Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Colorado State Quotes
December 10, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
On G Cory Higgins - “He was absolutely awesome, he really was. He opened that game up. The most important thing is that he got it within the scheme of the offense. They were all really good shots; he finished around the rim, and made his free throws. He had an impact on the game from a defensive standpoint too. He was really terrific.”
“Cory worked extremely hard this week and was more vocal in practice. He made shots and really uplifted us with the way he was performing out there. Your best players have to be your best practice players and he certainly was that throughout the course of the week.”
On Team's Effort - “I was really proud of the effort. It was a wire-to-wire effort. We just kept battling and staying within our offense. We had 16 assists on 28 baskets, we had four guys in double-digits, we drew charges, and we battled on the boards. I just want to keep getting better and tonight was a testimony to getting better. We need to get back and work tomorrow. The most important thing is to keep getting better.”
On the Status of F Casey Crawford - “He will have an MRI tomorrow or Friday. When we find out, you will too.”
On Halftime Adjustments - “We made a couple adjustments defensively. That was the first time we have run a 1-3-1 [zone defense]. We have been working on that in practice the last five or six days. It's something I have never run as a coach and tried to catch Colorado State off-guard. We knew [CSU G Marcus] Walker averages 22 points in wins and 14 in losses, so we made an effort to tighten up there. I'm really proud of my team.”
On the Crowd - “Our fans were out there for the TCU game. I e-mailed students and said, ?you were awesome but we weren't.' Ours fans were absolutely awesome even we fell down eight points. For them to be here means a lot to us. It was a lively crowd and a great atmosphere.”
On G Nate Tomlinson - “It's like the Broncos losing Cutler. He's not your typical freshman because of games played in the junior world championships. He's got a little more experience. He's our quarterback. Cory and Dwight really feed off him. They can score off the framework of the offense because Nate gets us started.”
Colorado State Head Coach Tim Miles
GENERAL - “The idea going into the game was to try to eliminate their paint points and we're pretty good when we eliminated in the paint. First half they went 1-3-1 which we haven't seen out of them and they kept us around, but it's not the way you do business over the forty minutes of the game. I thought we did a great job early and we were still in pretty good shape with seven or eight minutes left in the game and then we just fragmented out so poorly.”
“Our perimeter guys weren't great. Willis Gardner obviously doesn't have the rhythm we need him to have, Marcus Walker struggled tonight, Josh Simmons was 0-4 with four turnovers?we just didn't have any kind of blend except for Jesse Carr throwing in some threes.”
On CSU's Injured Andy Ogide So., F - “It was out of my hands, I would have loved to play Andy. I think he would have helped us. To be honest Andy was the one who felt like he really couldn't go and I support his decision 100%. His foot is really bothering him and I don't know how quickly we can get him back. I would have dragged the shooting shirt off to get him out there if he was suited.”
On Colorado Defense ? “I credit Colorado, I think they did a good job, but I think we had a lot of self-infliction in there too. We just didn't have a good matchup for him and he is a great driver with the ball and when he started popping back and hitting the threes that's a lot to overcome?too much for us tonight.”
On Colorado's Cory Higgins So., G - “I think Higgins was the story of the night; we just didn't have an answer in any way, shape or form. I was very impressed with his aggressiveness, when he started making threes, we knew we were going to have a problem. We just didn't have a good matchup for him and he is a great driver with the ball and when he started popping back and hitting the threes that's a lot to overcome?too much for us tonight. ”
Colorado Players
Cory Higgins, Sophomore, Guard
On His Performance - “I just wanted to be aggressive within the offense, I didn't want to force anything, and the opportunities presented themselves in the second half and I was able to knock them down. The offense opened up so many opportunities; if they pushed up, I'd go around and if they were going to lie under, I was going to shoot the three. Tonight it fell for me.”
On If the Win Will Turn the Team Around - “This feeling should really make us want to play like this every night. The feeling that we had last week against TCU was bad, and we don't ever want to feel that again.”
Nate Tomlinson, Freshman, Guard
On Colorado's Defensive Effort ? “We put pressure on them for the whole game and sort of wore them out. We went to the zone late in the second half and they couldn't find a way to score. We worked on the zone through the week and it's a new thing we just did. After we put it on, I don't know if they scored more than two points the rest of the game.”
On His Injured Foot - “It's doing okay. I'm not doing everything in practice, just what feels good. Today in the game it felt pretty good, although it hurt towards the end of it. It's going to do that the rest of the season and I just have to play through it.”
Dwight Thorne II, Junior, Guard
On the Team's Effort - “With the score and the way the game went, we played very well. The effort was through the roof and I think Jermyl [Jackson-Wilson] played extremely well, Cory [Higgins] played extremely well. We just played hard and had a great effort tonight.”
On Cory Higgins Performance - “We told each other before the game that one of us had to get going tonight, and it was him. He decided that it was his time.”
On the Team Needing Urgency - “That was the number one thing on our list, to come out with urgency and intensity, and hit them in the mouth right from the get-go.”
On If the State of Colorado Can Become a Basketball State - “I think it can, as long as Coach [Bzdelik] continues to recruit well, the players come ready to play, and the fans support everything, the sky is the limit.”
On Coach Bzdelik's Comments After the TCU Game - “I think Coach is a pretty honest man; if he said that, that's the way he felt at the time. I know, myself, I thought he was over-reacting a little bit, because it was our fault, we didn't play well last week.
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