Colorado-Southern Utah Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Linda Lappe

General

“Well, overall I liked how we responded to our last three days of practice. We've focused a lot on playing defense, on rebounding and setting better screens. We saw all three of those things greatly increase today and greatly improve from before Christmas. Overall, at times, we did not look very good and didn't get stops when we needed to get stops. Our offense sputtered at times. But overall, you look at Southern Utah and you have to credit them. I always think you have to credit the defense when you can't score, and credit the offense when they do score. They're a feisty group, and we knew they were going to be really well coached. They play extremely hard, and they have a lot of energy. They're a great mid-major team and they brought a lot of physical play today. We needed that and it was fun for us to see how we responded.”

On Win Being Needed Going Into Pac-12 Play

“Yeah, I thought that in terms of playing defense and being able to unleash some of our aggressiveness that we've been seeing in practice, I felt like we needed to do that against another opponent. I thought Southern Utah executed a lot of their sets very well. They took advantage of when we made a mistake. They really made us play half-court game. They really slowed the game down. We like to get up and down and run the floor. They did a nice job of getting their defense set and making it a half-court game. It really made us become stagnant at times, so that's something we can learn from, take from this game and be able to go back and figure out how to still score a lot of points when you're slowed down in transition.”

On Ashley Wilson's Performance

“Ashley [Wilson] is such a hard worker and she's so tough. That's what Ashley gives us and that's what we've kind of been missing. She's been out with a shoulder injury, and I know it was really bothering her today when she got hit by that one back-screen. So, she was gutting through. I think every time Ashley Wilson came into the game, something good happened. Whether it was her helping make a play on defense, being aggressive on offense, giving us a second shot with an offensive rebound, or emotion or energy she just found a way to increase our overall play and to also make her teammates better tonight. She does that every game. The thing that you know you're going to get from Ashley every single game is a lot of energy, a lot of emotion, she's going to play great defense and she's going to play extremely hard.”

On An Improvement In Rebounding

“I thought [we improved] both offensively and defensively. We were able to watch a lot of film and kind of see us on the offense end not really attacking hard on the offensive glass in the last game, and then our box outs weren't very good on the defensive end. So, we've spent a lot of time working on both of those things. You could see it paid off. There were a few times we missed bodies on box outs, but for the most part, we were getting bodies on people and understanding how to create space to get the defensive rebound. I liked how Jamee Swan was able to go up and get a lot of rebounds for us and just be a presence under the glass.”

On Desiree Harris Playing First Game Of Season

“Well, she had to get ready. You get ready through practice, and getting in better shape. She's been doing some good things in practice at times. Really, with Lauren Huggins out right now, we needed another guard body at times. I think she was a little nervous going in there. This was basically the first time that she's been in the game so you could see that. But, I like her athleticism, her aggressiveness and just her ability to defend one-on-one. Those are the kinds of things we've been seeing in practice. You never know when your name is going to be called and it's your time. I think the more game experience that you can have, the more ready you can be as a player.”

On Missed Free Throws In Past Two Games Being A Concern

“Of course it does, yeah. You don't do anything different in practice. We will probably shoot a little bit more now that school's not in session. It's about focus. It's about getting up there with the right mindset and understanding that they're important because just with how the games getting called, both teams are getting a lot of free throws. There's going to be some games where they're going to come down to who can make more free throws and I think our players understanding that and feeling comfortable and confident when they get to the free throw line is important.”

Colorado Players

Ashley Wilson Sr., G

On Multiple Career Highs In One Game

“It just happened. All the credit goes to my teammates. It's easy to be out there on the floor with these guys. They give me a lot of energy. I just do whatever it takes for these guys and that's all that matters. My role is to provide energy off the bench for each and every one of my teammates. They know that's what I do. I know they're looking for it, so I have to provide that every single game. I just did my best with what I could. I tried to get in little “chippy” plays, offensive rebounds, little things like that just to do anything to help [my team] out.”

On The Significance Of This Game On Upcoming Pac-12 Play

“We're happy with this win. There were a lot of different things we've worked on the last three practices that definitely showed up in the game. We wanted to ramp up our defense a whole lot more going into Pac-12 because we know that there is a lot of good teams that are going to come after us in the Pac-12. So, it was a great win.”

On What Kept Southern Utah In The Game At Times

“Once we got up, instead of keeping our foot on the gas, we kind of relaxed and eased up a little bit. That's a really good team. They play hard for forty minutes and we saw that. So, as soon as we thought that we could take a little bit of a breath, they came right back and hit us. I mean the great thing is that we responded every single time. That goes to show what kind of team we have.”

Jasmine Sborov Jr., G

On The Point Gap Closing To Two In Second Half

“To be honest, it didn't really feel like the score was that close leading up to the two-point deficit until that happened. We looked at the scoreboard and we were like, 'alright we need to get down, get some stops, and just extend our lead.' I think that's one negative thing with this game is that we were up and then we were down and we were up and we let them get closer. We didn't step on their throats and just keep going. Ashley [Wilson] said it in the huddle, 'we just need to get stops right here and turn them into points.' So, that's what we did.”

On Contending For Pac-12 Title

“Absolutely. I was thinking about this the other day and talking to a couple of my teammates about it. This team this year is so much different than last years team. I don't even think we realize the potential that we actually do have. That's really a cool thing to be a part of. I do think we're a great contender for it. Obviously, our offense is a lot better this year. Any player can go off for however many points in a night. That's hard to scout and that's hard to guard. When you have five scorers on the floor at one time, it's hard to play against. I don't think that we necessarily had that last year. Obviously, our defense is what we're known for and what we need to keep emphasizing and being better at.”