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"You have to start with Paul and Raef. 31 and 22, and that's a pretty good combination, especially the percentage they shot. You like those kind of things. We talked about several things before the game. One was to try to make sure we didn't put them on the free throw line 34 times like we did at their place, and I think we did a better job defensively without fouling. And the backboards in the second half were important to us. They had four more rebounds than we did at halftime, but the second half we did a better job of stopping their offensive boards. Defensively I like what we did, but Missouri's a tough team to play. They present some matchup problems for us, because we have to get one of our bigger guys to go out and chase Derek Grimm, who has great range. "Raef and BJ were the guys who did things inside for us, and a couple of times came across and erased a mistake by a perimeter player, and you like guys to do that. We still need that big fella (Scot Pollard) in there, and we hope to have Scot on Saturday. "BJ got in foul trouble, so we had to go with TJ a little bit more, but I haven't been hesitant to play him anyway. But with those matchups, BJ gives us a better matchup in there ,and BJ is good about getting around on their post player. They try to post up Kelly Thames, and the last time we played them he's 10-10 from the foul line and fouled out two of our guys. Then Saturday against Oklahoma he's 13-15 and fouled out two of their guys. So BJ was really good on the defensive end of the floor, not just his blocked shots but how he kept the ball away from Kelly Thames most of the night. "I was really mad (near the end of the first half). I didn't want it to end 33-32 because that's what the halftime score was over in Columbia. We set a play that we could go to either Jacque or Ryan, either one. And Ryan made a heck of a shot. I thought he could have even taken another dribble and gotten six or eight feet closer, but it went in so I told him it was a heck of a shot. (Max - "How far was that? 40 feet?") Far enough to get three. "The two prior possessions to Jerod's three free throws we were awful. Jerod goes flying in there and turns it over trying to pass it to TJ when TJ's back is to him. Then Jacque gets called for a charging foul. Those two possessions were awful. You shouldn't have that kind of thing happen as experienced a team as we are. So the next time we ran it (shot clock) all the way down, Jerod takes a three and gets fouled, and stepped up there and made all three to give us the 10-point lead. "The crowd was terrific. They've been sensational these last two or three games. Maybe the Colorado game was one of those all-time great ones because they were just phenomenal. And we need them to be that way on Saturday, the last senior home game." MU coach Norm Stewart - "Except for the last minute and a half, it was an outstanding basketball game. "Their big guy down low (LaFrentz), we couldn't handle him. He was too large. We probably could have doubled down on him, but we couldn't get that done. Pierce had a tremendous game, too. The two of them together were huge. "(Pierce) is a good player. Just because he didn't get a lot of points (4, in KU's double OT loss) at our place doesn't mean he's not a good player. Let up on him. If he wants to transfer, we'll take him. "This is a great league. i've been in it a long time, but I wish we would quit--we need a lot more wins to reach the NIT anyway--but (the KU crowd) is hollering NIT. I wish they'd give some credit to the other team."