Missouri men’s basketball earned its second straight victory of the season, this time over the Eastern Washington Eagles in an 84-77 contest.

Graduate guard Caleb Grill was the star of the show, scoring a career-high 33 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 8-of-10 shooting from behind the arc. Behind him were junior forward Mark Mitchell’s 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Opening statement:

“We wanted to play teams that had a chance to win their conference. My former teammate Shantay Legans was able to get this job at Eastern Washington years ago, his first head coaching job. Now he’s the head coach at Portland, and I’ve seen that program is close, very close, very, very close, and the success they’ve had in the last, let’s say, eight years has been tremendous. Now you bring in a Hall of Fame coach, the person who boosted Gonzaga. No credit for it, but it got Gonzaga going. I thought our guys did a great job responding after the 12-4 start and that showed our character from start to finish. We made some adjustments and I thought our guys were able to execute. the game plan essentially for four of 30 minutes in the second half. Like good teams, we knew they would come out running, but again, our guys responded in a way that I thought showed character. and we showed growth from one game to the next, and little by little you can see that we are going in the right direction. “So I’m thankful for our crowd that showed up, showed up and I’m thankful for a win.”

About Grill’s performance:

“I benched him, he was mad at me, and he responded. It’s that simple. We hugged and made up, but I benched him. Accountability is growth, and he allowed me to hold him accountable. And certain things are expected from our guys, and that shows a sign that we can go in the right direction. He didn’t fight, he accepted every detail and I guarantee that if you ask him if he wants to start now or not, he will say it’s okay, thank you Caleb.”

On the beginning of Missouri and the cutting of eastern Washington:

“I think when you make the adjustment, from the standpoint of having warm hands, making passing or operating areas a little difficult. We pushed their depth, their offense further down the court. In the peremiter, we were able get deflections. It didn’t give them the same passing angles that they had in the first half. So, geometrically, you take away their angles. You take away their vision, and that’s from the paint. of the best court teams in the country and they play well. The energy they put on the ball moving it is something we will continue to learn from as a program, but the most important thing is that it put pressure on us defense from the weak side, because as a. Mark said, there are a lot of unique patterns. They hit the post a lot before their guards and found cutters. And whenever you have that kind of early offense, you put pressure on the basket. Empty possessions mean we stall and then try to make a home run play and deliver it. I thought our guys adapted and connected in a certain way. They didn’t let the race frustrate them, and they grew and grew and grew. I thought it was a sign of maturity. “I’m just grateful that those guys were able to talk and also respond in a certain way like they did to close out the game.”

On Grill’s leadership:

“Caleb put pressure on himself and has been eager to get back. That’s why the Memphis game was the way it was, and obviously that’s why I took him out of the lineup, because he didn’t focus on his leadership. Once he focused, in his leadership and not in success, it means that the ball goes to the basket. That means that now the ball goes to the basket, because that is not his concentration on it being the end, that all of him play very well. the defense In the end, he took the shots that his teammates created for him and ultimately he was in the right place Now, overall, what does that mean? But also, when you look at the grace In our program. Caleb allowed his teammates to hold him accountable, and I thank his parents during the process, because we know how much pressure he put on himself Grill Mom, Grill Dad They did a great job. conversations to make sure he takes the edge off simply wanting to make baskets. And once you stopped thinking that way, voila, the basket suddenly grew, and that’s just the pressure young people face. Mark Mitchell has also been able to make and provide some incredible plays. I thought he did a great job getting to the foul line early. Both guys down the stretch need to focus and make those free throws that I know they’ve made consistently, and that’s where that helped their career. It helped Memphis’ run in the second half. Obviously it helped us close out the game against a tough Howard team, and then tonight, it helped us close out the game, because they stepped back to make free throws.”

On the performance of Washington’s Andrew Cook:

“I thought he did a great job. When you look at Cook’s numbers, he was a guy who made zero threes in the previous game and finished with over 20 points tonight. He made a three. It just shows how he’s scoring. He’s great at moving around. without the ball. His teammates are obviously great at turning the ball over on time. The other thing is that he was quick on some steals in the passing lane that allowed him to make a couple of baskets in the paint. as we all know, and I thought we played an NCAA tournament team and obviously I’m proud that our guys have shown character and growth along the way. You start the season as a determined team then you enroll, you get better. You see different roles change. When you see the guys step up, every night will be someone’s. This team is unique because we have depth and we are going to have to win. The magic word is altruism and Ultimately, that. It’s what we have to focus on when it comes to wanting to go out and play. I thought Jacob Crews gave us incredible minutes defensively. He got a couple of steals. His college teammate is Nick McClain. They both played in Daytona, but I thought Crews stepped up, made a timely 3-pointer, and his energy was contagious. “Those are things our guys have to continue doing.”

On the absence of Trent Pierce:

“As far as minutes go, I thought they had a big body, but also a weak side defense, that was what was killing us and I just wanted to go with the guys. I think Marcus Allen deserved the minutes he got. I thought Jacob Crews deserved those minutes. When I start thinking about the game, I have to look back at practice and certain things like that, once I saw that he wasn’t going to get in the game in that first half, just because of the rotation. At that point, I just focused on, “What did I need to focus on with the guys, and we closed out the game with a certain group.”

Regarding the infraction in half court:

“These are things we have to improve on, and it all starts with me. I think when we have our next break after the game on Thursday, it will be a week where we can install different things and now continue to push and work on execution. When the Games come as fast as they come, they have more time to prepare for us than we have to prepare. When you have that on your schedule, you have to be able to continue with the things you’ve worked on instead of just throwing new things at your guys. They’re paralyzed by the scouting report, and you just have to focus and fix things when the schedule allows.

About Marcus Allen and Anthony Robinson II:

“Marcus Allen and Ant Robinson are two unique players. They’re both tremendous defensively. Their defensive IQ goes far beyond their offensive IQ. And when we draft them, you have to understand that those are the same plays they made, already out AAU. At eight in the morning, they always jump on the ball on defense, they’re doing the right things, and those are the things that come out uniquely when they’re just trying to be themselves. I thought Ant allowed the offensive side. impact them a little bit, where it took a couple But from a defensive perspective, those are two experienced defensive guys with high basketball IQs. I really believe that one of those two, one day, will be the Defensive Player of the Year. SEC. the ball, but also his teammates were able to get to the right spots. But I’m going to watch the film and look back at the things we have to work on. still in the infant stages of “This team, but there’s also a lot of room to grow and a lot of room to improve defensively and offensively.”