All right, everybody ready? All right, we're gonna open up the breach settlement coach, and we'll take some questions after that.
Well, as usual, I appreciate you guys coming out. It's it's a big week for us. It's an exciting week, obviously, a big game tomorrow night against Missouri State. And as we all know, those in State Games are, you know, records and stats and everything else go out the window. And, you know, it's kind of a somewhat of a bragging rights game. I feel you know, I understand that locker room has been major when I was at Illinois State and, you know, you got a chance to play Illinois and things like that and the motivation that goes behind it. So really, really important that we're going to have to be on point against a good Missouri State team. And very well coached team so we understand what's in front of us before we move on. To case say for sure. When
it comes to that, that state or that Missouri State game I know last year you kind of said it was part of the home and home plan so continue that that home.
Every year I say I'm not playing it anymore. But I think that honestly in the big picture we've had some really good battles and I think it's the right thing to do. I think those kinds of games are really fun for you know, just our fans and several players typically play against each other with each other and high scoring you ball and so a lot of familiar names and faces and so I do think it's really important for the sport, despite how I feel. You know, sometimes after playing those in State Games
coach, you always say that you want your team to lead the nation in weekly improvements. What are those improvements look like this week and how do you plan on executing them against Missouri State?
Yeah, so this time of year you don't get a lot of practice time. So really important that I think those film sessions and making sure we're not watching the same thing over and over again in those film sessions. We continue to try to shore up our transition defense and I think we've made a lot of strides in and so we started with that. And then we moved on to the rebounding. I thought we really battled well against a physical, Virginia team last week and did a decent job. I thought for the most part against SEMO. It's going to continue to be a point of emphasis for us for sure. And then really honing in on our half court defense and just our ability to put out fires or rotation. Sometimes we just, you know, get stuck on that one on one accountability and nobody's in that second line of defense and those rotations aren't where they need to be in so just continue to watch film and work on those kinds of things. When
you look at what mom has been able to do to start this season, you know, what do you feel like it was that maybe allowed her to take that next step before we see this?
You know, so excited for her and happy for her? I think I've mentioned this before, but in all of her years here at Mizzou, she's never been here during the summer months with us and I think that's where the majority of that individual improvement happens. I think anytime you have players that have an opportunity to represent their national teams, it's really important that you support them. But playing in those type of games is just different than the skill work that takes place in the in the offseason. And so she was with us for the majority of June and July. I thought those were two really big months, not only for her skill development, but also just the chemistry and being a point guard and, you know, getting to know so many new players on our team, but I think she's played with a lot of confidence. I think she's really good when she's got the ability to get out and transition and just a selfless player, you know, think making the past is just as important to her as as making a shot but she's done a much better job for us finishing this year to statistically in practices. She's around 50% at the rim so much better than she had been. You know, there's still times I think with a player like her that's so explosive when she gets that window and that, that opportunity to get to the pain. Just the importance of playing with pace. A lot of times you'll see those run through labs and so we're really trying to work on playing with pace at the rim in elevating versus running through those shots but overall I think she's she's just grown up she's matured she's really I think founder boys from a leadership standpoint. So seeing a lot of really good things from
her look back at what Hannah was able to do you know getting into the to the starting five there. What did you like that you saw from being on her start?
Yeah, you know, think just her energy. You know, really unfortunate what the energy we could have used during that second half against Virginia but I just think her energy and you know, she elevates everybody just because of her her motor in her presence. I mean you watch her on the sidelines and practice. We call it an action between the action clubs, and she is just so invested in everybody on that court. She plays really hard. I think she's got the ability to get out and create some things for us in transition and that doesn't result in her scoring but it forces teams to decide you know, am I going to help out on that rim run and that's going to leave open a perimeter player for a rhythm three are we going to guard her one on one inside and you know, I think defensively just her length and her ability to disrupt shots. We still need her to you know, play a little bit more physical and there's plenty of things to work on but I think for a freshman, the minutes that she's playing have been really, really good for us.
Robin, you mentioned last week that your freshmen don't have time to be freshmen. What was really interesting to me seeing grace and Abby kind of shoulder that challenge.
Can you repeat that
they don't have time to be to be freshmen. Have you seen them for a shoulder that that? You know, definitely.
The interesting thing about our freshman class is especially the three of them that were with us in June and July. They didn't come in on their heels whatsoever. They came in and started competing from day one. And Abby's a little bit more vocal than then grace but just in their play in their confidence. The minute they stepped on the court in June, I was so impressed with just their motors and high basketball IQ, but also just their work ethic what you know their investment outside of practices. So I don't think they were really planning on coming in and being a difficult freshman either. I mean, they want to come in and help elevate the program and, you know, just seize the moment seize the opportunity that they were going to have,
obviously with grace that start that she's had to hurt career, obviously people start to compare to another really talented freshman that came in from state of Missouri. Sophie, what do you think about those comparisons?
