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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 26, 2014Lee BaileyEric BovairdKuany KuanyLAHAINA, HAWAII Missouri – 74 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement about this morning's game? COACH BOVAIRD: Well, coming into it we knew it was going to be three grueling days against really good teams. Our goal coming in, obviously we'd love to win a game, win a couple games and stuff like that. But the thing I talked to these guys about is we have the best opportunity in Division II to play against good competition to make us better. At Division II you don't get that opportunity. You might get the chance to play one, but we've got the chance to play three and the University of Hawaii. So it's definitely going to help us in our quest to compete for Division II National Championships. Q. Even after the three tough defeats in this tournament, how do you feel about your team's upside going forward and into Pac West play? LEE BAILEY: I think we're feeling pretty good going into Pac West play. This tournament always helps just energy‑wise and battle test us before we hit the conference play. I think that we come in with an aggressiveness and kind of a toughness that no other Division II‑‑ they can't simulate these kind of games we play in going against much taller, stronger, quicker, more athletic guys. So we liked a lot of things that we saw. We obviously have a lot to work on, but we're feeling pretty good about the season this year. Q. Kuany, you had a big second half, did you want to take over the game and run the offense and try to take over the score your own? KUANY KUANY: No, not really we run a lot of high ball screens and defensive driving kicks. I was I took a bad shot at the end, definitely, but Coach let me hear about that one. Other than that, I was just trying to take what the defense gave me. I was trying to drive and hit open shooters when they weren't, and when they were helping, just tried on hit the basket. Q. Coach, you mentioned the Hawaii game coming up. Anything specifically you need to work on before you play UH mid- December? COACH BOVAIRD: Just to be 100%, I have some things in the back of my head that we'll use when we get one game away, when they're our next game. We won't even talk about the University of Hawaii until I think it's the day before the game because we have a game that day before. So we're going to focus on trying to get better from these three days. We have the University of Hawaii, Hilo next Thursday in a conference game, and they're really good this year. So I know it's big for a lot of the people in Hawaii, but we've got to start with our conference game next Thursday. Hilo, and that's all they'll hear from me until it gets really close to the Hawaii game. Q. There were times Missouri went with a smaller lineup, at least not what they're used to going with. Did that give you guys any kind of trouble with Gill‑Caesar and Wright from the shots they were hitting? COACH BOVAIRD: Yeah, yeah, it did. I kind of got surprised a few times. There were about three or four games over my years here in the Maui Invitational I've seen the major Division Is adjust their lineup to try to match ours. I think it's a smart move. If they're not able to take advantage of their size and strength, they might as well go with the five guards, because most of the time that's pretty much what we have on the floor. Sometimes we have one big guy and four guards. But, yeah, I was a little surprised that they switched. They weren't as effective in the post as I know they want to be. Went with the five guards, and next thing I know number 13's hitting three‑pointers in the corner. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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