Video courtesy of kywildcatstv
Missouri Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement…
“They Played great. We didn’t play very well. It was a similar performance I think to when we came in here last year. I thought the beginning of the game was obviously a difference. They completely dominated it. We had no answer. We had no answer for anybody for a long time. I think you have to give them credit. They played great. Certainly they seem to be playing better and better. We’re still young. I think we were shell-shocked early on but at least we hung in there. We hung in there and we played. We got better in the second half.”
On how the game changes when Skal Labissiere plays the way that makes the most sense for him (shoots jump shots and blocks shots on defense)…
“That makes a huge difference. That’s another weapon that they have. He played really well tonight. You talked about (Derek) Willis, you mentioned Willis’ jump shots and we knew that. We practiced that going in. I just think our guys got sped up. We talked about that. But Skal certainly was a factor and is obviously one of the best players in the country. Unfortunately for us he kind of really started to find himself tonight.”
On how efficient Kentucky was in terms of getting down the court and scoring points…
“I thought they were very efficient. Part of that was we were inefficient. I thought they really, really executed well. They did a great job. Obviously, I just think (Tyler) Ulis controls the game. He just controls it. He just takes over the game. Not just scoring but playmaking. Tonight he made shots. He makes them anyways but I just think he controls the basketball. He’s a major weapon.”
On Derek Willis finding and accepting his role and how that affects the game…
“We watched a lot of tape on him. You go back and you see, and I don’t know if this has happened in the last three games, it seems to me it has to kind of understand what their strengths are. We didn’t do a good job on Willis. We finally started switching stuff and made things a little more difficult on him. You know, when you have a guy that size that can also shoot, that creates problems. I think he is definitely going to be a big factor.”
On if it’s difficult to keep players mentally in the game with so many losses…
“We just go one game at a time. Obviously this is a disappointing performance. Not because we got beat by 34 points but for me it’s disappointing because we didn’t start off better. I don’t want to say we didn’t compete but I just think we got run over by a truck early in the game and it took us a while to get back up. You have to give them credit. They played well and we didn’t. Our youth shows sometimes and when it does, we get to going off like we’re going to score 16 points in one possession, and you’re not. But this game from the start I thought they played with an incredible amount of energy. It reminded me a lot of last year’s game, I’ll be honest with you, when we came in here. I just thought that for whatever reason they were really, really energized.”
On if it felt like déjà vu from last year and what he said to his players in the first two timeouts…
“It did feel like last year just from the standpoint of the energy that they brought. I called timeouts to try to get them to settle down a little bit. If it were just you and me talking, I would probably use some different words. I think that we have young guys. I know that I use that term a lot but they’ve never been in an environment like this and they certainly know that they’ve never been in an environment like this. As the game wore on we started talking about ‘hey, let’s learn from this, let’s try to get better, let’s try to win these four minutes, let’s try to do this, let’s try to do that, let’s try to create a game.’ I think we finally started to but obviously it was too late.”
On how much better Kentucky is when they are hitting 3-pointers and if they came into the game thinking they were going to play zone…
“We were going to play more zone. But their zone offense is really hard for our guys to cover in a short period of time. We had a couple of days to prepare. You look at it statistically and you say ‘well, where is their weak spot?’ Obviously (Jamal) Murray is a great shooter and I think Willis was an X-factor tonight. I thought he shot the ball very well. But when they’re playing like they played tonight, they’re really good. I’m not going to make any predictions but they have certainly improved. Or maybe got more defined in the past few weeks.”
#24, Kevin Puryear, F
On UK’s start and how they responded…
“We settled down just a little bit. Of course it wasn’t enough to get back in the game, but I think just taking a deep breath because their pressure was a little bit too much for us and they definitely sped us up. So we just had to talk ourselves out of it.”
On Derek Willis’ play tonight…
“We knew coming into the game that he (Willis) was a shooter and we did a poor job of executing on defense.”
On Coach Anderson’s messages in the early timeouts…
“Just to relax and keep us from getting ourselves in a deeper hole. Trying to keep us composed and just to not get rattled.”
