Mizzou Tiger Talk with Gary Pinkel, Matt White, and Jimmie Hunt

It was standing room only on Saturday when Mizzou beat Florida at The ZOU, and there was standing room only on Monday when Gary Pinkel, Matt White and Jimmie Hunt sat down with host Mike Kelly for Tiger Talk at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Pinkel started the night by paying tribute to his mentor, the late Don James. Pinkel , who played for James at Kent State and then coached under him at Kent State and Washington, says that he owes all his success to the fact that he’s a “Don James disciple.”

“Look at how fortunate I’ve been in this business,” Pinkel said. “I would never be here if I hadn’t met Don James. There’s no way I’d be sitting here. He was a guy that had a tremendous influence on my life and influenced thousands of players and coaches. How fortunate and blessed I was to have a guy like Don James in my life. I’ll always love him.”

Then the players had a little fun telling the crowd little known facts about one another.

White got it rolling by throwing Hunt straight under the St. Louis Cardinals bus.

“It’s actually funny that you brought up that there’s a lot of Cardinals fans here,” White said. “Jimmy, coming from St. Louis, it’s hilarious to me that he’s a Chicago Cubs fan.”

Needless to say, an awkward silence ensued.

Hunt fired back with a shot at White’s athleticism. He informed the crowd that the safety used to play center back in his flag football days.

“I’m a little more nimble nowadays,” White responded.

On a more serious note, Kelly asked the players what it was going to take to beat South Carolina on Saturday.

“We’re just going to have to keep the same mentality we’ve had over the past few weeks and just play Mizzou football,” White said. “It really doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we just have to play the way we know how to play.”

Kelly told Tiger fans, “Wear gold, be loud, stay late, and do just what you did this past Saturday against the Florida Gators.”