Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, Coppin State Quotes
November 16, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
GENERAL -"We need to sustain our energy. In game one against Arkansas-Pine Bluff we played a good 20 minutes and today it was about 27 minutes. We need some improvement, we will just keep working."
ON MARCUS RELPHORDE -"The thing about Marcus is that he has been in five different systems in the last five years so he is constantly adjusting and understanding the offense. We need everybody playing as well as they can play. I'm really pleased with how we shared the ball and the shot distribution. We just need to keep improving and we will keep working on it."
ON ALEC BURKS -"Alec Burks is talented first and foremost. He is really skilled, he just needs experience and strength and maturity. He is also a really good passer."
ON KEEGAN HORNBUCKLE -"He shares the ball and is very active. In 23 minutes, he had six rebounds and an assist. He was also efficient, going two for three. He moves well without the ball, the ball never sticks with him."
ON SECOND HALF -"That's where we have to show maturity. We have to sustain for 40 minutes. We are not going to shoot the ball all the time like we started shooting tonight. Offense is a variable and defense and the effort has to be there all 40 minutes. "
Coppin State Head Coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell
GENERAL- "We relaxed a little bit. They didn't come out with any type of intensity. That's when you see a lot of wide open jump shots. Their minds weren't really there and you have to credit Jeff 's (Bzdelik) team for coming out ready to play, ready to take on the challenge. I am just a little disappointed in how we came out."
"I have some talented individuals, I just need to make a few attitude adjustments to get this thing right. Today was really our first time out here. Hopefully we get accustomed to being out here, against the bigger schools."
Colorado Players
Dwight Thorne II, Senior, Guard
ON KEY TO THE GAME- "I think we just came out focused. We knew last year that we lost our second game of the year to a Montana State team that we should have beat. We came out and wanted to blow them out from the beginning and we did that."
ON THE RETURN OF COACH BZDELIK- "It's nice to have coach back. He brings energy just like Coach McClain does, but those guys do a great job of preparing us. No matter who is coaching us we are going to be prepared for the game and we just got to play."
ON TEAMS SECOND HALF PLAY- "I think it's human nature by such a big lead it is human nature to let up a bit. That is something that we have to grow and mature about and get over the hump. When we are beating teams by a significant amount of points we need to come out and put our foot to their throats and ratchet it up a notch, we need to get better at that."
ON TEAMS CONFIDANCE- "We got a lot of guys scoring. We got a lot of guys playing. Everybody is involved in winning, and it just breathes confidence."
ON TEAMS REBOUDING- "Marcus [Relphorde] is a big difference. I think Nate [Tomlinson] already has seven rebounds a game, they had seven tonight, so it's a collective effort and Marcus being a match-up problem creates more rebounds for us. It's going to be a battle for rebounds for us on the glass every night though. We are not a huge team so we just have to give a collective effort."
ON IMPORTANCE OF GOING TO MAUI 3-0- "It's very important. It will give us confidence to go in there and win the tournament. We are not going there 2-1 or 1-2. We are going to try to win, it's a business trip. I think if we have three wins under our belt it will give us confidence.
Alec Burks, Freshman, Guard
ON KEY TO HIS FAST START- "Just being aggressive. I come to practice every morning and just listen to my teammates. I look to them for help."
ON MARCUS RELPHORDE GETTING IN FOUL TROUBLE- "He is a match up problem. So when he's out there he helps us a lot, but when he's on the bench he can't help out. So it's good to have him out there."
ON COMPARISONS TO CORY HIGGINS- "I get called Cory all the time around here, so I guess you could say we are similar. He likes to score, get to the free throw line, shoot, pass he likes to do it all."
ON COMFORT LEVEL- "After I got that first one [game] out of the way, I just feel comfortable out there now."
ON STARTING FIRST TWO GAMES- "I wanted to but I knew that Nate [Tomlinson] was here. I thought I might come off the bench and create a spark. Coach put me into start so I just ran with it."
