Opening statement…
“That is the best win of the year so far against a nationally ranked team. A really, really good team in Missouri. A veteran team. A team we didn’t beat last year. We had a great game at Missouri last year. They played great and we played pretty well. We went there with just two losses and they gave us our third, and we only had (six) losses last year. They bought everyone back, a very experienced team. The youngest team in college basketball managed to survive a really slow start in the second half. We are a lot better with Sharife Cooper on the floor. When he got in foul trouble, we bogged down. There were a lot of really strong performances. If I would’ve told you that we would make six 3s and we could win, I would have worried about it, and if told me the two guys that would make three were Chris Moore and JT Thor, I might have questioned that. Very unusual. I’m happy for the bench. They did a great job tonight. We outscored them, outplayed them off the bench, which is terrific. Led by Devan Cambridge, Dylan Cardwell was 6 for 7 from the foul line, Chris (Moore) played his best game, Javon (Franklin) gave us some great moments. A good team victory. Now it’s on to No. 2 Baylor.”
On the bench play…
“I thought the bench was really good. If you look at the numbers, Devan (Cambridge), we were plus-8 with him out there. Dylan, we were plus-10 with him out there. He was 6 for 7 from the foul line. Plus-10 for Chris Moore. He doesn’t miss a shot. Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola) gave us some valuable minutes and some big rebounds, and Javon (Franklin) contributed. That’s just impressive.”
On making free throws down the stretch…
“Late on the lead, they fouled us a lot. Both teams got to the line a lot. We got in the bonus sooner in the second half. That made a big difference. In the first half free throws, we were 9 for 14 and they were 11 for 14. Both teams got there. In the second half on the lead, they just had a hard time staying in front of Sharife (Cooper) and Al(len) Flanigan did a good job there as well. I like 3s and frees. I want to shoot the 3 ball and I want to attack the rim. I thought we did both well enough to win.”
On putting back in Sharife Cooper with foul trouble…
“We didn’t want to start him because I didn’t want him to get his fourth foul right away. I didn’t want to put him in there until after the first TV timeout. We just didn’t start well. That was disappointing, because I thought that group can, but they just didn’t. That’s a missed opportunity for them. We were sloppy offensively. We missed some shots and that was an issue. He’s our quarterback. We just saw four great quarterbacks play in the AFC and NFC Championship. I don’t think any of those teams are there without their quarterback. He made a huge difference.”
On Sharife Cooper’s play down the stretch…
“We talk about him being an alpha dog and what that’s all about. He’s the biggest little man out there, period. Everybody knows it. But, when it comes to the end of a game, he expects to win. He expects to make the plays, and if he doesn’t, he takes full responsibility. The winning can happen on both ends. He had eight rebounds. He’s obviously a terrific athlete and has great quickness. We are going to go up against a Baylor team with probably the best defensive guards in the country. I’m sure they are excited about the opportunity to try to shut off Sharife’s water, and they are very capable of doing it. That’s going to be by far our toughest challenge.”