Colorado 80, Chicago State 61
December 10, 2002 | Men's Basketball
CU HEAD COACH RICARDO PATTON
GENERAL-"This was a good win for us going into exams. Now the guys have a few days off before we play again and they can get focused on their academics and exams. Certainly we played better in the first half than the second. I think the reason for that is because we played the younger guys more. But from the guys who will play the bulk of the minutes (this season), I liked what I saw."
ON YOUNG PLAYERS-"Those guys have to realize that they will make mistakes and that the coaches will yell. But they have to move on. Those guys can't take things personally and they just have to move on and play the game. But right now I think our young guys are not playing as freely as they need to be."
ON PREPARATION-"Before the game we wanted to focus on consistency and prepare to have productive and consistent play. What I wanted our guys to realize is that on any given night, anybody can beat any given team. The big thing for us was coming in and not taking them (Chicago State) too lightly. We wanted to approach this like a light switch and not just turn it on and off when we wanted to."
ON GUARD PLAY-"It's important that our point guards shoot the ball better. Both are quick to get their own shots so they need to step up and knock them down. I think it is very critical that we have solid point guard play. That was our weakest spot last season. I think (Antoine) McGee will be a big part of it. We have to get him ready to go. The earlier we get him in the game, the better off we will be."
ON THE BREAK-"Personally, I don't like (having) 10 days off. But the players need that for their exam schedule. It's good from an academic standpoint, but bad from a playing standpoint. The coaches never know what will happen when you come back. We will scrimmage, and do a lot of running (over the break) to make sure our legs are where they need to be."
ON FREE THROW SHOOTING-"The first half is what I was most impressed with. The second was a little disappointing because of the combination of the players we had in the game. That was my way to reward players that don't get in there much. We just didn't have the combination in there we wanted to the whole time."
CHICAGO STATE HEAD COACH BO ELLIS
GENERAL-"We played hard tonight and we had a good game plan. (Michel) Morandais really hurt us, but we did what we wanted to do against the big guy (David Harrison). Our problem has been we dig ourselves a hole in the first half and we can't dig ourselves out of it in the second."
ON CONTAINING CENTER DAVID HARRISON-"We saw before the game that he was only a 48 percent free throw shooter so we took the hack-a-Shaq approach and we did what we wanted to do."
ON THE PLAY OF KELVIN SMALLWOOD-"He played well and he got after it. He took some shots that he shouldn't have taken, but we need to get two or three other people involved."
ON THEIR NEXT GAME (AGAINST DENVER)-"This is a huge game for us. Coming into this road trip we were looking for a split and if we can go down there and play hard we can get a win. It's a very big game."
COLORADO PLAYERS
JUNIOR GUARD MICHEL MORANDAIS
ON TEAM COHESIVNESS-"It's hard to judge the teams we are playing right now are not bad but they are not as good as the teams we will play in the Big 12. I can't wait to go to Charlotte to see how good we are. It's games like that that tell you how good you are or how bad you are."
ON HIS INCREASING ROLE-"Basketball has a lot to do with confidence. Coaches say if there's no shot from the perimeter there won't be any shots for David (Harrison) and Stephane (Pelle) inside. So Blair (Wilson) and myself and the two freshman Jayson (Obazuaye) and Glean (Eddy) have taken it upon ourselves to take those shots."
SENIOR FORWARD STEPHANE PELLE
ON KEEPING INTENSITY LATE IN THE GAME-"It's not that difficult. We just have to make sure that we're encouraging the second string and make sure that they're doing everything right."
ON PLAY OF PERIMITER-"It's important. The last couple of years the perimeter play has not been as good as it should be. If that continues in the Big 12 this year, it will open a lot of things up. Hopefully Michel's (Morandais) play will be contagious to the other guards."
ON CHICAGO STATE'S PHYSICAL PLAY-"We play physically, so we know every team is going to respond physically and try to push us out. Sometimes refs miss it and it's frustrating, but we're starting to get used to it-or we will get used to it in the second half of the season."