Um, well, first of all, I think it would be a compliment. I mean, Sophie is one of the best players to ever play here. And you know, so well respected and it's played at a really high level obviously in the W but I think for Grace she she really doesn't get caught up in the comparison game. I think that's just kind of I don't even know if she was aware of that. People say that if she does, I don't think she thinks anything about it. I think they're two different type of players. Their numbers might be, you know, similar early, so far in their freshman year, but I don't think Grace is a young lady that gets caught up in any of that. She's just a young lady that works really hard at her craft and, you know, wants to fill whatever role we need out of her, you know, to help our team so this freshman class is mature beyond their years. They just show up they work really, really hard. Not only on the court, but in their film sessions and taking care of their bodies. We're really blessed to have them coach you.
You said after last game that you think Coco has a lot of potential and that she just needs to get some more reps. What do you want to see out of her going forward?
Yeah, we need to we need to continue to throw her out there. I think she has a really high ceiling. Unfortunately, you know, when she got here, she was recovering from a bit of an injury and so and she wasn't here during June and July, which I think kind of put her behind a little bit. but she's I think her game resembles a gray slaughters. she's got the ability to attack off the bounce. Maybe not the same type of back to the basket game as Grace yet and we haven't seen that out of grace and games, but we do in practice. She needs to get more physical And I think, you know, just the opportunity to be out there on the court is going to build her confidence and to get those kind of rubs, but I think she's got a really high ceilings She's long she moves pretty well. She's got to get comfortable with the physicality, that's probably the biggest.
acclimated to that physical nature and just really make strides to kind of building up that body and playing at
that strong collegiate level. You know, I think Virginia was a really good eye opener for our players. Just, you know, when we're talking about the physicality it's one thing when it's, you know, practice and with our scout guys, and there's no officials. But I think it's another to really experience that environment is so I think it was huge for our team in a huge eye opener and, you know, I don't think it comes natural quite yet. But you know, they're learning that if you don't make the first contact somebody else is going to and then you're going to be out of position. And so the importance of playing low being assignment, correct. The positioning on everything that we do on the defensive end and in the physicality that comes into it, and from a rebounding standpoint, and, you know, that's going to be huge for us, but they're, you know, I think they're, they're quick learners, and they're starting to embrace it and
actually kind of enjoy it. Is there any update on an
engine? Yeah, day to day until we get a further evaluation. So we'll see what happens with that.
Definitely say my prayers on that one. Because every state you know, what do you feel like you're kind of some of the keys to the game and
you know, coming out and you know, you know, so I think we're in a really position of really trying to focus on building from our last couple of games and just, you know, making sure transition defense, they can get out and go and transition and so we've got to be on point with our communication. I think our half court defense, I thought we had longer stretches of really good half court, defense and rotations, but we haven't sustained it for 40 minutes. You know, there's there's too many breakdowns yet. So we've got to continue to hone in on that. And then our rebounding I mean, those are the three big things that we continue to talk about, but for Missouri State, I think they've got, you know, they like to play in transition. They've got some bigs that are really athletic, they do a nice job around the round. They're really good post to post passers, and they run a lot of action and so just that communication defensively I've been assignment correct and understanding how regarding certain screen
actions, you talked about being big their bigs around the rim type stuff. It's not going to be an easy challenge without Angie but you have players like Haley Frank Abby phi, what are you expecting to see from them around the rim specifically
to shut down the bears you know, one of the things that we haven't mentioned yet but we've talked a lot about too is you know, just a lot of times on screen and action not getting touched. You know, a lot of times we're running into things that versus avoiding, and at the same time, just the importance of angles, you know, we can't allow those deep sealed duck ends where there's not positional help. And so, making sure we jam up those post players early, but again, I think it's, we're, we're making strides, but we're not quite where we want to be. I think we've got a lot of different players that you know, can help us out I think we're at our best when we go a little bit deeper into our bench and keep fresh
legs. This is a very see it's kind of the start of a really interesting December obviously, the bears that you go K State Illinois, you know, Casey, what, what is this month can represent for you guys in terms of figuring
out some things getting to where you want to be? Yeah, I think there's some really cool opportunities. And you know, I'm excited I said this so many times you guys are probably tired of hearing it but I absolutely love this team. They are so fun to you know, I can't wait to get to practice every single day. They just work so hard and you know, we're so hungry to really just continue to grow and learn and we're really tried to stay where our feet are. And so we haven't even talked about you know, the big picture of what the month looks like but the opportunities that we have in front of us and they know the importance of just taking it day by day. But I do think it's a it's gonna be a fun month, not quite as many games as November which probably is good because that's a lot of wear and tear on the body and you got finals and we all know the week before finals is actually tougher than the finals week just with all the stuff that you know our student athletes have to manage. But I definitely think that there's some really great opportunities for us to continue to grow and elevate. We're, you know where we are as a team and, and prepare us for SEC play. We'll take one or two more guys. Alright, thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you
