courtesy of Jack Alden

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"We do feel good about (the 16-0 league record), but I said this week that was not our goal. We were trying to win the conference. Once it became 15-0, then it did become our goal. I think that it's something you can be proud of for a long, long time. But you have to congratulate Missouri. They played their tails off and made big-time plays. We got very fortunate at the end. I thought we were in great shape when Boschee got it and was going to go down to lay it up. I really didn't even want him to lay it up. I wanted him to dribble over to the side. But I think it was Paulding made a fantastic play and gave Missouri a chance to win the game. So you have to congratulate them and we feel very, very fortunate. "Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich were really big-time for us today. Drew didn't have his best game, Aaron didn't have his best game, but Nick and Kirk were sensational. "Jeff (Boschee) wasn't very smart. You'd like to say it was a bad call or it was this or that, but Jeff Boschee wasn't very smart, and you can't play basketball and win big-time games with the leading three-point shooter sitting over there with me. We put him in at the end of the game and he made a big three for us when we needed some offense. But we need him in the game a lot longer than he was today. "We called the extra timeout because we wanted to foul (on MU's last possession). We wanted them to throw it into backcourt, and after the first dribble try to foul. Keith said he was trying to foul, but it wasn't called. Then Nick Collison came up and helped on it and made Clarence shoot a very difficult shot. I hated the fact it was Clarence Gilbert's hands because I have so much respect for him and what he's accomplished. Every time he shoots it, I think it's going in. But we were gonna put him on the free throw line and let him shoot two, then feel we could get the basketball inbounds and they'd have to foul us. If we had been able to foul after the first dribble, there probably would have been three or four seconds left to play, and we feel comfortable with that strategy. "It's a happy locker room. The kids also never had a goal of being 16-0, but as it came closer down the stretch they were asked about it so often that they did say something about it. It never became a goal of mine until after the Kansas State game, but it feels good to do it now."

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