Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, Colorado Christian Quotes
December 07, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
ON SECOND HALF STRUGGLES - "It is always a battle, and that is where we have to grow as a basketball team. You are going to have periods where you are not so good offensively, but you cannot take possessions off defensively, like when you see the hands drop, or we are a step or two behind. We need all five guys to play together. That is where we have to grow."
ON COLORADO CHRISTIAN - "Give Colorado Christian credit. They are so well coached. Their players play so hard from start to finish. They cut hard and move the ball well. They all can shoot the ball, and they have a really good player inside. They were in a lot of their games this year, so this was really good for us."
ON THE DEFENSE - "I think that is where we have had letdowns defensively. If you go back to the Oregon State game, we had some really bad breakdowns defensively. We had some good times, and some bad times, but we need to maintain our intensity defensively for 40 minutes. And a great example is going to be this Thursday versus Colorado State."
ON DWIGHT THORNE II- "He has just a minor ankle sprain. He could have played tonight, but we wanted to make sure we gave it another days rest."
Colorado Christian Head Coach Dave Daniels
ON MOMENTUM CHANGE IN SECOND HALF- "I think our guys just came out and played free. I don't know if it was nerves or just excitement, but we were a little tentative in the first half; then we just came out and played in the second."
ON CHALLENGES POSED BY COLORADO- "How long do you have? They are quicker, faster, stronger, and really well coached. Jeff Bzdelik is an incredible coach. Defensively, Colorado switched everything up making it really difficult for us."
ON LOOKING FORWARD- "We have our next conference game on Saturday, so we are just looking forward to that."
Colorado Players
ON CCU CUTTING 30-POINT LEAD-"We just need to be more aggressive. They can shoot the ball so they made a few threes and got back in the ball game. We had to pick up our intensity, and start being more aggressive. I think our intensity dropped a little bit, just out of human nature, but we have to be able to fight that and stay aggressive at all times. We need to pick our energy up on both ends of the court."
ON THINGS LEARNED THIS GAME- "Be aggressive all the time don't wait until you have to be aggressive."
"Rebounding and knowing that every possession matters, don't take possessions off."
ON UPCOMING CSU GAME- "It's always big, they're our in-state rival. That just comes with going to school at Colorado, it's going to be a big deal, and everyone is going to be hyped up for it. So we need to come out and win."
ON WINNING AN AWAY GAME- "We need to win badly, I think we need to get it off our chest and show everybody we can win on the road."
ON WHAT LEVI KNUTSON BRINGS TO THE TEAM- "He adds more depth. Levi is an extremely smart player, he knows the system, he knows his shots are going to come. He plays extremely hard and gives it his all."
ON AMOUNT OF THREE POINTERS BY CCU- "That's what they do. We knew they shoot threes and that's going to keep them in the game. We knew they could shoot from anywhere on the court. We need to be there on the catch. I think they had too many open looks this game."
ON HIS REBOUNDING- "I think I've always been a good rebounder, I just didn't start out as good as I could. I'm picking it up with the rebounds now."
ON UPCOMING CSU GAME- "They have told me a little about it. I've heard it's a big rivalry and I'm ready to play in it."
