Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
CU-Arkansas State Quotes
November 19, 2013 | Men's Basketball
University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“Obviously we're happy with a 23-point win. I think again, like most games we've played so far this year there's a lot of things we can take from this one and learn from and get better from. I think the thing that stands out to me tonight is just our 40 minutes of defensive intensity. Arkansas State has good players, we knew that coming in, they start five seniors, and they're going to win a lot of games in their league. We've got to have that killer instinct defensively, and we let up a little bit and let them back in it, but I'm proud of our guys a lot of good things to build on.”
On F Josh Scott
“I think Wesley [Gordon] is a very capable low post scorer himself, so it's nice to have two guys. Obviously Josh has gained weight; he has a lot of confidence down there. Our players have a lot of confidence in Josh, you look at his line tonight, 7-of-8 from the field, 6-of-6 from the free throw line, five rebounds, he had a nice night, and it's a nice luxury to have. Teams, I think, will double him at times and we're going to need to get better at that. But it's nice when they don't double him and he goes one-on-one down there, that's advantage Buffaloes.”
On Playing The Freshman At The Same Time
“I'd rather do it in games like this when we have a little bit of a cushion, up 18 at half. Hopefully in a couple weeks I won't even look at them as freshmen. I was really proud of Tre'Shaun [Fletcher], I thought he was very productive. And obviously George [King] in the first half rebounded really well, and shot the ball well. And Dustin [Thomas] and Jaron [Hopkins], I've got a lot of trust in those guys as well. So our freshmen are growing up quick, and I think tonight was another step in the right direction for them.”
On G George King
“Don't count the time, make the time count. He's making the time count when he's out on the court. He's taken the coaches advice on rebounding and he's trying to defend, he learned some things tonight in terms of getting through screens, he had some lapses there defensively but boy he's rebounding the ball at a very high level and you guys know how important that is. There must be something in the water in San Antonio when it comes to rebounding.”
On F Xavier Johnson Being Out
“If you want to look at it as a blessing in disguise, that's how I look at it. Obviously we don't want anybody out, Xavier (Johnson) is going to be important to this team everybody knows that but it has been nice in terms of the rotation and getting everybody more minutes.”
On Why Johnson Is Sitting Out
“He got dinged up a little bit in practice. Hopefully he'll be back for Thursday.”
On The Home Court Advantage
“We like it. I want this to be the best home court advantage in the Pac-12, and right now we're not, we're probably second behind Arizona. These non-conference games, it's critical that our fans know how critical these are to our program. I know people are waiting for Kansas and Arizona and UCLA but every game we play is important, our fans need to understand that and our players need to understand that. The way I look at that record (48-7 at home), that's seven losses too many.”
On Playing Road Games at Colorado State and Air Force
“Those aren't easy places to play for Colorado. Air Force wants to beat us bad and Colorado State does not like Colorado, everybody knows that, they want to beat our tails.”
On G Spencer Dinwiddie
“The last two games Spencer's really taken charge. He's played a great floor game, he's been very efficient. There are going to be times when this team will need Spencer to score, and he understands that. The great thing about this team is we have a lot of different weapons and we can't get trigger happy. I think the other thing that happened in the first half, is we got trigger happy with quick threes and we can't live and die by those.”
On Figuring Out The Rotation
“Starting to, Xavier (Johnson) being out has made it easier for me. For Fletch and George those minutes will be hit and miss when Xavier (Johnson) comes back. But I have a lot more confidence in those guys than I did a week ago and that's a good thing.”
On Arkansas St G Melvin Johnson III
“He's a good player, he has good size and shoots the ball extremely well. Melvin Johnson is good player, we knew that coming in.”
University of Colorado Student-Athletes
Josh Scott, So., F
ON BUILDING A BIG LEAD
“I think we locked them up pretty well in the first half. We chased them off the three point line and they only had two layups going in to the half, so they weren't shooting the ball well. Coming out of the half though, we didn't find shooters and they hit a bunch of shots, some of them with a hand in their face. We knew coming in that they were a talented offensive team, but we locked in and got the win by a large margin.”
