“You’ve got to understand this: My decision is to always protect my players,” the Missouri coach said. “Once I saw how the scout was and how we were defended, I couldn’t afford to have both Aidan Shaw and Mark Mitchell and Josh Gray in the game, although Josh Gray hit a 3, although Mark Mitchell hit a 3, they condensed and packed it in. So what I had to do is make another decision, an executive decision. We have three games in six days. Aidan Shaw will play the next game, but it gives you a glimpse of how deep our team is — but our guys are unselfish. 

“Aidan Shaw wasn’t pouting. Aidan Shaw was cheering for his teammates. But everybody looks at the schedule and they can calculate, OK, yeah, three games in six days, we’ve got to be prepared, and our depth will allow us to get through certain situations like that. So, I’m just thankful for our coaching staff, our players for always being unselfish the way that they have been.”