Excerpted Transcript from Missouri press conferenceQ. I wanted to follow-up on that game. You watched that game, I assume. Do you recall what you did as that play happened and then after that? Could you say whether, did Cornell recruit you or did you have any visit there?
MATT LAWRENCE: Well, the day of the game it was awhile back. But I just remember a lot of people back -- I'm from St. Louis. A lot of people back there were really disappointed with it and it was kind of heartbreaking definitely to lose in that kind of fashion, because they played very good basketball game. With Cornell, I can't remember. I think maybe, I think a little bit. Yeah, a lot of Ivy League, I was looking at some Ivy League actually and they're a great basketball team and they're here for a reason and they put some good teams non-conference as well. And any team that wins their league it has to be a good basketball team. So credit to them for getting here.
J.T. TILLER: Just for our first time experience we're definitely going to have some butterflies. Just because this is a place we haven't been before. We're going to have that nervousness. That nervous energy. We're going to get rid of that very quickly. Their experience is definitely going to lead them to do more things that a mature team would do, but we just got to play our game and continue to do the things that we do to get here, that we have done to get here.
LEO LYONS: I don't too much worry about the opponent. I think if we do the right things such as our defense, we're doing it the right way, we can compete with anybody in the country.
So this right here is just our first stepping stone in the tournament and just by being here for the first time, I don't think it's going to be like such a hard thing, because it's still basketball, it's another game that we have to play.
MATT LAWRENCE: I think Cornell definitely uses that experience to their advantage. They're a very smart basketball team. Even though we may be the higher seed, the seedings you definitely throw out the window once you get here. And you've seen it in the past. Upsets happen all the time. And people love to see them. So I'm sure Cornell will be ready and use their experience to their advantage.
DEMARRE CARROLL: The record is 0-0. They're 0-0 and we're 0-0. It's the first clean slate. So I think all you got to do is throw the ball up and we're just going to play basketball and they're going to play basketball. So I think experience really doesn't matter, it's just a game of basketball. If you go out there and play it the way that you're supposed to play, you'll be happy with the end results.
Q. What have you guys learned about Cornell over the last couple of days as you studied them? And do you guys follow at all the Ivy League, do you guys watch any of their games at all?
DEMARRE CARROLL: Me personally, I really don't follow the Ivy League. But you know we heard about Cornell and they're a pretty good basketball team and they got a lot of experience, like he said before, but there's 64 teams in this tournament, so obviously they're a good team. So you can't look past no team. I think we're just going to come out like we did in the Big-12 tournament and take it from the defensive standpoint.
MATT LAWRENCE: From what I watched they seemed to know each other's game very well, they work together, pass the ball, move the ball very well. Obviously they shoot the ball. They have multiple guys who have hit a lot of threes this year and they got a seven-footer in the middle who hustles very well and rebounds. So they work well together and they seem like they have been playing together for a long time.
LEO LYONS: After watching them, I didn't know too much about them before, but after watching them I think they're a great shooting team. It's a team that you can't gamble on, it's a team that you can't leave open. So I think our defense has to be at a hundred percent for to us win this game and to stop them from shooting.
J.T. TILLER: They're a very intelligent team. They're very great shooting team. One through five they have great players. Just seeing by the games that they have played outside of conference they can hang with the best teams in the nation. So it should make out for a great game.
Q. Can you talk about Cornell and what you see with them when you look at that team?
COACH ANDERSON: I see a team that's a very dangerous team because any time have you a team that can shoot the basketball with guys that Wittman, Louis Dale, of course I'm very familiar with him from Birmingham. When you talk about that, Foote, I think he's a tremendous passing center, handles the basketball. A good passing team, they average almost 15 assist as game. And I think they're good at what they do. Then you put in some of the role guys that are playing real well, but they shoot the ball extremely well and they make good decisions. So it's a very dangerous team and they have won quite a few games and they won the league two years in a row and they have been to the NCAA tournament two years in a row. I think that gives them an edge because they have been here. So I'm sure that coming in I think they're looking forward to the challenge of playing our basketball team. We're going to have to play some pretty good basketball in order to try to pull out that win.
Q. Someone asked Cornell's coach why we don't see more 40 minutes of hell, more of your pressure style of defense. And he said maybe it was a challenge to recruit the type of players that would be willing to play only 24 minutes, that some people might not see it a conducive system to making the jump to the NBA. And I'm curious to get your thoughts on why we don't see more of it and whether or not it really is a challenge to get those types of players and who you look for?
COACH ANDERSON: I tell you what, we're pretty fortunate at Arkansas we got some guys to play it. I think it's just a process at Missouri. This is only my third year. I think when you watch our basketball team play the guys get, actually get a chance to really showcase their God-given abilities and I think that it all comes back to winning. You want guys that want to win. I like winners more than anything else. So Corliss Williams on our Arkansas National Championship team, as good as he was, he probably averaged 28 to 29 minutes a game. Corliss averages 22 points and probably 10 rebounds a game. So what I'm saying from that standpoint is, 28 minutes of the way we play, you getting quality minutes, not just quantity minutes. It's the equivalent probably of 38 minutes for somebody else. And I think when kids see that, then I think that it makes them think again. But again, I think that you might be right from the standpoint of some kids don't want to commit to that, because we -- one thing about it, we get after it on the defensive side of the ball. But I think we did a great job at Arkansas in attracting guys that fit what we're doing and we play all kind of ways. We want to play up tempo basketball.
Q. Interested in your thoughts on Cornell's talent level and also what do you make of Wittman and what type of player he is.
COACH ANDERSON: I think Wittman's a dynamite player. Probably one of those guys you're going to see play like his dad at the next level. He has unlimited range and I think that he's added on some weight and you can see, Player of the Year in the league. They have had back to back players of the year in that league. The defensive player of the league in Foote. Louis Dale was the Player of the Year last year. He came out hurt and of course, so they have got some experienced guys. They returned a lot of people from last year. So I think their talent level is a lot better than what people think. And that's why I say, the first game is one of the toughest games. Why? The nerves are going and you got a lot of guys never been here before, so it's going to be interesting. Not only that, their team, they understand the game. And they can really shoot the basketball. And they get the ball to the right people. So Steve Donahue's done a great job with those guys.
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