but we kept battling.”
On #RallyforRhyan night…
“I thought the day started off unbelievable. We had a fashion show with Rhyan and other children who suffer from cancer. My wife and my staff and the players did a great job. The guys might have had more fun than the kids. Walking those kids down the aisle with their fancy clothes on potentially made them realize how fortunate they are.”
On moving forward in the season…
“I hope they build on this. Some people think I am crazy. We are better than we were six weeks ago. We just haven’t been able to finish the games and make the plays when we needed to make them. Tonight we made shots. You make shots, you win games. You have to do it consistently and that has been our big problem. Tonight we hung in there and we made improvements. I know our guys feel better and they should. Hats off to the team.”
Mizzou sophomore guard K.J. Walton
On keeping the lead…
“In games past, we would not have done that. That is a big accomplishment for us. You have seen how this team has grown, especially after coach said for losing by such a large margin last game. We have grown in that area and I am proud of our guys.”
On coming back after Florida…
“When you get killed like that against Florida, like I said it should hurt and it hurt today. We came out and we played mad. I think that was the difference.”
On how to guard from an Arkansas comeback…
“Basically at halftime we just wanted to come out and keep playing hard that same way we played in the first half. Keep running all of our sets and just out play harder than they did.”
On Ryhan…
“She has fought hard for what she is going through. She is a sweet little girl.”
Mizzou junior forward Jordan Barnett
On keeping the lead…
“I think it was huge. Sometimes we tend to get off the good starts and we sometimes lose it. We got off to a really good start in this game. It was huge. It sort of gave us some ground. It gave us a lot of confidence to continue the game and win.”
On feelings after the win…
“I am actually really happy. This is my first win. It feels really good, but obviously it is much bigger than me. This was the Rally for Rhyan game. Like Coach Anderson said she is 2-0 and we are extremely happy to have played so hard and get another win. We really needed this. I am ecstatic.”
On shooting after coming off the bench…
“I probably just shoot the same. I just went out there and scored when I could and when I was open. I just tried to get shots and we won the game whatever the case may be.”
Mizzou Special Assistant to the Head Coach Brad Loos
On being 2-0 in #RallyforRhyan games and the emotions of the day…
“I tell you what, she is Rhyan is undefeated, isn’t she? Every game from here on is a #RallyforRhyan game, it’s just that simple. You know, it’s obviously special and means a lot to me and my family. I think one of the things that I’ve tried to do over the last year and a half is compartmentalize my personal life from my work. That is how I have gotten through. When I come to work, I do my best to concentrate on work, especially practice. Like I have said before, that is my release. It’s my chance to think about basketball and to not think about cancer. Then you get tonight, where the two worlds collide and without a doubt, it is emotional. It meant a lot to me that it meant a lot to our guys. I could tell before the game and leading up to the game that they wanted to play well and win for Rhyan.”
What can you tell that Rhyan is taking in from the day’s events…
“She knows it’s a big deal. She is such a shy kid. She hates attention. To be quite honest, she doesn’t enjoy coming to the game except for the nachos. She enjoys going to the suites for the brownies. Once she gets that done, she’s ready to go home. She understands how big this is and what we are trying to do. She understands we are trying to help other kids who are dealing with what she is dealing with. I am proud of her for coming here and putting on a brave face. She is doing really well, but she isn’t feeling all that great. You couldn’t tell that today though.”
On Rhyan’s current health…
“As everyone knows, she relapsed in November and had a brain tumor. We had surgery for that and had it removed. With a relapse, you start the process all over again. With chemotherapy, the radiation, all that not-so-fun stuff. She just finished radiation and chemo, so now it’s just a matter of getting her body back healthy again. As you know, chemo doesn’t just kill cancer, it kills everything and makes you feel horrible. She is just trying to get her body to the next stage of treatment which is called amino therapy.”
On what the win means to the players…
“It amazes me how hard these kids come to practice and work every single day. I am so proud of this team with the way they have handled this and the way they’ve handled themselves. Coach (Anderson) isn’t lying, these kids show up to practice every day and work hard. This is the best practice team we’ve had that I can remember. We are so much better now than we were six weeks ago.”
On what it means for the money raised to help other people…
“It is really amazing. We have made two donations, we’ve made one to Sloan-Kettring (Cancer Center) and one to the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Rhyan is at Sloan-Kettering, so we get to see the kids who are on the clinical trial we helped fund. You want to talk about giving you chills, just seeing those kids progress. The like girl, Karma, who I talked about at halftime, she is one of Rhyan’s best friends up there. So we spent a lot of time with her and a lot of time with her family. To see what we did help buy her time and help fight for her life, that is the biggest win I have every experienced in my life. The day we found out she went into remission because of this clinical trial, I broke out in tears. That’s what makes the difference right there, that what makes all that we have done for #RallyforRhyan worth it at that moment.”
Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson
Opening Statement…
“Congratulations to Kim [Anderson] and his players. I thought his team played well. We played them earlier in the year and I thought they played pretty decent, especially for a half. I thought they brought some of that momentum into this game here. I knew this was going to be a tough game, a lot of emotion. More importantly he [Anderson] has these kids playing hard. They made plays they needed to make and we didn’t. I thought, going down the stretch we fouled guys and put them to the free throw line, and give them credit they got to the line and made them. We’re disappointed, not discouraged. It was an uphill battle. We got behind in the first half, but credit to our guys I thought they fought, scratched and clawed to get themselves back into the game. It was a one-point game and we had a chance to tie it up but we never could get that lead. For some reason they found that extra energy at the end of the game. They found a way to get those loose balls going down the stretch. We had a big time stop and I think Puryear went and grab that rebound and had the presence to put it back in there. Give them credit. They didn’t stop playing and we came up short. We didn’t play typical, like we’re capable of playing but some of that credit goes to them.”
On the Arkansas turnovers…
“Well, I think we were careless with the basketball. Sometimes we tried to do too much. We had two plays like that at the end where we were trying to hustle down the stretch. We had some at the wrong time. That was key. I thought it enabled them to get some momentum. One thing we do is, we value the basketball, so that was disappointing.”
On Mizzou’s hot start to the game…
“Well, I thought we were playing too fast. What I mean by that is, they would make a play and we would come down and take some ill-advised shots, some careless shots. I think, even some turnovers were involved in that.”
