Missouri Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
On how impactful Nick Richards was in the game …
“Very. You have two talented teams, both sides have guards that can get to the rim and make plays. I think he was a difference maker in the game. Of course, Ashton(Hagans) does a great job distributing to the team. I think he was a difference maker you see from his points his production. And that was the difference, they got more from their bigs then we did from ours. Simply that both teams fought both teams played hard. He did a great job, his numbers if you look at his stats in the season and this game. But he’s a much-improved big guy to his credit. You hate to lose games, but you love to see a young guy grow like that as a junior in college. He’s improved his game his free throw shooting, his touch around the rim and putting the ball on the floor. I’m happy for him.”
On Jeremiah Tilman’s health …
“He’s fine. He’s on the floor. He’s fine”
On how fouls affected the game …
“They did a good job of getting to the rim. They did a good job. That’s what they do, they drive the ball. They teach arm’s length defense, move your feet.”
On hitting threes …
“I think it’s important. Again, you have to be able to make shots. You have to drive the ball. I thought we did a good job of getting to the rim. Nick (Richards) did a good job altering shots, if not blocking them, but I thought, especially Dru (Smith) and Javon (Pickett) did a great job attacking the rim. They have to continue doing that, will get those shots to fall. It’s part of the game. They won the ball game they had a good atmosphere, on to the next game.”
On what this game’s performance shows …
“We always need to work on something. But we lost to a good team at home. It’s not going back to the drawing board. I thought we did a good job of getting to the drawing board, we just didn’t finish. We have got to get more production from, in my opinion, Reed (Nikko), Mitch(Smith), and Jeremiah (Tilmon). We’ve gotta be productive around the rim. We felt like as a staff going into the game the difference would be who could get interior production, and they won the battle.
On using more of his bench and giving Axel Oknogo his first minutes of the season …
“Just energy, toughness, and obviously foul trouble. That’s one thing he doesn’t like is energy and toughness, but you never want to put him in that situation in this type of environment. But I just figured, why not? He puts so much work in, so he earned the right to be on the floor. So, I think hopefully moving forward he will continue to get more minutes.
On Mario McKinney, Jr. …
“I think he is working hard, again a lot of work to do. Mario(McKinney, Jr.) has the ability to get to the rim. Now, he has to continue to improve defensively. He is good on the ball, he has to improve his off the ball defensive, you know, chasing guys off screens. That’s one thing Kentucky does well, is sprinting off screens. He competes in these battles and again, he does a good job getting to the rim.
MISSOURI STUDENT-ATHLETES
#12 Dru Smith, R-Jr., G
On how well he feels Mizzou did defending in the paint early …
“Early in the game I thought we did a better job than we did there later down the stretch in the first half and then later in the second half as well. I thought early we kind of did a good job of sprinting to the ball and keeping them outside of the paint and we were holding them there for a second and then we started fouling. They started getting to the free throw line, I think they shot nine free throws in the first half and more in the second. Obviously, they’re good players- quick and it’s not an easy matchup, but we just have to make sure we’re locking into our game.”
#14 Reed Nikko, Sr., F
On playing against Nick Richards …
“We waited and didn’t do as well against him in the first half and when he’s like that and has that kind of talent you have to get with him early. You can’t let a guy take shots like he did because he’s going to get a couple in, and his confidence is going to go through the roof. That was a big issue for us.”
On what made Nick Richards as effective as he was …
“He was a physical player and he had a few jump shots he hit early that I think helped his confidence. Got to give him credit but I don’t think I played very well, and we have to do better as a team and not let him get going and have as good of a first half as he had.”
On what lessons can be taken from this game moving forward in the season …
“I think there are lessons we can take from it, but we also have to come in ready. We can’t come in looking at it as a game for the experience. We have to come in…and I think we did. We came in with energy and we were locked in there at the beginning and I think we just kind of tailed off there toward the end of the first half and I think we just have to keep our energy and keep our effort up.”
On if they game planned for Nick Richard’s scoring double figures and playing well …
“We respect him as a player. Obviously, we played him the last couple of years and he’s a very difficult player and a very good player. Our game plan was that we just had to keep him out of the paint. Obviously, he was hitting jump shots that we weren’t ready for, but we have to do a better job of keeping them off the glass, especially Nick. We game planned for this the same was we game plan for anyone else.”
On the hurdle of Jeremiah Tilmon getting in foul trouble …
“Anytime you have a player in foul trouble, it’s hard. I think we’ve done a good job of having a ‘next man up’ mentality and that is the case for anyone, not just Jeremiah. Obviously, we had guys come in- we had Parker (Braun) and we had Axel (Okongo) come in and they both did a good job coming off the bench so I think we just have to face the challenge and the next guys did a good job.”
On what is talked about in the huddle about fouls and staying out of foul trouble …
“We just have to do a better job of not letting them get in the paint in the first place with all of those fouls and they got a lot of attempts at the rim. I think we do a better job limiting them on those jumps and not letting them get to the rim in the first place to avoid a lot of those fouls.”