Colorado University Athletics
Players Mentioned
CU-Baylor Quotes
November 09, 2013 | Men's Basketball
University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“I've been saying it the last three weeks now, we're not as good as people think we are. I liked our guys' fight, I think there were some good things that came out of tonight, it is the first game and we were playing a Top-25 team. But, we're just not where we need to be in a lot of different areas right now; we got out-rebounded, we didn't shoot the ball well, obviously. Our defense isn't good enough; I thought it was great in the first half, but in the second half we traded baskets with them, we couldn't get stops. We cut it to six at that one point, but we couldn't get over the hump. We only turned the ball over six times, we took care of the ball. There were some good things, it's just when you're not making shots it's tough. We have some guys that are capable of playing better and they didn't. Our guard-play tonight wasn't very good. But again, on the positive side, I thought Wesley Gordon for his first game was terrific. Josh Scott had a double-double. There were some good things, but some things we have to get better at.”
On Offensive Struggles
“Our offense has gotten better, it's just simple decision-making, and passing and catching. In the first half, we bobbled some passes, and you have to be crisp – especially with a team like Baylor, because they are so long, and so athletic, they cover gaps and make up for mistakes pretty quickly – so you better be sharp against those guys. We have a lot of room for improvement, but you hope that is the case on November 8th, but with the expectations of this program, they're a little out-of-whack from where we are because we're not as good as people think we are and we're not as good as we think we are.”
On Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon
“Coming into this game, everyone was saying, 'oh your guard play is so much better'. Well, guess what, their guards outplayed our guards and I thought our frontcourt certainly neutralized theirs and maybe even had the advantage. I thought our frontcourt play was really good, I thought Josh and Wes were terrific.”
On The Freshmen Performances
“I thought they played aggressively. Defensively, we went for a steal, missed it, cost us two points. We helped on a back screen over-under in the first half – not supposed to do that – cost us two points. [Baylor guard Brady] Heslip got free, boom, boom, two threes in the middle of the second half he got on one of our freshman. Those freshmen mistakes, they're going to make them, I know they're going to make them, they know they're going to make them. So, I'm not down on those guys at all, it's just they have to learn from it and hopefully understand that at this level you can't make those mistakes. With a guy like Brady Heslip, you have to be there when he catches the ball. This is their first game, I don't expect them to know that, we talk about that, but until they learn the hard way – which they did tonight – there is no way to get better. But I love our freshmen…we'll get better. But, it's not about the freshmen; it's about our veterans and the guys that we need to play like they've been here and play at the level they need to play at for us to win these kind of games against this kind of competition. We didn't do that tonight, it's not the end of the world, but it's disappointing. We have to keep getting better, that's all you can do. I just want to play hard, play smart, and play together.”
On The Shooting Performance of The Team
“There's practice-shooters, and there's game-shooters. We have practice-shooters right now, we don't have game-shooters. Until our practice-shooters become game-shooters, we better guard and rebound because their might be more nights like this. Are we capable of shooting better? Absolutely. But, there's a difference between a practice-shooter and a game-shooter. We just talked about that in the locker room with our guys; we chart every shot they take in practice, so I know Josh Scott is shooting 73 percent in practice, I know that Askia Booker is shooting 65 percent in practice – he's not shooting 65 percent in games – neither is Spencer, he's shooting 60-plus percent in practice, but he's not in games. So, it's one of three things: they're not taking game-shots, in game-speed, in game-conditions in practice; they're taking bad shots in the game that they're not taking in practice, or there not as good as shooters as they think they are. One of those three. I don't know what it is, but it's probably a combination of all three.”
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