Auburn 91, Mizzou 73
Postgame Quotes
Mizzou Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening statement…
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t defend well. I’ve been telling my guys all season long ‘We have to defend.’ I don’t think we have enough offensively to take days off on defense.”
On finding ways to improve during the conference schedule…
“We do what we do in practice to get better. We lose another one, we learn from one. It’s part of it. You grow, you learn as a team. It goes with the territory. We have to win as a team. It’s a process. You get frustrated, you go through things as a team. I’ve said it to those guys before, do these things to be successful, but the minute we get away from that, then we’ll be in a real fight. But it’s just a part of growing and if we lose the next one, that’s what you learn from. But we put up a fight, we do the things it takes to be successful.”
Mizzou senior forward Jordan Barnett
On responding to Auburn’s run in the second half…
“We just have to learn how to stay with it and not let one mistake turn into two and two turn into three. We just have to stick with it.”
On being the tougher team…
“I felt like we were the tougher team for the better part of the game up until that one stretch. We beat them on the glass, so we were out-toughing them there.”
On staying focused after two-straight losses…
“We just have to stick together. A lot of us have been through some rough times together, and we know how to stick together. That’s all we can do, we just have to stay with each other and work because this is a much better team than last year. We still have a chance to do really well and turn this around.”
Mizzou junior guard Jordan Geist
About limiting turnovers…
“I think we just have to take our time. I know that we see things that are open, but we have to see it sooner and see it before it happens. We just have to read things better.”
On how getting defensive stops can lead to offense…
“We know we have to bring it on defense and that’s our bread and better right there. When we get stops, it doesn’t matter if we’re scoring, you know, we’re not trading buckets with them. We know we can get down there and score eventually.”
Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement…
“I told the team, not many people are going to come in here and win.”
On what Missouri does well…
“Missouri’s really good. They’re really talented and they’re big. Coach Martin does a phenomenal job with their defense and their ball screen offense.”
On the atmosphere of the game…
“You could see the difference in the program, you could see the difference in the crowd, and the energy in here. Coach Martin has obviously got things turned and headed in the right direction.”