ON THE FINAL SCORING RUN
“I think our defensive pressure kind of picked up. We were giving up a couple too many threes, especially in transition; they hit two or three wide open ones. But, I think once we started making them hit tougher shots we got back to how we play offensively, and defensively. I think that's when you saw us go on a run.”
ON THE FRESHMAN
“I think you can see how they bring energy. They are a really talented offensive group and they are starting to get it defensively. They are a special group of freshman. They are going to add a lot to our team this year.”
ON HIS 20 POINT GAME
“They had a 6'7 guy, granted he is 260 [pounds], and they had another 6'10 kid. They were single covering me and they weren't digging hard, so if you're going to give me that I am going to score. That's pretty much all I can say about that.”
ON SHOOTING WITH BOTH HANDS
“Ever since I was young, I started with my right hand. For some reason, I don't why, I switched. I like to say I'm just confused. I'm ambidextrous with some things, not so much on some other things. I shoot jump shots right-handed and I like to go left.”
George King, Fr., G
ON HIS PROGRESS SINCE BAYLOR GAME
“I think I have grown a lot, both offensively and defensively. I'm starting to know the plays better and I just know what I am doing in particular. I feel more comfortable on the court. I am just having fun out here and I think that is the biggest key.”
ON HIS SHOT TONIGHT
“In previous games I wasn't shooting the ball very well and it wasn't feeling good at all. But in this warm-up, I focused on blocking everything out and focusing on the rim. I told my roommate, [Tre'Shaun] Fletch[er], that I was going to hit a three in this game. This was my first one, my first three in a game and I finally hit it. I just locked in during warm-ups.”
Arkansas State Head Coach John Brady
On Only Two Players Scoring In The First Half
“I coached a team at LSU that played Ohio State to triple overtime and I had all five starters score every point. I didn't have a guy come off the bench and score a point in triple overtime. So, that's not my issue. My issue has nothing to do with who scored or who didn't score. My issue is that my team and I have based most of my coaching career on teams defending, and rebounding, and we don't do either one very well. Until we get the mindset to guard, and until we get the mindset to go rebound better, it's not going to happen for us; particularly against a team like this. So, our issue is that we can't get consecutive stops, and we don't finish the possession by rebounding it. Until we get that right, I'm not really concerned about who scored, who didn't score, or where the scoring is coming from. This has been our issue, even when we won two games. We go to Wyoming, can't guard; our first two games of the year that we won we couldn't guard them, and we were fortunate to win. We can score the ball decently from time to time, and relative to who we have to beat. You know, we don't have to beat Colorado every night. So, relative to who we have to play we can score the ball okay. But our inability to guard and keep the ball in front of us, and rebound it to finish the possession is something we don't do very well. Our team has got to have a mindset to do it better, or we're going to always be looking up and trying to outscore people and I don't like those types of games.”
On Tactics Colorado Used To Prevent Defense From Performing
“Well you know; they're a good team. They're got three or four guys that can score and shoot it. They don't run any plays that are very complicated. But what they do run, they run it well, and they're well coached. They have some experience on their team, and they're picked high up in their league. A couple magazines had them preseason top 25. We don't have any of that now. But still, not specifically or physically, we didn't “punch them in the mouth” enough to get the score where we needed to. We came out in the second half and [closed the gap] to eight, and we were at the free throw line to cut it to six. Then we missed two free throws, turned it over twice, they got points off the turnovers, and all the sudden it's up to [a twelve point deficit] again. We had moments. You know, we hung in there a little bit. But until we get a consistent effort of guarding, and putting consecutive stops together we're not going to be the kind of team we need to be.”
On Half-Time Conversations
“I told them to guard somebody and rebound. It's really tricky stuff. I hope they were embarrassed a little bit by giving up 46 points in the first half. You can't do that and beat people. Defensively I just challenged them. We got a little better; we had some stops, and got back in the game a little bit. But then we don't sustain it, and you can't be 'spurty' against a team like this on their home floor and expect to do something.”
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