Colorado University Athletics
Colorado, Kent State Quotes
March 23, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General- "Before I talk about the Buffs and what a great win this was for our program, you've got to really honor Kent State. We beat a good team tonight. I've got a lot of respect for their coaching staff and their players. You can tell a lot from a team when you watch film, and we knew going into this thing that it was going to be a battle. These kids don't back down; they've gone from coast to coast and won two road games. They're not intimidated by anybody, so we had our hands full. We knew that going in, and I think anybody that was at the game saw that as well. With that being said, I was really proud of our team as a group and certainly some individuals who stepped up and overcame some tough circumstances, and I thought we showed some unbelievable toughness and grit because it wasn't easy."
On whether it's gratifying to see this team in the NIT in his first season- "Well it's gratifying not so much to me personally, it's gratifying to our players. You coach to hopefully help young men and to watch them come together the way that they have, to watch them overcome a lot of things they've overcome, to watch them bounce back from a really tough and difficult situation last week. To see how they responded and have come together is really gratifying. It's not about me in my first season, it's about our players coming together and making it a special season for Colorado Basketball, whether it's my first season or tenth season. It's not about me, it's about them and it always will be; it should be."
On keeping the atmosphere next year- "Well number one is that we have to do our job and continue to be successful on the court. Most importantly, we have to play the right way. Our kids play with unbelievable energy and effort, and [they played] together. We have to be worthy of support. I think this team is worthy of the support they've gotten. That's the challenge. Every radio show I do postgame with Mark Johnson, I thank the fans and I challenge the fans that we want this to be the most difficult environment for Pac-12 teams to come into. I think this a point in the history of Colorado basketball where we can start our own traditions in our new conference. It's almost like starting new. We've had a great season to kind of springboard into that. We're going to lose a lot [of talent] next year, but we've got some good guys coming back and some good guys coming in, and it's onward and upward from here. That's what we have to do, we have to sustain this, and that's the challenge of this program going forward."
On the exposure for Colorado Basketball in New York City- "It does a lot. Tonight we were on a national TV network, and we'll be on national TV again when we get to New York. The East Coast fans and media will get the opportunity to see what Colorado Basketball is about and how we play. It's important to play well. We're going there to win the tournament and not just to be happy to be in New York. It means everything going back to where we were a week ago Sunday and what the goal of these seniors and this team has been since that day."
On playing in the postseason- "I think our team is good enough to have gone to the NCAA Tournament and won a few games. I don't know how many, because that all depends on the matchups, and you see what happens in the tournament. I don't know if it's a blessing in disguise; everyone says it's easier to win games in the NIT. It's been easier for us because we've been at home. We've beaten some good teams. I'm glad we've won. All you can do is play the hand you were dealt, and we were dealt the hand and we're playing it. No matter what tournament you're in, it's huge. It's huge for your players; it's huge for your program, for future players that are going to come here, for the current players that are here, to understand that this is where we want to be. This team is setting a standard for future teams to adhere to, and that's what is special about this. It's special that we got our 24th win tonight, so we continue to add to that. It's very important for our younger players to see what kind of senior leadership we're getting right now and how important that is for our team to be successful. It's good and it's important on a number of different levels."
On playing in Madison Square Garden- "We're going to enjoy it and embrace it. We talked a lot about how we've just got to play Colorado Basketball. We don't have to go there and be someone that we're not. We've just got to go there and play Colorado Basketball and do what we know we have to do. Our guys know now what it takes to be successful in college basketball. Whether it's playing at home or playing on the road, a neutral court, Madison Square Garden, Coors Events Center or Manhattan, Kansas. They know what it takes to win, and we've just got to go do it. I don't think our guys will be star-struck. We play in a pretty good league in a lot of different venues. Madison Square Garden is special because of the history there as much as anything else. That's what I want our players too really relish is the history of the NIT and history of Madison Square Garden. I want our guys to appreciate that."
On Nate Tomlinson's injury- "It's kind of a day-to-day thing. It's based on his pain tolerance. The first time you separate a shoulder it's pretty painful so we'll see. I don't know if he'll be back or not."
On putting away Kent State- "We got stops when we needed to get stops. We got big time rebounds after those stops. We ran a couple of post-up plays; one for Alec [Burks] that he scored on and one for Cory [Higgins] that he scored on, Marcus hit two big free throws. We executed on offense and we got stops and rebounds on defense. That's what you have to do in games to win. If you're doing both you can stretch it out a little bit, and if you do one you put a lot of pressure on the other end of the floor."
On the game plan for Justin Greene- "We knew he was a good player; he was player of the year in their league coming in. We wanted to make him work. We talked at halftime about fronting him more at the basket; the main thing was making him work to catch it, and when he put it on the floor, to really get in there and dig it out. We haven't been a double-team team all year, and I didn't want to go to it tonight. We wanted to make him make some tough shots, and he made some tough shots. He missed a couple at the end, and I think that wearing him was the key. He's a heck of player, and he made some big time shots."
