Colorado University Athletics
Colorado vs. Oklahoma, Quotes
February 25, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Ricardo Patton
GENERAL: Great team win, we talked about at halftime that OU is a battle-tested team and we knew that they would continue to battle. Their guards really played well and hit some big shots. Fortunately for us we got some stops late and in overtime when we needed it.”
“This team has really shows some resilience all season long and we've bounced back from adversity evern when most of you guys wrote us off and that's what it's all about.”
ON PLAY OF G ANTOINE MCGEE: “He did a nice job and that's what we talked about after the KSU game ? the fact that we have three point guards. I like Obazuaye at the point, McGee at the point and also Hall it's good when you don't have to depend on one guy
ON BENCH PRODUCTION: “I'll let it speak for itself, early in the year we weren't getting the point production from guys coming in the game and now we're getting it, that helps our starters ? not only on offense, but also on defense.
ON PLAY DOWN THE STRETCH: “We had some inopportune turnovers and we just made some mental mistakes down the stretch, that long pass to Blair and he wasn't even looking. "You can't put teams away making mistakes at critical times. I think the turnovers hurt us, we took some bad shots and bad shots are like turnovers, they're just empty possessions.”
ON TOURNAMENT HOPES: “I like how we're playing right now. I don't know that I look at it in terms of NCAA tournament right now. I think those things will take care of themselves. " I believe there are six teams, maybe seven worthy of getting into the tournament. I don't remember a time when six didn't go. " This league hasn't gotten any worse, it's gotten better.”
ON THE NUMBER OF SECOND HALF FREE THROWS: “That whistle sounded (the whole second half). It was a physical game and we knew it would be. We talked about the beginning of the game there would be a lot of fights ? fights for rebounds, fights for lose balls, fights to get back in transition and we had to win our fair share.”
ON OU'S FRESHMEN GUARDS: “Defensively they may struggle. Freshmen tend to struggle defensively in this league, but offensively, those guys are such quality guys they give you trouble. Most of the game they started smaller guards, even in the post.”
END OF REGULATION: I think their defense dictated who got the ball. Obviously when you scout a team you want to keep the ball out of hands of best shooters. I think their defense dictated it for us.”
ON THE CURRENT PLAY OF THE TEAM: “I think we have started to realize that defense is important and for the most part we've become more unselfish. These two things have really helped us become a better basketball team. We've done a much better job of getting the ball in to David, at half he had missed one shot. He's hard to guard one-on-one and when you get two or three on him, it opens it up for everyone.”
Oklahoma Head Coach Kelvin Sampson
GENERAL: “You know, two seconds to go in the game"let the players decide the game. If he was fouled, then call it, but make sure it is. If they (Big 12 Conference) want to fine me, if they want to suspend me"fine, but that was a terrible, terrible situation. We thought we were going to win this game until that whistle. It took the wind out of us. It is always tough when the game is in your hands. It's frustrating and disappointing.”
ON DAVID HARRISON: “We put some people on him who could fight. You can't play soft in this league.”
ON JASON DETRICK: “Heart. Unbelievable. He is one senior who play with a big heart. He has his ups and downs, but he is a very capable player. He led us tonight. You don't need to say anything to be a leader.”
ON THE END OF REGULATION: “I wish they would have called a foul. We're getting used to seeing Obazuaye with the ball. He's good at getting to the rim, he's a really good driver. Lucky he made one of two to send us into overtime.”
“I felt defenseless, I wasn't getting the ball as much as I thought I should but I was probably getting triple teamed. I just tried to guard my guy and help where I could.”
ON WATCHING THE REST OF THE LEAGUE: “It's hard not to see OSU-Missouri game go into double overtime and want OSU to score. " Really, we have to control our own destiny at this point and we can.
ON HIS OT PERFORMANCE: “It helped mo out a lot, my confidence and not only mine, but my teammates. " I had a lot of momentum. I had a lot of frustration for Michel (Morandais) and I had to go in and make up for it.”
ON THE NCAA TOURNEY: “For that (CU to finish in the top five of the conference) to happen and us not to go, they'd have to take Tech or OU and we beat both of them. They haven't beat anyone we haven't beaten. We've got close to 20 wins, and if you throw in a couple of sorry teams, we would have had that, but we chose not to go that rout.”
“It's been an NCAA tournament team, we've just had a couple of bumps in the road. We had a tough stretch going into the Big 12 and then had to open with
“No turning back now. There's no room for error, as seniors, this is it. Losing this game would have made out tournament chances a lot harder to get there. We're playing well now. We're in a great spot, just have to win a couple more game to get that accomplished.”
“It would hurt not to go to the tournament, we did it last year, would hurt not to do it again this year. You never know what happens and everybody needs to play with that urgency and enjoy this because it may not come again.”
