Mizzou Men’s Basketball
Postgame Quotes
Florida 77, Mizzou 75
Mizzou head coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening statement…
“Tough one to lose. I thought we did some good things. We didn’t execute down the stretch. On the defensive side of the ball, we got some stops here and there. You have to give those guys credit for winning the game.”
On his message to the team after a disappointing loss like today…
“It was probably 10 seconds. We had a good effort and came up short. There’s not a lot of talk. Pain will take care of itself. There’s no point of me talking for hours. Let’s learn from this and push forward. We know we have a good team, but we also understand there’s a lot of things we could’ve done better.”
On Barnett’s career-high 28 points against the Gators…
“Just shooting the ball. The thing with him is be aggressive and be in attack mode. He’s one of the better shooters. If he’s able to get the ball up from the three-point line and he’s able to jump so high. There’s not many guys out here that can jump with him. Once he gets it up he’s in good shape. He grabs offensive rebounds, and he’s a really good free throw shooter. He’s a good player. It’s the reps and the time he puts into it and this is the result of it.”
Mizzou senior guard Kassius Robertson
On Florida’s defensive steal to secure its victory…
“He (Chris Chiozza) just made a good read. We didn’t see him coming. He jumped the gap. It was risky because if he misses it, then we have a wide open shot.”
On the team’s offensive strategy on the last play…
“We ran an up-screen play and it worked. It was going to be wide open. My man went with Jontay. We were just looking to take the last shot. Any good look we got at the rim was the plan. Whether it was a three or drive or whatever. They just made a good play.”
Mizzou senior forward Jordan Barnett
On what he learned from his team today…
“One of the biggest things is that this is a group who is never going to stop fighting no matter what’s going on. We really believe we can win every game. We try to play that way. We still have to figure out how to finish games. There have been a lot of situations this season where we’ve had the lead late and just lose it. We’re a work in progress.”
On Florida head coach Mike White’s compliment of being the SEC’s most improved player…
“Just getting a lot of extra shooting in. I’ve had a hot stretch over the past couple of games and I’ve been able to hit shots. That definitely makes you look better when you make shots.”
On his offensive connection with Jontay Porter…
“I know Jontay is always looking for anyone that is open, not necessarily just myself. All my teammates look for anyone that’s open. It just so happened that Jontay was able to find me. Usually when he got the ball in the paint their defense collapsed and he was able to make the right read and I was able to hit shots. It’s just him knowing how to play the game.”
