Colorado University Athletics
Colorado vs. Savannah State Quotes
January 08, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Ricardo Patton
GENERAL: “This was a good win. I felt like the guys came out and it looked like early it was going to be a two-point ball game, but then we got rolling. I told the guys, we hadn't had a lot to laugh about, smile about, and we just wanted to come out and have fun.”
ON STARTING G JASON OBAZUAYE AT THE POINT: “I've just been thinking for a while now that Jason is our best perimeter defender and I hadn't played him as much because I thought the other guys were better scorers. I thought the other day the guys who were playing weren't scoring so it was better to have our defender in the game. " I think the tell-tell sign will be when we play better teams who can get up there and pressure him, that will be the test of if he can play that position.”
ON THE OFFENSE: “We wanted to be patient, believe it or not, we've wanted to do that all year long and it just took us until now. It takes discipline to turn down shots and the more discipline we have, the better team we'll be.”
ON G MICHEL MORANDAIS: “I thought he had better shot selection and I thought there were a couple of shots he turned down I think he shouldn't have. I think we were looking to the post more and we need to get it to David (Harrison), he's our first look, now we need to get him moving.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS WIN: “They're all important. We haven't had a whole lot to smile about lately or to feel good about. I plan on enjoying this one for at least four more hours, then I'll be in bed.
“We've got to continue to get better. We had 16 turnovers still and we gave up 15 offensive boards to a smaller team. We need to get better. We shot the ball well tonight -- shot 55 percent and if we do that against Kansas, it's a different outcome. We need to do that against the better teams. " We need to play this well when there's a little more weight on our ball.”
ON PLAYING ANTOINE MCGEE AND MARCUS HALL TOGETHER: “It didn't do a lot for me, not tonight. It's the first time we've moved Hall to the two-guard spot. We'll continue to look at it because I think Hall is a guy we can rest Blair with. I think a lot of it depends on if we can leave Jason at the point.”
Colorado Players
ON PLAYING THE POINT: “Well, I played a little point in high school and I just want to take care of the ball and bring some energy to the court. The (defensive) pressure wasn't too much ? it wasn't a game like Kansas. Coach had mixed me in the previous practice yesterday so I had a feeling (I would start) and I kind of got myself psyched for that. I think I played pretty well. I want to go after it on defense and bring energy to the team.”
GENERAL: “It was kind of dead out there, but we hadn't won in three games and I knew we needed to play well to win. We got some things done that will help up sin the future.”
ON HIS CONFIDENCE: “It's alright, we didn't lose. I didn't shoot too hot, but I was doing fade-aways too.”
ON G JAYSON OBAZUAYE: “He did a great job tonight, especially defensively and he had 17 points, so I think he had a really good game.”.
ON IMPROVING BEFORE FACING NEBRASKA: “We all need to. I have to try and get back to the level I was playing my junior year. I don't think I've played well since the start of the season. We all have to try to make adjustments anyway we can. We all have to do it and especially myself.”
Savannah State Head Coach Edward Daniels
GENERAL: “I thought it was a good effort. We are practically out-manned everywhere we go, especially playing against big teams (like Colorado). We didn't get back on a couple of runs, and Colorado was penetrating the ball well. We tried to contain them, and when we didn't do our job, we paid for it. It seemed when we were coming down the court we couldn't get into our offense, which unfortunately was the same time Colorado was making all there three's.”
ON C DAVID HARRISON “Well I think a lot of times when bigger teams are playing guys like us they tend to protect their good players from possible injury, and so it seemed that is why he didn't play as much, but he's (David) a monster. He is an absolute monster inside. I think a couple of times we defended him well, and he pushed the ball outside, but they (Colorado) kept making three's so it worked out. We tried to triple team him, and when he gave the ball back up, we just hoped Colorado would miss, but they didn't.”
ON G JAYSON OBAZUAYE “I was really impressed with (Jayson) Obazuaye. I was impressed with his strength as a point guard, and his ability to get down low, but I'm an old point guard myself so that is the kind of think I am looking at.”
ON G/F MICHEL MORANDAIS “Michel (Morandais) is an incredible shooter, and he does a lot more than just shoot the ball. He (Michel Morandais) has a good dribble-drive, short jumper, and he's hard to guard. He is also a great defender.”
