Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, Texas A&M Quotes
February 10, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
On not fouling in regulation-"The plan was to switch every screen, if they put the ball on the floor we wanted to foul. Normally I'm not a foul guy. Up three, let's take our chances. I just felt how the game was going, there was four seconds left, and the only way that they would be able to beat us was to get the game into overtime. If there was 12 seconds left, then maybe we don't. There was miscommunication, there was a down screen set and we didn't switch it and they hit a three. Bottom line is when your team does not execute down the stretch, as a head coach, it is your responsibility and it is on you. I take this loss as the head coach of Colorado on my shoulders, we weren't prepared as well as we should have been down the stretch for that situation and I have no one to blame but myself. This one will be with me for a long, long, long time."
On execution in overtime-"I thought they executed better than we did in overtime. They were 4-for-5 from the field, they came out and executed, David Loubeau made some big time post moves-he's a big time player. That was a top 25 team we lost to. I think they beat four top 25 teams, they are a good basketball team and we knew it wasn't going to be easy tonight; they weren't going to roll over and die for us. In overtime, our heads got down a little bit but they executed the first couple of possessions. We had 12 shots in overtime, we made three of them. I thought we had some good looks. As a coach, you look at, 'Is your team getting good shots offensively?' If your team is taking good shots offensively?' That is all that you can ask. If your team is taking bad shots, if you are turning the ball over-which we did too much tonight-that is when you have to make some adjustments."
On rebounding-"Nathan Walkup got every big rebound. You can talk about Colorado and what we didn't do. I got ultimate respect for Texas A&M, I felt that we lost that game - that is a bad feeling. I'm sure they thought that they won it. The kid made a big shot. Nathan Walkup got every big rebound when a big rebound had to be had, either on the offensive end or the defensive end. He was the difference down the stretch. Him and B.J. Holmes are tough minded seniors that know how to win."
On Andre Roberson's lack of rebounds-"Just a rough night. Freshmen are going to be up-and-down, and up-and-down, and we talked about it at the beginning of the year and tonight he wasn't himself. He was frustrated, but we have to keep plugging. I have full faith and confidence in Andre Roberson. Tonight just wasn't his night."
On missing Nate Tomlinson-"No question we missed Nate offensively. He gets guys shots and he can break the defense down and he is such an unselfish player. Yeah we miss him, no doubt, but it isn't an excuse. We played well enough to win that game, we just didn't execute down the stretch and it came down to one play and we didn't do our job. Again as a head coach, it is on me."
On not dwelling on the loss-"We talked afterwards, this is going to sting for awhile, I'm not expecting to sleep a wink tonight. I expect our players to. I expect our players to go to bed, wake up, go to class tomorrow, and come to the gym ready to figure out how we're going to beat K-State. We cannot and will not feel sorry for ourselves. That is something we talked about after the game. We are not going to let that happen and Saturday we better be ready to pull the nails off the floor and get after K-State because they are not going to come in and lay down. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves. We cannot allow that to happen. That is going to be a challenge for our staff."
On what he told Texas A&M head coach Mark Turgeon after the game-"Just congratulations. I have ultimate respect for him, obviously as a person, as a friend, as a college basketball coach. He does a hell of a job. I said before the game and I'll say after the game, 'I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for Mark Turgeon." But this one stings because the fact that we had the game won and we let it get away. That is hard to stomach, it doesn't matter who you play."
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon
On the game-"It was great. We haven't played well the last three in a row. I think we beat a really good basketball team on their home floor. We had to overcome a lot. It looked like they had it and B.J. [Holmes] made the big three. It's funny because I had it for Khris [Middleton] and I just wiped it off and I said, 'No, we are going to B.J.' Khris was a good decoy on it and B.J. just knocked it down. He was awful calm when he shot it. He just knew it was in and it gave us confidence the rest of the way. We guarded; we just defended like crazy. We tried to make them shot jump shots. We had great help, great team defense. It's a really good win for us this time of year."
On the second half-"We did a good job on ball screen defense. We wanted them to shoot jump shots over hands. Dash [Harris] did a great job on Burks. I thought Khris and B.J. did a great job on Higgins. We were giving up some size there, but we were pretty determined. I thought our help was really good during that stretch too. And we rebounded. We limited them to one shot. That was huge. When they did score it was either foul line or second chance points. It was real competitive and a great effort by my guys. We haven't shown a lot of toughness. Today we looked like Texas A&M."
On his relationship with Tad Boyle-"I hated this. I told my staff on Monday, 'The way I have to coach this team is I have to be a cheerleader and have to be into every possession, and I don't coach that way.' And I didn't want to have to do it against a good friend. I had to make a fool out of myself a couple times tonight to let everybody know that we were here to fight and I hated to do it. But this was, I think, a must win this early in the season for us. It was no fun playing against him. He is a great coach. I wouldn't be where I am without Tad Boyle. He taught me a lot when I was a player. And he was a great assistant for me; very loyal and helped us win a lot of games."
On the technical fouls in the second half-"We overcame a lot. I thought B.J. got fouled and I got the technical. And they went up seven. I just said we have to overcome it. We overcame that one. Then we missed a shot. Had a chance to take the lead and missed a shot, a layup. And then we have a really dumb foul by Khris Middleton 35 feet from the basket. And then Kourtney [Roberson] is a freshman and he wasn't playing with a lot of poise and elbowed the kid, so there are four more free throws and the ball. At that point, its 5:49 to go, overcoming again is tough and we were just fighting and fighting, and kept guarding. It's just a great win; this time of year if you want to be a part of the NCAA tournament, you have got to get a win like that."
On coaching after three-game losing streak-"I haven't slept. Lately I haven't done a great job with these guys and it really weighs on you as a coach. We were 17-2 for a reason; we have good players and a good team, and we just haven't played that way. We didn't play with any confidence on Saturday and Baylor came in and whipped us. Hopefully this game will help us get our confidence back."
On what he said to Tad Boyle after the game-"'Good game.' It's a really hard handshake. This was a big week for them; us and K-State at home. They have got some road games; they have a lot of basketball left. They have got some road games that they can take care of. You are lucky to have [Coach Boyle]. He is going to figure out how to get them ready for Saturday. I am so proud of him. He was coaching high school ball 20 years ago and I convinced him to come to Oregon. I wanted him to follow me at Wichita State, but that's not what the AD wanted, so he had to take a really bad Northern Colorado job. He's earned this job. He is going to do a fantastic job. He has a great staff; the staff that was with me at Wichita. Tad and I talk all the time. When he loses I hurt. I really do, I hurt, because I know how much he puts into it. He has got a good team this year, it's just hard your first year. His teams are just going to get better and better like they did at Northern Colorado."
Colorado Student-Athletes
Levi Knutson, Senior, Guard
On whether they thought about fouling at the end of regulation-"Yeah, we did. We wanted to foul with four or five seconds on the clock, and right when we were about to they called a timeout."
On the final shot in regulation-"We just had a miscommunication."
On whether he had a good look at the end of the overtime period-"I thought I did at first, but the ball slipped."
On getting over the loss-"It definitely hurts, but we have Kansas State on Saturday, so we've got to move forward."
Alec Burks, Sophomore, Guard
On allowing the first six points in overtime-"It was tough. They gained a little bit [of momentum], but we fought back. We didn't hit our shots at the end."
On being outrebounded-"Everything played a factor. I don't think it was just rebounding. It was one of the factors though."
On what made it difficult to extend their second half lead-"Not hitting shots, them scoring; they capitalized on our mistakes, and we couldn't just make a basket. It can be like that sometimes."
