Colorado, Nebraska Quotes
March 06, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General-"That was a great night for Colorado Basketball in a lot of different ways, on a lot of different levels. I couldn't be more proud of our team than I am, and we didn't play our best. That's kind of encouraging, I guess. I can't say enough about our home fans and our home court that I think we've started to establish here, and hopefully that can continue as we move forward."
On the seniors' final regular season home game-"That was one of the levels I was talking about; senior night, five young men who mean a lot to this program, each in their own way. You want it so badly for them on senior night, and you hope they're ready to play. I think the way Marcus [Relphorde] came out and the way Cory [Higgins] came out, they were dialed in. Levi [Knutson] hit some early shots, too. Then you look at Javon Coney and Trent Beckley, I got them in the rotation, and they produced when they came in, so it was kind of a feel-good night for those five guys. That's the way it should be.
On putting Javon Coney and Trent Beckley in at critical points in the game-"That was a tough game. They got exhausted. I thought Doc [Sadler] did a good job of using his bench, and you could tell he was doing it in the first half, and even in the early part of the second half. I had to make sure I used my bench, and I haven't done a great job of that this year, just because there are certain guys that I have so much confidence in. But there are a lot of capable guys on that bench, and it's nice to see them step up. We saw Ben Mills do it against Kansas State, and tonight, Trent and Javon did it. It's nice to see them get that opportunity."
On bouncing back from the loss at Iowa State-"I talked a lot about it on Thursday, because I was so frustrated and I was so mad, and I was so angry, and I had so many emotions going through me as a coach. I've tried this year, after games, not to be too emotional, not to yell and scream. I like to sleep on it, watch the film, and the next day at practice, if they need a good chewing, I'll chew them. I got some stuff off my chest on Thursday; you can ask the guys. I challenged them in a lot of different ways. With this team, sometimes your greatest weakness can be your greatest strength. We're inconsistent on one hand and really resilient on the other. I'd rather get rid of the inconsistency and say we're a tough team that you know what you're going to get every night out. In this league, if you look around, there are a lot of inconsistent teams. There are a lot of inconsistent teams in college basketball, and there are a lot of inconsistent teams in the Big 12. If you just look at scores and road records, we're not the only one. We're the only one that we all in this room really, really care about, because you cover it and I coach it, so we're under a microscope, but we're not the only team that is inconsistent. I love the resiliency of this team. We proved it again tonight."
On being on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament-"I don't build it up, because our guys are not dumb. They turn on the radio and the TV, and they read the papers, and they know what is at stake, so you don't have to build it up. I just talk about taking care of little opportunities, and they become bigger opportunities if you do that enough and you're consistent enough in that. We have not talked about the bubble. We haven't talked about the NCAA Tournament. We have talked about postseason play, because that is a goal of this team, and it has been since day one when we started the season. Postseason play is our goal. We have talked about that, but we haven't talked about bubble talk, because they're going to get enough of that. As a coach, I woke up this morning and turned on ESPN, and I was wishing I didn't the whole rest of the day. That's all you think about when you hear those guys start talking, and it's like, 'I wish this game was at ten o'clock this morning,' because I think you can make too much of it. I do think, and I said this after the Texas game, that the Texas win came at perfect time, because it was late in the year rather than the first week of February or the last week of January where now people are starting to talk about you and there is more pressure on the guys. It happened late enough, where I thought, 'Hey, we've got two games left.' We laid an egg against Iowa State, but it was on the defensive end. The [Texas win] was late enough that our guys know what's at stake."
On earning the fifth seed in the Big 12 Tournament-"It's great, especially when they picked us ninth. It's a great feather in our guys' caps, and we've beaten some good teams along the way, obviously. I feel good about the five seed. You want the highest seed you can get, in my opinion.
On facing Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament-"If we should have any kind of emotional edge on anybody, it should be Iowa State, because they beat us last. We'll have to guard better than we did. The thing about Iowa State is that they are dangerous because they shoot the ball so well."
On the conference tournament-"It's a new season. To me, there are four seasons in college basketball. You get the preseason, you get the regular season, you get the postseason tournament, and then you have the postseason. We're in the third season. It's a very short season, even though it is three or four days, it is a season, and we have to approach it like, 'Hey, we've got to win this season and this championship.' The only way you do that is by surviving and advancing."
Nebraska Head Coach Doc Sadler
General-"Bottom line is we got the ballgame back to 42-41 and we took three quick shots and turned it over three times. You thought our guys played hard, and they did all the things to get it to that point, and we kind of lost our poise a little bit. On three possessions we came down and shot it on the first pass on two possessions and then one time we came down and shot a three in transition. That's just a recipe to get beat on the road. I thought our inside game was really, really good; and it opened up some opportunities for our guards to drive once we were pacing for 20 or 25 seconds. But, we didn't stay with it on the offensive end. And in transition again, we had three things we talked about. We got outsourced at the free throw line by eight points, and then we gave up 20 points in transition. That was the ballgame. You have got to give Colorado credit. I thought out guys played hard, but we could have played a little bit more sound; that's my fault."
On Colorado taking an early lead-"They were making shots. Three of our first shots were three-point shots. That's not us. I thought our tempo offensively was not very good. And then when we went to the double-O offensive post and kind of settled down, because that kind of makes them be a little bit more patient, I thought we played pretty good offense from that point on. But they made some shots early, and we missed some opportunities."
