Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, Texas Quotes
February 14, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
ON GETTING OVER THE HUMP ? “First of all I am very proud of my basketball team, with the exception of one half versus Iowa State. They are working hard to improve, their competitive spirit is great. Gaining wisdom and experience are coming at the high cost of tough losses. They need to keep believing. I thought that our fans were awesome. We are just going to continue to work hard to turn this thing around. We are not quite physically strong enough, and we are not there mentally in certain aspects of the game. We had a couple of possessions where we did not finish the possession with a defensive rebound. All these little things ad up over the course of the game. To do all these things, we need depth and that is what we are lacking, but that takes time and successive recruiting classes.”
ON THE TEAM'S DEPTH ? “We need depth. I need to see it in practice. The players determine playing time in practice, not the coaches.”
ON TEXAS'S FULL COURT PRESS ? “We knew they were going to do that. We were just a little tentative at the beginning. We started the game thinking it's on ESPN, and the young kids are looking to see how it goes, so we did not start really aggressive. We started to figure it out further into the game, and they started to back off.”
ON CORY HIGGINS ? “He is an all Big 12 player. His leadership is awesome. Losing can beat you up, yet his competitive spirit is there. He can score in a variety of ways. He knocks down threes, he can drive the ball, and he also gets the free throw line. He does a lot of great things for the basketball team. It is only his second year, and he is still learning a lot. I keep challenging him because he can get better in a variety of ways.”
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
GENERAL - “I thought the attitude was good. They were trying to be aggressive. We wanted to be aggressive. You know the fouls. You look at the fouls, they got to the line 29 times, we got there 28. They just did a better job. Other than that, I would say that I would be pretty happy if we knocked down some of those free throws. It would have been a whole lot easier. I thought we did a really good job on the offensive end getting what we wanted, we didn't rush very much. If you go back to the last couple games we shot better because of just that.”
ON DOGUS BALBAY - “I think Dogus [Balbay] gets everybody shots, if people don't guard him he is quick enough and he is strong enough he can make layups. I think Dogus helps everybody. He's just got to understand what a foul is and what a foul's not. He thinks he never fouls. Tonight we got too close too many times. At one point we had five guys on the floor with four fouls in the overtime and we said ?You have got to play.' We're not going to back off. Again they execute well. You have got to be a disciplined defensive team to play against these guys.”
ON CORY HIGGINS - “He was great; he was terrific; he worked really hard, I thought he was great. I'd like to think that we have guys t hat can guard, but it's hard when a guy gets going like he's going. But he worked really hard today, and he made some tough shots.”
ON THE BIG 12 - “I think our league is terrific. Colorado, other than the other night, they have been closer than the final score today. Obviously the final score isn't indicative of how close the game was tonight. Nobody looks forward to playing Colorado, I can promise you that. We all have great respect for what Jeff [Bzdelik] is about. They are going to break through. I promise you, there is nobody looking forward to playing them.”
ON JAMES MISSING THE FREE THROWS - “I thought he bounced back and made some big plays there. He came up with some big rebounds. I really liked his demeanor when he went to the line. I thought he was relaxed. I thought he went through his routine. I thought we showed great character to get things done in the overtime period. I told him we have a five minute game. I thought he did a good job of refocusing. The guys were fine with him. Just say, we have a five minute, let's start all over and grind it out.”
ON A.J. ABRAMS - “He has had a terrific year. And people don't really realize what he has done on both ends of the floor in terms of his consistency. Tonight he had 29 points and they showed him with one assist, but I promise you he is responsible for a minimum of fifteen points where they were so concerned of him, and those slips underneath the basket were in direct relation to him. He had a big charge, and obviously a big three. Again he has had a terrific year and he plays 40 minutes a night, tonight he played 45. He does a great job for us.”
ON GIVING A.J. ABRAMS BREATHERS - “It depends on the flow of the game. We will ask him. We pretty much leave it up to him.”
ON IMPACT OF ALTITUDE - “We don't buy into that. We train as hard as anybody. We wanted to do that [full court press] and we would have stayed with it, but foul trouble started to hurt us a little bit. Well not a little bit, a whole lot. We are trying to work our way through all the foul trouble. You have to give them [Colorado] credit because they were aggressive and Jeff [Bzdelik] always does a great job of making adjustments. It's our fault, we had some chances there where we could have maybe stretched it out, but it is what it is.”
