Mizzou Links: Some highlights in an infinitely more competitive loss to Kentucky

Keanau Post and Ryan Rosburg provided some highlights in Missouri's 69-53 loss to Kentucky. Plus: Mizzou's women moved to 12-9 with an easy win over Florida in Gainesville.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Jan 30, 2015, 5:14am CST

What's On

Yeah, yeah, scoreboard ... there were some fun moments last night.

Fun fact: that was the one possession in the game that didn't include a foul!

And also...

That was fun (for a while)

MUTIGERS.COM: No. 1 Kentucky Pulls Away From Mizzou in Second Half, 69-53
MUTIGERS.COM: Mizzou/Kentucky Post-Game Quotes

Mizzou Head Coach Kim Anderson

Opening Statement:

"We obviously don’t play Kentucky very well, but I thought we battled. I thought we fought. We just couldn’t handle their size. They did a great job of getting the ball inside. We fouled way too much. They shot 37 free throws, and we only shot 20. When that happens, it’s hard to win. I think defensively we need to do a better job of moving our feet and doing all of the basic things. Offense, early on, we had trouble scoring. They were hard to score against in Lexington. They are so big and so long. I thought we had some great performances from Wes, and it was great to see Ryan play—go in and play well. They’re the No. 1 team in the country, and I can certainly see why. I was proud of our guys—we hung, we fought, we clawed, and hopefully we’ll get better from this experience."

On being physical…

"We talked about being more physical because I think quite a bit this year we haven’t been physical. We felt like down there, in Lexington, we weren’t physical at all. We played tentative. Here, we talked all week about being aggressive, being physical, diving for loose balls, which is the way we want to play anyways, but I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight. I think we probably got tired. We got in foul trouble, and we had to play guys more minutes than we normally do. One of our goals was to paly more physical than we did down there, and I thought we did that. "

On the change from the first half scoring to the second half…

"The first half, we were getting a little pocket pass, and we were working on that. Ryan did a great job of converting. In the second half they did a better job in the second half. They’re 20-0 for a reason—the guy on the other bench knows what he’s doing. I thought they did a better job of closing off. We didn’t do as good of job at executing, and they had something to do with that."

Were you confident in Wes before the game?

"Yeah. I know he would. I wasn’t near as worried about Wes as everyone else was. I mean I was concerned and I was there for him. I’ve told him, he didn’t lose the game. There were several possessions where that game was lost. I thought he’d respond. He’s like that. He doesn’t let that stuff bother him. It was good that he came out and played well."

On the final score…

"Well, we lost by 49 in Lexington, and we lost by 16 tonight. No, I’m not happy losing, but I do think we played better. It was a nine-point game there at half, and they made a little run there in the second half, and got it to 20 I think. All I can ask is that these guys keep fighting, and that’s what they’ve done, and it’s not always pretty, but they didn’t quit. They kept fighting. I’ tired of losing, but I’m pleased that we are at least still fighting."