Colorado, Indiana Quotes
December 23, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
On CU's lead falling to only three points-"I was thinking that could have been the worst collapse I've ever been a part of. Seriously, we kept our poise and that's hardest thing to do. It's easy to get down and we made plays when we had to make plays. Our backs were kind of against the wall when they cut it to three, and Cory Higgins stepped up and played like a senior and made plays. That dunk he had really got us going and got the momentum back on our side. Momentum is such a huge thing in college basketball, even on a neutral floor. I don't if it was neutral; they had more fans than we did, but the ones we had were great."
On playing with consistency-"That's the challenge is consistency. We were great against Oregon State, we were great tonight. Against New Mexico, not so much. We have to have our best players play well. Tonight Alec (Burks) played well in the first half, but couldn't get in a flow in the second half. We overcame that, but we need Cory to play well, we need Marcus (Relphorde) to play well, and we need Alec to play well. We have a great supporting cast. I thought Nate Tomlinson played very well tonight. Levi Knutson was giving us good minutes. We're not very deep, but because we're not deep we can't have nights where we have three or four guys not play well. We have to have all hands on deck."
On playing with emotion-"Especially down the stretch (they played with emotion). They believed in each other. They sucked it up, and, again, we got a great lead because we defended and we rebounded. We've just been hammering that home; we have to defend to rebound, especially in the Big 12 to give ourselves a chance. If we don't do those two things, there will be some long nights for us. That's the thing we learned in this tournament. Against New Mexico, they outrebounded us by 12 and shot 61 percent. Tonight, we got outrebounded but a lot of that was in the second half when they were manhandling us a little bit. We showed toughness when we had to."
On the win being a turning point-"We still have three non-conference games before league play starts, so our schedule helps us that way. This win really helps us confidence-wise and stabilizes things. We beat a team like Oregon State and we beat Indiana. Colorado State is a solid team. We go on the road more than most high-majors go on the road, but we're going to have to be on the road in league play so it's time to figure it out."
On winning despite Alec Burks being in foul trouble-"We pulled it together, and we finished the game with Marcus Relphorde having four fouls and Austin Dufault with four fouls. We had to overcome a lot of things tonight."
On areas of improvement-"I'd like to see us handle leads better. We've never been up 19 on the road, so we have to handle that better. Our press offense needs to be more efficient. I think what our team realizes, in the first half we rebounded and in the second half, when you get stops and rebounds it makes all the difference in the world."
On keeping composure after lead tightened-"Part of it is human nature. When teams are making runs at you, you get a little tentative and you get on your heels. What I like is we still kept attacking. We got some easy baskets on them, but we just didn't want to have a lot of empty possessions. We used the clock well. I thought our poise down the stretch when they were making their run was good."
Cory Higgins, Senior, Guard
On taking over down the stretch-"I actually did say, 'We're not going to lose this game.' I just wanted to step up and make a big play, and fortunately it went my way. It was a team effort. Everybody made a play, especially Levi (Knutson). That was a huge stop (steal with 45 seconds left) he had. I think the team showed a lot of resiliency and leadership."
On experience helping in the final minutes-"It helps a lot because you can't have a substitute for experience. Two years ago, I think we would have lost that game, but we've been in that situation and we knew what to do. We just had to get back to executing."
On Alec Burks being in foul trouble-"It's very encouraging (to win despite Burks being on the bench). It's not a one-person team. I feel like if I was out, they would have done the same thing. Unlike in years past, it's more of a team effort this year. I think right now we can all help pick each other up."
On winning away from home-"That's big, so we can stop hearing about it. We just need to go forward and get some more wins."
