Colorado University Athletics
CU-Utah Post Game Quotes
January 08, 2015 | Men's Basketball
University of Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
"Playing without [G] Askia [Booker] and without [F] Josh [Scott] and XJ (F Xavier Johnson) for basically the second part of the first half and we're down 10 at halftime, it felt pretty good. We gave up 31 points at halftime and 22 of those were off second chance points or turnovers. When we got our defense set we gave up nine points to the Utah Utes. But, second chance points and points off turnovers are something we give them. I mean, we've got the stop or we've got the ball and we give the ball up or we don't get the rebound and that can't happen. Then, for the game 41 of their 74 points are off our turnovers or their second chance points. We talked about it before the game, we've got to take care of the ball, didn't do it, 18 turnovers. Every time our offense struggles, every time, you look at that assist number and it's in single digits. Tonight, we had five assists, we don't move the ball, we don't share the ball, we don't make plays for each other. You've got to give Utah credit, they're a good defensive team, we played a top 10 team on the road. I told our players, they came to Colorado to get an education; we got an education tonight about what a top 10 team looks like. They're taking charges, they're making open threes. We go 12-for-21 at the free throw line on the road against a top 10 team, you can't do that. We didn't do anything good enough tonight to even be in the game, much less win the game. We have to understand that, we have to do better. Are we capable of shooting better free throws? Yeah. Are we capable of taking care of the ball better? Yeah. Are we capable of rebounding the ball better? Yeah. But guess what? We didn't do any of those things tonight and it cost us the ball game and an embarrassing loss. They are a good team, but I don' think they are 25 points better than us. I expected a dog fight tonight, we didn't make it a dog fight."
On The Excessive Number Of Turnovers
"Every guy on our team participated, everyone, it's not just one guy. There is nobody that didn't turn it over tonight, everyone turned it over. It's a group. We have to get better individually and we have to get better certainly collectively as a group. Tonight was a disappointing loss, and again, we lost to a good team, I give Utah credit, I'm not taking away anything from them, their crowd was great. I expected more out of our Buffaloes tonight and it was very disappointing tonight."
On Allowing Opponents Offensive Rebounds
"It's effort, it's toughness, it's creating space, it's battling. We've proven that we can be a good rebounding team, but the last three games we haven't been. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds to UCLA, I think we gave up 16 to USC, and tonight we gave up 14 to Utah; not good enough, bottom line, not good enough. I blamed the UCLA and USC numbers on not having Josh [Scott]. Guess what, we had Josh tonight for 28 minutes, it's not just about Josh Scott. It's a team thing. You can't allow 13 second chance points and 28 points off turnovers, that's 41 of their 74 points are off what Colorado didn't do. Now, you're not going to eliminate those numbers, but if you cut them in half and you have a ball game. We're not good enough at what we need to be good enough at right now."
On The Week Off Before Traveling To Arizona
"We do, we have an opportunity to get better, we have to practice, and we have to get in the gym. Whether it is ball handling drills, passing drills, we have to work on our half-court offense, we have to do rebounding drills. There's a ton of things we need to get better at and we have a week to do it. Arizona is a top 10 team and a good basketball team. We know what Tucson is like, it's time to strap it up and go down there. We weren't good enough tonight."
On F Xavier Johnson's High Ankle Sprain
"He twisted his ankle pretty good, and it's higher, it's not in the joint it's higher up. High ankle sprains are pretty nasty and we'll get a better feel for that as it progresses. They're very painful and they take a little longer than just the normal ankle sprain. We have enough guys on this team to overcome but we would certainly like to get him back as soon as possible."
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