Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, The Citadel Quotes
December 18, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
GENERAL - "Well as a coach, you never know what to expect coming off of finals week. Going into this game I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how we would come out. Overall you win by 28 at home you should be pretty pleased, but I think we have a lot of room for improvement. Get a little rust off from the long layoff we had. It will be a short turnaround for Longwood."
ON IF HE IS HAPPY WITH HIS BENCH - "I was. I thought they came and they were dialed in. I though Ben Mills came in, in the first half and gave us a punch offensively, ran the floor and finished some baskets for us. And Andre (Roberson) keeps getting better and better and better. I expect a lot out of him but 10 rebounds in 21 minutes is pretty darn efficient. I think the more Shannon (Sharpe) plays, the more comfortable he is going to get. Overall I was happy with our bench and what they brought us tonight."
ON HOPES FOR FRESHMAN CENTER BEN MILLS THIS SEASON - "The only way he is going to get better is to play. He is going to need to help us at times this year defensively. I think offensively he is pretty skilled. He runs the floor well and has good hands, but defensively he is going to be giving away some pounds when we get to the Big 12. He will have to play smarter with his head. Post-defense, we talk about, you play in with your feet and with your brain. He has to get that point figured out. He is used to standing behind guys in high school and you can't do that. He found that out tonight against (Mike) Groselle a few times because the post guys beat us a few times. He is going to be a work-in-progress and we knew that."
ON TEAM IMPROVEMENT SINCE LAST LOSS TO HARVARD - "We won't know road-wise until we go on the road. I know we've made strides offensively, I know we've made strides with our chemistry, I know we've made strides with our team identity, our defense is still a work-in-progress, but the number I look at is 23 assists tonight. Compared to the Harvard game when we had five as a team, it makes all the difference in the world. Our guys are looking for each other and I thought tonight a few times we over passed the ball. Our guys are really conscious in trying to make everyone better. You have Nate Tomlinson, eight assists, one turnover - that is pretty impressive. Cory Higgins has five assists and no turnovers. When you get that play out of your back court, you are pleased as a coach."
ON SENIOR GUARD CORY HIGGINS - "I think the break really helped him. He probably needed it more than any of our guys. Just physically get some of the nicks and bumps that he took in the first part of the season and took some time to get healthy, get in the training room. We took some time off, we didn't practice long, we practiced short and hard and I think the break benefited him more than anyone else on our team."
ON POST-DEFENSE - "That is something as we go, as this season progress, post-defense is going to be some that we are going to talk a lot about it and work a lot on it. We'll work on it tomorrow at practice and we knew it was going to be a key tonight, and again these games are an opportunity for us to get better. I think in certain areas we did tonight and in certain areas we'll need to continue to improve and post-defense is one of them. It is not just our post guys; it is our perimeter guys too."
ON SEEING HOOK SHOTS BY BEN MILLS IN PRACTICE - "A lot of jump hooks over that left shoulder. We have to get him going over that other shoulder. The thing about Ben is that his teammates really look for him, they want to get him the ball down there and again I thought he ran the floor real well. Ben is going to be a good player; people just have to be patient with him. You can sense our fans really like him and they want him to do well too. When he comes into the game or comes out of the game, they appreciate what he is going through as a player, adjusting to division one basketball."
The Citadel Head Coach Chuck Driesell
ON HIS TEAM'S PLAY - "We need to play better transition defense. We played really well in spurts tonight. Colorado did a great job of getting down the floor and converting around the basket. We played alright, but the biggest thing that bothers me was our transition D. They had 23 fast break points tonight."
ON COLORADO - "They are a dangerous team. We thought their weakness was perimeter shooting. We were going to give them those, but they stepped up and hit threes. They made ten threes tonight. They are a talented team with good shooters and they are effective enough inside."
ON THEIR NEXT GAME AT NEW MEXICO - "We better have better transition defense. They like to get out and run, so we need to play better in transition."
Colorado Student-Athletes
Cory Higgins, Senior, Guard
ON HAVING AN EIGHT DAY BREAK FROM GAMES-"It was good to get back out on the court. We had some good time off for our team to get better individually. It was good to continue what we started before break and keep this train rolling. We all itched to get back out on the court. I knew we were going to be ready to play, and it was just going to come down to execution."
ON HIGGINS'INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE TONIGHT-"I did (think I played 100 percent). Me personally, yes, I felt great for the first time in a long time."
ON STAYING AHEAD OF THE BULLDOGS THE WHOLE GAME-"That's where we are trying to grow-not letting teams back in the game, staying up there and keeping our foot on the gas."
ON ROBERSON'S INFLUENCE ON THE TEAM COMPARED TO LAST SEASON-"It's night and day compared to last season. Last year it was our five-man out there fighting by himself. Now we have our five-man and 'Dre' [Andre Roberson]. Everybody knows that 'Dre' can rebound the ball. He's given us a great lift since day one with his energy. He does a lot of little things for our team that people don't see."
ON THE FUTURE OF THE PROGRAM-"If we keep bringing guys like this [Ben Mills and Andre Roberson] we'll be fine. If they come ready to work every day and come ready to learn and listen, it will make this team better and this program is going to be awesome."
Ben Mills, Freshman, Center
ON BECOMING A MORE ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE OFFENSE-"I feel like I've improved a lot since I came here in the summer. My teammates did a good job of finding me in a place where I could finish."
ON PREPARING FOR BIG 12 CONFERENCE PLAY-"I'm just working every day, trying to get better so if the team needs me, I can be there to step up."
ON SHOOTING THE HOOK SHOT-"It's been my move since I was really young. It's my go-to move."
Andre Roberson, Freshman, Guard
ON HIS REBOUNDING ROLE-"That's one of the main areas I'm trying to improve at, especially at the college level. I just have to keep working hard, keep working at it and just keep pushing."
ON IMPROVING IN OTHER AREAS ON THE COURT-"One of the areas I'm trying to grow at is my offensive side in general. I know I can do the defense because I focus on that all the time. I'm trying to add the little things game-by-game so it evolves."
