BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2005

Johnnie Gilbert

Kelvin Sampson

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: I thought Missouri kids really competed hard. They have got a difficult team to guard. But I was pleased with the way we won the game. After getting up 17 in the first half, I thought foul trouble and keeping them off the free throw line, those two things were big keys for us because we could just never get any momentum. Seemed like when we were starting to roll or get some stops, they just kept getting to that free throw line. That's something our kids are going to have to adjust to. We have guarded a certain way all year, but when you get to the tournament play at the end of the year sometimes things change. But it's incumbent upon us to change. We can't sit here and complain about it or point fingers, we have got to be able to adjust. For about a month now we have been a really, really good defensive team. And today it was they were calling it really, really tight. When you are an aggressive team you have got to learn to back up a little bit. But offensively we kept getting to the free throw line too. This time of year you don't overanalyze; you just survive and advance. I am proud of our win today and look forward to whoever we play tomorrow.

JOHNNIE GILBERT: When I first walked over to Taj he told me -- he's like, John, don't worry about it. I am going to win this one for you. I really value that because I mean the players understand that this is my senior year and I want to keep on going as far as I can and, you know, when my players want to back me up like that I feel confident that we're going to win.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: He said don't foul. (Laughter)

JOHNNIE GILBERT: I always like the way Terrell plays. I think he's one of our, you know -- that's why we voted him outstanding player for our team. He handles pressure well. He steps up when we need him and he's -- he's one of those guys you can always count on. I am just glad to be playing on the side of him right now. I am just happy that he made that (inaudible) and then came back and got the free throw with it.

JOHNNIE GILBERT: I mean, teams like Missouri and especially at this point, I mean just teams that are still hungry to want to keep on winning and things like that, I mean, you never are going to really just blow them out, especially at this point. They are going to keep on clawing and scraping to get back in, and I mean, we got to keep on clawing and scraping and get back in it as well. It was a great team. They played well, they acted like they really wanted to advance and I mean, at this point you got to expect things like that, and at this stage it's going to happen. My team just got to be able to bounce back from situations like that.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: I think that goes back to the way we have been playing. Our kids, we bent, but, you know, part of bending was -- looked like we were you know, in distant positions sometimes defensively and Missouri just kept making plays. But every time they pushed us, we had the right call or we had the right guy with the ball and that guy responded and made shots. I think when Terrell went to the bench, I think it was around the 14-minute mark, I am not sure -- somebody can correct me on that -- but we're up 13 when he went out. Part of the reason they came kept coming back was number one, what they were doing was good. Let's give Missouri some credit. They saw the way the game was being called and they used it to their advantage. They just kept driving the ball. Then Kleiza, he's just a hard match up. You know, he fouled Johnnie out, Taj would have played any more probably would have fouled him out too. He's a difficult match up because he can make 3s. He just drives it right at you. But Lawrence McKenzie he's hit those shots all year. That's kind have been our M.O. We know how to win a game. Our kids know how to win.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: We called that X-2. And Missouri was taking away, taking away our basket. Our kids just did a good job executing but Jaison, in special situations he's always our inbounds guy whether it's on the baseline or sideline and we had a game early in the year against Kansas State where we had David Godbold take it in. If I had to do it over again I'd still probably have David take it in because we worked with him on that play. But in that situation, you know, Jason played like a singer. I told him after the game, his playing time has gone down, it's a good thing he doesn't pout or make it about himself because he went in there and made a great pass, Terrell made a great cut; then Jaison comes back a makes two great free throws. That has kind of been the M.O. of the kids in our program this year. I was real proud of him.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: It's hard not to be familiar with teams in the power conferences is because of television. Teams that play on TV a lot, those teams are going to know a lot about you. Teams know about us because we're on TV so much. We have had years, where Hollis had to have a great game, boy, or Aaron McGee better score today or Ryan Minor, let's hope Ryan gets 30. This team is not made up like that. I think over the years, you stay at one school for a long period of time, you just learn. This is the kind of team I envision us having a good team, you know, not a team that depends on one guy having to be a superman every night; just a good team. We have about seven guys that are capable of scoring in double figures. That is the way it is designed.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: Nice shirt.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: Yeah, it's like Mike said though, we had a lot of big plays. Sometimes the last one seems to be the biggest one. We had a lot of big plays, but Terrell is just a -- he's a classic slasher, very slithery. Lawrence is more of a catch-and-shoot guy. Jaison Williams is a catch-and-shoot guy, but Terrell is just hard to keep in front of you. He's really improved his shooting but we just called that open. We tried to get over the top and get into the middle and attack, but Terrell is one of those kids that can pass, he can shoot and he can score and understands there's a difference between shooting and scoring. Jaison Williams can shoot with you. He's not a good scorer. Terrell can shoot and score. Those guys are tough to defend. Plus he's a baller. Terrell just balls. He's a baller.

COACH KELVIN SAMPSON: I was worried about him. I am not going to lie and say I wasn't worried about him. This is tournament time. Sometimes you have to take a gamble occasionally. What made it frustrating too is, you know, the whistle and how good Kleiza was at drawing fouls. You can say what it was, bottom line was when he has his game going, you know, he's a tough cover for a post guy. Post guys are pretty good at covering ten feet and in. He catches that ball at the free-throw line and puts his head down and starts dribbling and spinning, he puts you in a tough position. We kept going back and forth between man and zone, but no matter what they did they kept getting to the free-throw line. So credit Missouri.