Missouri Head Coach Kim Anderson
Opening Statement…
“They Played great. We didn’t play very well. It was a similar performance I think to when we came in here last year. I thought the beginning of the game was obviously a difference. They completely dominated it. We had no answer. We had no answer for anybody for a long time. I think you have to give them credit. They played great. Certainly they seem to be playing better and better. We’re still young. I think we were shell-shocked early on but at least we hung in there. We hung in there and we played. We got better in the second half.”
On how the game changes when Skal Labissiere plays the way that makes the most sense for him (shoots jump shots and blocks shots on defense)…
“That makes a huge difference. That’s another weapon that they have. He played really well tonight. You talked about (Derek) Willis, you mentioned Willis’ jump shots and we knew that. We practiced that going in. I just think our guys got sped up. We talked about that. But Skal certainly was a factor and is obviously one of the best players in the country. Unfortunately for us he kind of really started to find himself tonight.”
On how efficient Kentucky was in terms of getting down the court and scoring points…
“I thought they were very efficient. Part of that was we were inefficient. I thought they really, really executed well. They did a great job. Obviously, I just think (Tyler) Ulis controls the game. He just controls it. He just takes over the game. Not just scoring but playmaking. Tonight he made shots. He makes them anyways but I just think he controls the basketball. He’s a major weapon.”
On Derek Willis finding and accepting his role and how that affects the game…
“We watched a lot of tape on him. You go back and you see, and I don’t know if this has happened in the last three games, it seems to me it has to kind of understand what their strengths are. We didn’t do a good job on Willis. We finally started switching stuff and made things a little more difficult on him. You know, when you have a guy that size that can also shoot, that creates problems. I think he is definitely going to be a big factor.”
On if it’s difficult to keep players mentally in the game with so many losses…
“We just go one game at a time. Obviously this is a disappointing performance. Not because we got beat by 34 points but for me it’s disappointing because we didn’t start off better. I don’t want to say we didn’t compete but I just think we got run over by a truck early in the game and it took us a while to get back up. You have to give them credit. They played well and we didn’t. Our youth shows sometimes and when it does, we get to going off like we’re going to score 16 points in one possession, and you’re not. But this game from the start I thought they played with an incredible amount of energy. It reminded me a lot of last year’s game, I’ll be honest with you, when we came in here. I just thought that for whatever reason they were really, really energized.”
On if it felt like déjà vu from last year and what he said to his players in the first two timeouts…
“It did feel like last year just from the standpoint of the energy that they brought. I called timeouts to try to get them to settle down a little bit. If it were just you and me talking, I would probably use some different words. I think that we have young guys. I know that I use that term a lot but they’ve never been in an environment like this and they certainly know that they’ve never been in an environment like this. As the game wore on we started talking about ‘hey, let’s learn from this, let’s try to get better, let’s try to win these four minutes, let’s try to do this, let’s try to do that, let’s try to create a game.’ I think we finally started to but obviously it was too late.”
On how much better Kentucky is when they are hitting 3-pointers and if they came into the game thinking they were going to play zone…
“We were going to play more zone. But their zone offense is really hard for our guys to cover in a short period of time. We had a couple of days to prepare. You look at it statistically and you say ‘well, where is their weak spot?’ Obviously (Jamal) Murray is a great shooter and I think Willis was an X-factor tonight. I thought he shot the ball very well. But when they’re playing like they played tonight, they’re really good. I’m not going to make any predictions but they have certainly improved. Or maybe got more defined in the past few weeks.”
#24, Kevin Puryear, F
On UK’s start and how they responded…
“We settled down just a little bit. Of course it wasn’t enough to get back in the game, but I think just taking a deep breath because their pressure was a little bit too much for us and they definitely sped us up. So we just had to talk ourselves out of it.”
On Derek Willis’ play tonight…
“We knew coming into the game that he (Willis) was a shooter and we did a poor job of executing on defense.”
On Coach Anderson’s messages in the early timeouts…
“Just to relax and keep us from getting ourselves in a deeper hole. Trying to keep us composed and just to not get rattled.”
