NASHVILLE, Tenn. • With 5:40 left and Missouri’s basketball season down to its last gasps, Terrence Phillips fouled out and met coach Kim Anderson on the sideline for the hug that wouldn’t end. Anderson, his Mizzou coaching run about to expire, embraced his sophomore guard and wouldn’t let go.
“He just told me he loved me,” Anderson later said. “He finally said, ‘Hey, Coach, we still got some game left.’ Because we hugged for quite a while. I said, ‘Hell, I thought you wanted to hug longer.’ It was a special moment.”
There were many of those left Wednesday at the Southeastern Conference tournament.