ON CU'S LOSS AT IOWA STATE - “I am not surprised [they put up a fight tonight] because I know the man that runs the program. If you think they are going to lay down, well believe me they are not going to do that. The other night, they missed shots and that happens. One team gets going and starts making some plays. But you take that gave out, they have been hard on everybody, whether it's home or on the road. They make it hard on everybody.”
ON NEEDING GAMES LIKE THIS BEFORE GOING INTO NCAA PLAY - “I don't think you can ever look ahead. I don't think you even think about the NCAA. I think you realize that right now you have a six game season left. You have to hope that if you do your body of work, all that takes care of itself. I just know there are a lot of games out there to be played. This is the way we had to win it, and I think it will help us.”
Colorado Players
Jermyl Jackson-Wilson, Senior, Forward
ON NEEDING A WIN - “We played hard, and everyone sees that we're playing hard. No one can say that we don't give it our all. We have had one or two bad halves since the season started. A bad half, even a bad thirty seconds, can determine a game.”
ON SEASON OUTLOOK - “We just have to keep playing hard. I know that no team wants to play us right now. I don't think any team comes in and thinks that they are going to walk all over us. We practice hard every day, and we prepare for games. Our guys hit big shots, and we are scrappy. We may not be the biggest team; we may not be the best team in your opinion, but we're going to get over that hump. Georgia won their conference tournament last year. The basketball season isn't over, so don't write us off.”
ON MISSING THE OVERTIME AND DAMION JAMES' FREE THROWS - “The overtime was tough to watch. On the free throws, do you know the expression ?the ball doesn't lie?' Big time players make big time plays and he [James] didn't make the free throws, but he had 14 rebounds and 21 points, so he did what he had to do throughout the game. When he is coming down the court full speed, there is nothing you can do but try to get there and contest the shot. The call didn't go my way, but he didn't make the free throws. We had another attempt to win the game, but we just didn't get it done in overtime. That extra five minutes is a lot of time to determine a game”
ON EFFORT - “We're going to play our hardest. As long as we wear these
Dwight Thorne II, Junior, Guard
ON HITTING A WALL IN OVERTIME - “I don't think we hit a wall, we just weren't as aggressive as in the second half as we were earlier in the game. I wouldn't necessarily call it a wall, because we were still in the game and we still had a chance to win.”
ON GUARDING AJ ABRAMS - “He never stops moving, and his teammates set screens for him. It was a tough task, but I did my best. He is free to do whatever he wants, and that makes it even harder to guard him ... I wouldn't say it took me out of the game, but you use a lot more energy than you usually would [guarding Abrams]. It's demanding.
ON NEEDING A WIN - “I'm frustrated that we didn't get a win, but not to the point that it is going to affect our play. We're in the BIG 12. You want to win, so if you don't win, obviously there is a little frustration.”
ON LAST WEDNESDAY'S GAME AT IOWA STATE - “Wednesday night was like a bad dream.”
Cory Higgins, Sophomore, Guard
ON NEEDING A WIN - “I think we need to just keep plugging away. I think everybody sees that we are right there. It's all about the little things; just one or two plays in the game. It'll come, but like Dwight said, our effort is not going to waiver.”
ON OVERTIME - “They made big shots, and we didn't hit our shots. I don't think it was anything outside of that.”
Texas Players
A.J Abrams, Senior, Guard
ON WHAT HE SAID TO DAMION JAMES BEFORE OVERTIME?“He knows what to do, obviously he wanted to make the free throws, but we have got to move on, and that's what we have been doing all year. We have just got to move onto the next play. Damion [James] was focused; he knows exactly what he is supposed to do. He knows that play's behind him and we have to go win the game in overtime. It's the kind of person he is, basketball player and person, he bounces back and did what he had to do to help us win.”
ON BEING WIDE-OPEN DURING THE LAST POSSESSION?“I'm yelling every play to get the ball. Sometimes it doesn't happen and my teammates have to make plays.”
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