Colorado-Wyoming Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General
“Well, if you guys are looking for the definition of the phrase, “winning ugly,” I think you saw it tonight. It wasn't pretty; it wasn't our best effort but I was really proud of our guys for finding a way down the stretch to win the game. I've got a lot of respect for [Wyoming Head Coach] Larry Shyatt and the University of Wyoming and their program. They play us tough every year and it was just good to get a win against them. It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, but we'll take it, we'll learn, we'll move on and we'll get better. I've said many times, you'd rather learn from a win than learn from a loss and our players understand that. We have a mature group and a young group that's getting better and right now we're trying to find some consistency, especially on the offensive side of the floor.”

On Second Half Defense
“In the second half, the defense was the difference in the game; holding them to 38%. We chart layups, and gave up nine layups in the first half; we want to give up seven for the game. We gave up three layups in the second half. The defense was the key and when we ran our offense and executed our offense, we shot 50% in the second half and those are good numbers.”

On Dinwiddie's Performance

“I've said this many times about Spencer. He can affect the game in a lot of different ways. It doesn't have to be scoring; it doesn't have to be shooting; it can be getting to the free throw line, which he obviously does a great job of. It can be defensively and I think he's our best perimeter defender right now. He rebounded the ball well, he had seven rebounds. I don't know if that's a career high but it's close to it. I'd like to see that every night out of your 6' 6” guard. He did things to help us win the game down the stretch. He knows he can play better, you guys know he can play better, and I know he can play better.”

On 3-Point Defense in Second Half
“We tried to get a little closer to them; we talked about knowing personnel, they got one in transition and they were feeling it. They're good players, they have a nice team. We're going to play bigger teams and more talented teams as this season goes on, we know that, but again, Wyoming is tough, they're well-coached, and they don't beat themselves. I thought our 3-point defense in the second half was much better.”

On Consistency
“You try to build on positives at this time of year and you try to really let your team understand what we have to do better, and part of it is consistency. We shoot 33% against Baylor; we shoot 59% against UT-Martin; and we shoot 40% tonight. That's the definition of inconsistency. But, we're three games in and we have to learn how to win those games like we did tonight when we're not doing our best.”

On New “Hand-Checking” Rules
“Against Baylor, we were really soft; we were afraid to foul. Spencer's charge that he took on the ball in second half was terrific. That was a great defensive play and that's what you have to do. We have to get our arms out; you cannot touch them with your hands or any part of your arm. And I'm talking about touch. But that's the way it's going to be; we're going to have to figure that out. I don't like it. Haven't liked it from the beginning but I'm not going to change it. So we better adjust to it. We talk about getting our arms out and moving our feet. If the offense creates contact in the chest, we have to take a charge.

“It would be interesting to see if this happens all year or if they make an adjustment come league-play in January.”

University of Colorado Student-Athletes

Spencer Dinwiddie, Jr., G

On beating Wyoming after losing six straight to Cowboys
“Coach talked about it, and we've gone 0-3 against them since I've been here. It was a big game for us. I know I said earlier that they aren't a rival and I stick by that but at the same time they are a really big game. Really, anything is a big game. We're glad we won.”

On the decision to drive versus taking jump shots and getting to the free throw line
“Right now, if it wasn't for free throws, I wouldn't be a very good player offensively. It's not that I don't trust my jumper, you just go with what you feel is going to work at the time. You have a split second decision. You either take a three or you drive to the basket. So far, the likelihood is that I'm going to the free throw line. Tonight I shot 13 of them.”

On giving up easy baskets
“We cut our layups. Other than that, they were hitting threes in the first half. Those were shots that they missed in the second half. That's a little bit of it. Most of it was that we cut our layups. We gave up eight layups in the first half and then only three in the second. Those five extra shots will definitely cut down percentage. If we don't give up layups and keep a hand in their face, threes won't fall all night.

On keeping up the defensive pressure from last year without Andre Roberson
“It's a collective effort. Welsey [Gordon] before this game had been averaging about nine boards, which is only two shy of Andre. As a group, you look at Josh [Scott] who was getting about six boards last year and now he's getting nine. Xavier [Johnson] is probably right on pace. It's a collective effort. As long as you get team rebounds, it doesn't even matter if it's one person, defensively as well. Josh has shown he's a great outside defender, it's just not as pretty or flashy. He takes charges. Fans may not jump out of their seat for a charge, but sometimes it's better because it will get a foul on the other team's star player. Wesley is going to get several blocks each game, so we're picking up the slack outside.”

On closing out the game and going 6-for-8 in free throws in the last minutes of the game
“It's a point of emphasis. Coach has talked about that. When he does reference the Arizona game, he says it wasn't the referee's fault. It was we that were doing the things and missing the free throws. It's been a point of emphasis on our light days, our back-to-back days. We'll come in and shoot free throws and a hundred jumpers. We'll get in and we'll still get a feel for the basket and the ball and then just try to make shots. I credit Coach for that and giving us those extra reps.”

On Wyoming's zone defense
“Honestly, I don't think their zone disrupted us as much as the numbers might say. What happens is that you get less possessions in the game, so naturally you're going to score less. What they want you to do is pass one or two times and then shoot a three. In our zone offense we try to get good motion, get to the high post and have a little high-low action between Wesley and Josh. When that happens, we get a lot of layups. I think we only shot twelve threes. For them to zone us and hold us to not shooting many threes, we did get inside. It's just a matter of converting it and not taking as many shots as in previous games.”

Josh Scott, So., F

On bulking up for this season
“Yeah, it paid off. I bulked up so that I could make an impact in games. Last year I probably would have had six points and two rebounds. Physical games like this are pretty much the reason I decided to bulk up.”

Wyoming Head Coach Larry Shyatt

On Dealing With CU's Size
“I thought we did a great job attacking the brown ourselves. I really thought, except for those first four threes we took early in the game, we chose our shot selection pretty well and we really attacked the paint and the glass well. We just didn't come up with what we needed at the charity stripe.”

On the Free Throw Line
“We coaches have to adjust to this, we have to figure it out. I saw our players uncertain in zone and man, how to guard to dribble, what to do. Get out of the way and not even play defense? It's a difficult situation right now. It's disappointing but nonetheless it's a big part of the game and our coaching staffs are the responsible parties.”

On the Bench Players
“I said earlier in the year that I really feel comfortable with Bentz, Washington, Haldorson, and of course Granberry from Miami. I really feel like they can give us good minutes. I don't know if we found ourselves yet. We're like any good organization. It's early in the year. We have to find out how we can get better. That's called evaluating. And I told these guys, there's some pretty good ball clubs that have lost and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to figure it out and play our tails off Saturday night.”

On the Change In the Second Half
“They did a good job, early in the game, of denying our post touches, even out of 26 feet. But I thought our guys took advantage again, taking the ball to the whole hard the second half. We just didn't come up with the best plays.”

On The Outcome of the Game
“My mindset is that we took no positives out of this game. We are an organization that has to rely on getting better. We better find a way in the next two days to get better. We have a terrific Arkansas State team coming in Saturday afternoon and we are going to need everybody, including our loyal fans.”

On How Tough The Loss Is
“Each time we play, it's new players and many times, it's been a lot of different coaches. So realistically, it's never the same team and it's never the same coach. We always talk about patterns in basketball. There's no such thing. Tonight Colorado was five points better and sadly enough, we didn't meet the challenge in the last two and a half minutes of the game.”

-COLORADO-