On playing off the bench-"They were asking to come out. The one point when I had to put Christopher [Niemann] in, Brian [Diaz], Andre [Almeida] and Brandon [Ubel], all three had asked to come out. I wanted to buy about one minute out of it. We made some mistakes there. I didn't plan on playing them that much in the second half, but that's when we made the run; with those guys in the ballgame. They were being more patient in the first half, then the guys who were starting. I made the decision to go with Brandon [Richardson] coming off the bench to try to buy a little bit of time for Lance [Jeter] in the first half, so he could play more minutes in the second half. Brandon [Richardson] got three fouls in the first half so that changed things some things up. I thought the guys off the bench were the most consistent players we had all night."
On if altitude was the reason players wanted to come out-"I don't know about that. Altitude is so overrated. They were tired."
On Colorado picking up the pace after Nebraska's run-"No. Again, it came back from the three turnovers and the three quick shots. We shot the one shot in transition and the ball bounces long and they [Colorado] get a run out. We come back, before that, we shoot it on the first pass, now we have got guys down on the baseline, and we don't have offensive balance, and they [Colorado] got the run out. It was just a lack of our offensive patience when we got it to 41."
On turnovers-"No question. You can't win turning it over. I thought our pace starting the ballgame was not very good offensively. I thought we did not have the pip-in-the-step that you need against a team that is aggressive. I thought we did recover. Like I said, we had a couple opportunities to take a lead. You have got to make free throws. When you get in a game this time of year, and you are playing for something, you better shoot over 70 percent, especially when the other team shoots the free throws like they do, or you are going to come up short."
On working with Brian Diaz and Andre Almeida struggling on free throws-"No more than we were than when they were shooting them good. Free throw shooting is free throw shooting. Those guys want to make their free throws. You have got to get in a situation where you make sure you have guys in the game, where if they are going to get fouled, can make free throws. They are going to make them. I have confidence in them. They work too hard. Brian and Andre have been staying after, they have been coming early. They will make their free throws. I am not worried about that; they are going to do fine."
On Colorado's seniors-"They have a good basketball team. They returned everybody from a year ago; that was a good basketball team. They have played some good basketball here. They have got a nice basketball team. They had guys step up, that's what good teams do. [Marcus] Relphorde had good shots, [Levi] Knutson made a couple of three-point shots. The one time we got it back, they were patient and he hits the shot at the top of the key. They have got a nice team. Tad's [Boyle] had done a great job with them."
On shutting down Alec Burks-"We lost. We gave up 67 points. We didn't come in here just to stop Burks. We came here to try to win the ballgame."
Colorado Student-Athletes
Cory Higgins, Senior, Guard
On getting off to fast start - "We just wanted to come out and punch them in the mouth and really turn up the defensive intensity. We went after the ball. I think we did a good job of that."
On defensive play - "We're trying to establish an identity as a defensive team. We wanted to really get back to guarding. We obviously didn't do that up in Ames, giving up 95 points. We wanted to get some confidence back in that area and know that when we do guard we're going to put ourselves in position to win."
On talking about NCAA Tournament bid - "We don't talk about it too much. We can't lose sight of the next game. That's the most important thing. I think if we take it game by game we'll be fine, and commit to each other that we're going to leave it all out there. On the defensive end if we play together we're going to be fine."
On playing Trent Beckley and Javon Coney when the game was still undecided - "I'm glad he [Tad Boyle] put them in the game. They're obviously not going to hurt us. They're going to do all the right things. They're going to bring energy, guard their butts off. I wasn't surprised when they were in there. They deserved it. They have helped this team so much throughout their careers and for them to get a little bit of shine, I was happy for them."
On whether it has sunk in that it was possibly their last game - "I think so, but I don't know. Maybe I'll wake up and have some different feelings. I enjoyed it. I liked the way it ended."
Levi Knutson, Senior, Guard
On Trent Beckley's hook shot - "That was good. That was a big play for us. He came in and gave us some energy. We knew he would when he got off the bench. I feel happy for him."
On the game atmosphere - "It was awesome. This crowd has been great for us all year. We love playing here at home. Obviously we have to take this show on the road now and play on a neutral court. It means a lot to end with a win here. We're going to miss this place, but we're not done yet."
On being the keys to being successful on the road - "If we have the intensity on the defensive end, we've never had trouble scoring the ball here or away from home for the most part. The intensity on the defensive end that wasn't there in Ames and was there tonight, that's a challenge for this group now is to have the same kind of intensity in Kansas City."
On the Big 12 Tournament - "I think it's going to be a battle every game. There are no guarantees in any game in that tournament. Obviously our conference is deep, probably the deepest, the number one or two conference in the country. You can't take any game for granted. I think we've shown we can beat the best team in this league. That's our goal, we're going out there to win."
On Coach Boyle talking about the NCAA Tournament - "He's good at keeping us focused on the next game. Obviously it's hard to avoid, all that talk, all the media stuff that goes on today. In the locker room, out on the court and in practice, our focus is always the next game."
Marcus Relphorde, Senior, Guard
On being a number five seed in the Big 12 Tournament - "I think it's good. Of course the higher seed, the better and I think that's a good seed for us. I don't know who we're going to play. I think the last time I looked, it might have been Iowa State. I think we would all like to play them again considering what happened last game. We're going to be ready."
On getting momentum back - "I think we did, playing in front of our home crowd for one last time. We pretty much are a senior oriented group, so I think us as a team we definitely gained some momentum."
On defending Andre Almeida - "It's tough. You can't do anything with him. You can't move him. You just have to try your best, hopefully get some help if he catches it down there."