On Cory Higgins- "He was getting good looks. He missed a baseline jumper and he came off the floor and I said, 'Cory, when you're open we want you to shoot the ball. We want our good shooters to shoot the ball when they're open.' Cory has been fighting a bug all week long, and I could tell he didn't have his legs tonight. When you're around a guy all year, you can see it when he's there and not. He fought through it, he showed unbelievable toughness."
Kent State Head Coach Geno Ford
General-"Two good teams, I thought it was criminal [Colorado] didn't get into the tournament. I have a lot of respect for their program; they have good players and are well coached. They made more plays at the end; we couldn't get them stopped when we needed to and that's been our trademark all year, getting stops down the stretch. We just weren't able to do it and that's because they had better offense than we had defense."
On this Kent State team -"'Without question this is the toughest group that I have been a part of. We have had a lot of teams that have shown a lot of toughness and a lot of character but this one has handled losing and adversity in terms of not playing well and traveling. They just keep playing and they really like to play. We have a lot of guys crushed that the season is over, as a coach you sometimes don't get that and you have teams that kind of want it to be over. These guys really just gave us everything they have but came up a little bit short."
On difference in game-"We just couldn't get them guarded. We went zone and couldn't stop them, we went man and couldn't stop them. They just have so many weapons offensively we couldn't contain their wings. [Colorado] was getting inside and scoring a little too frequently for us to be able to win. I figured offensively in the second half we were going to need to continue to score because of how many points they were going to put on the board. In the guts of the game we had it on top of the rim four times, a fast break layup we missed, we had Justin Greene only miss one or two shots the whole game which was great, but inside of four minutes we had Randal Holt, Justin [Greene], and Michael Porrini put it on top of the basket but not finish. In a game that is just a couple possessions we needed those layups just to keep pace because they were scoring on us on the other end. "
On Colorado atmosphere-"The last four minutes, we looked tired. More tired than we have in some of the other games. There was a great atmosphere [tonight] and what a great crowd [Colorado] had, they were into it. I was really proud of our guys, I thought most every time the crowd got into it and the place got really loud, we responded with a good possession and were able to just hang in there, but in the end we just came up a little bit short. [Colorado] is a little bit deeper and a little bit better. If it was a neutral court game maybe we could have pulled it out, on the road we just weren't quite good enough to get it done."
Colorado Student-Athletes
Levi Knutson, Senior, Guard
On missing the NCAA Tournament-"I feel the same way [as Cory Higgins]. I've tried to put that behind me since this tournament has started, and I think our team has done a great job of that. We're just focused on this tournament and going to New York."
On the home crowd during the NIT-"They were great. They've been great all year. We didn't know what to expect after the events of last week, so it's been great. The students have been great. The student section was packed today, and we're on spring break, so we can't say enough about how great the fans have been all year, especially the last couple of games."
On whether they were concerned with Kent State down the stretch-"I don't think we were concerned, we've been in a lot of close games like that all year, on the road and at home. We knew what we had to do down the stretch; we had to get stops and rebound in order to win a game, and we ended up doing that. We have a lot of respect for Kent State. They are a really solid team. Obviously they did something right; they had to win two road games to get here. We have a lot of respect for those guys. They played hard for all 40 minutes."
On being a key member of the team-"It feels great. Just like Cory [Higgins] said, it's been great to see how far the program has gone from when we got here until now. That's something I just take a lot of pride in. As far as my role, I just kept working hard every year, and I knew my chance would come."
On playing at Colorado-"I've been really blessed to play here at Colorado in front of my friends and family. I don't take that for granted. It's been a dream come true."
Cory Higgins, Senior, Guard
On missing the NCAA Tournament-"It's definitely changed in the terms that we're not even thinking about that anymore. I think we can get more satisfaction out of what we're doing now. The goal is to win the tournament, so if we do that, I don't think we will have any regrets whatsoever."
On what it meant to win their final home game-"It was huge. I know how much it meant to all our seniors to go out as winners on our home court. That's something they can never take away from us, and I think we really left our mark on this program."
On getting off to a slow start shooting-"All the shots felt good, they just weren't going in. I just tried to help my team in any way that I could, but I can't really explain the slow start. It felt good, it just wasn't going in."
On the difference in the game-"We just had to stick with it and make stops; we weren't really making stops. The whole game we kept trading baskets, and we finally strung three stops together and the end of the game to separate us a little bit. I think that was the difference."
On whether his dad said anything about playing at MSG-"He hasn't. He might now, but he probably didn't want to jinx it."
On the win-"It means the world to go out like this, especially with the other seniors who have been through it with me because there have been some real lows in this program. To end our careers like this would be a dream."
Andre Roberson, Freshman, Guard
On playing at Madison Square Garden-"To me, there have been a lot of historical things that have happened there. It will be my first time playing there, so it will be a great joy to play there."
On playing in NYC-"It means a lot. In my years to come, no one knows if we're going to make it back to this point, so I'm just going to enjoy it and keep working hard every day in practice, and hopefully we can make it again, or to the NCAA Tournament."
