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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2017

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Wichita State - 78

Missouri State - 63

THE MODERATOR: Missouri Bears are now with us. Dequon Miller, Jarred Dixon represent the student-athletes. Paul Lusk, the head coach, is in the middle. He'll start off these proceedings with a statement on the game.

PAUL LUSK: Give Wichita State a lot of credit. I thought we came out and were excellent. Obviously, if you punch them, they're going to punch back, and they punched us back. I don't know how many they got up by in the first half, but then we responded, and I felt we really finished the half the right way.

I think just realistically, in the second half, you've got to make shots to stay with them. We missed a lot of good looks. And they wear you down. But give them a lot of credit. But pleased with our effort and the way our guys battled.

Q. With the way you guys started the game, couldn't be a better start. And then how big was that for you to kind of come out and land the first blow on them?
THE MODERATOR: Dequon first, then Jarred.

DEQUON MILLER: It was big. It was great for us to get the first punch, but we knew they were going to come back with another punch. I think that was going to help us get a little momentum and get going, but like I said before, Wichita, they're big and deep.

JARRED DIXON: Like he said, I think we kind of shocked the whole arena with our -- I think it was like 12-0 to start off. I think we were ready to play from the start. Like he said, they just -- we knew they were going to make a run, and they're a really deep, talented team.

But it kind of showed that we haven't really backed down from anybody all year. It just showed that we had some tough guys. But it kind of bit us back in the leg. We kind of ran out of gas in the second half.

Q. Jarred, what was it about this tournament that just kind of set you off and the way you played this week?
JARRED DIXON: I didn't think I played particularly well the first night. It was a little nerve-racking. I didn't get to play last year. I had to watch from the sidelines. It was kind of tough. But it's a great, fun event. It was a lot of different because it's a neutral site and all these conference teams are around watching. It's a big stage and I like playing in stuff like that. So it was pretty fun.

Q. Dequon, how enjoyable were these two years at Missouri State?
DEQUON MILLER: It was very enjoyable. I got to thank Coach Lusk for even giving me a chance to play here, man. Great fans, great coaching staff, great teammates. It was a fun ride these last two years, man, and I appreciate it. Every bit.

Q. Paul, first of all, always a pleasure to see you come back home, man.
PAUL LUSK: What's up?

Q. How you doing, Coach. Your guys fought today. They really came out ready to play. I wanted to ask you, I thought Frankamp hit some big shots and stopped the runs for you guys. I want you to talk about that a little bit.
PAUL LUSK: He's a major league shot maker, and then I thought the other young man that just threw some daggers in there, Markis McDuffie, he's very talented. So he was 3 for 3 from three-point range. Obviously, Frankamp is not just a catch-and-shoot guy. He can put you in the mix a little bit. He's a heck of a player.

So when they're making those shots, you've got to respond and make some shots. I felt we got some good looks. We missed two front ends of one-and-ones, and we didn't put the ball in the basket. If you're trying to beat someone like that or push that thing as far as you can push it, you've got to continue to make some shots.

We didn't necessarily have to be as hot as we were to start the game, but you still have to make some shots. I know we were stuck on 50 for a while. Give them a lot of credit. I know we had a lot of good looks, but we just didn't capitalize.

Q. Coach, the second half, foul trouble inside for the Bears. Shaq Morris kind of got in there and got about 16 points.
PAUL LUSK: He averages -- I said he should be a First Team All-League guy when we played him last game. I think he averages 17 minutes a game, and he gets 10 and 6. He's just a very good player. There's no doubt he really wore us down inside and caused a lot of fouls. They were 20 of 21 from the foul line. I think we might have had two big guys foul out.

They're physical. They can keep throwing big bodies at you. Darral Willis, Nurger. They've got a lot of depth.

Q. Can you just talk about Dequon and what he's meant to the program, and kind of the impact he leaves going forward.
PAUL LUSK: I don't think I've ever met a young man that's grown like him. He's really grown as a person. He's still got a lot of growth left in him. He played very hard. He didn't shoot it well this weekend, but last night, the sacrifice that he gave to guard Jeremy Morgan like that was pretty impressive. And I don't think Northern Iowa expected that. They expected to probably have a guy with size on him.

You just wish tonight that he could have made a couple of those because I thought he got some good looks. But he -- earlier in the year, when we had the roster change, we put him every game on the other team's best player, and he's logged a lot of miles. Then we had to change that up just to save him. But he gave us everything he could.

I'm really proud of him. He'll get an opportunity to go play somewhere. He's going to finish his degree. We're going to demand that. Very, very proud of him.

Q. Coach, speak of Tyler McCullough and the minutes he gave you today and just the young man that he is.
PAUL LUSK: Tyler is a terrific young man. In his defense -- and I've talked about it often -- he hasn't had a lot of luck in terms of staying healthy for his career. He's truly never really had an off-season because of all the injuries. He's had back-to-back labrum surgeries. He tried getting out there to practice last week, which helped him a little bit. He was unable to go full contact all year. He kept a great attitude. He's a terrific student, terrific young man, and he'll be really successful in life.

And it's probably hard for him because he came in as a freshman and everyone thought he was going to be a very, very good player. He just never had the opportunity to develop because of some of those injuries, and that's hard to overcome. But he kept a good attitude, and he'll be successful in life.

Q. Coach, if you could just reflect on six years. Kind of had to rebuild this Bears program again. Back-to-back Newcomers of the Year with this team. Looking forward, what are you thinking of this team?
PAUL LUSK: Well, I think we're still building, and you say, well, that's crazy. That can't happen. But we know that year four was very difficult, and I thought a year ago with all those young guys we made some improvements, in particular, in league play. And then this year I really thought we were ready to really make a huge jump, and that didn't happen.

But we were playing very good basketball around Christmas and even early in league play. It just didn't happen for us. I thought our guys hung with it. I think we've got some good players. I think we need more. It's about players, and we've got a good staff. Very pleased that our kids hung with it because we went through some losses even late, but I thought for the most part we were getting better each and every day.

Like I said, the Bradley game -- and give them credit. I don't think we played to our ability. They hung with it. They bounced back. I thought we performed last night about as -- it was a very good game for us.

And then today I thought we came out and showed a lot of pride, and that's what we're looking for.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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