Colorado-Air Force Quotes
November 25, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way our guys played, I think we can be a more consistent team but one of the challenges we laid out for the guys was let's play 40 minutes of Colorado basketball. I thought for the most part we played that way for about 37 minutes, and I didn't think we finished as strong as we need to finish. We are still a little bit of a spurt team, we play hard for three or four minutes and then we don't play hard for one or two and it's got to be a constant effort in terms of both defense and offense. The consistency is something that I think we're really going to talk about. This time of the season we set our standard high for ourselves, I'm not trying to sound negative because I love this team, I love the makeup of this team, the character of this team and the toughness of this team but this team can be a lot better than the way we've played since we came home from our first two road games. With that being said we did some real good things. We shot the ball well and played well defensively, we had 15 assists and played inside out sharing the ball well. So we've got to build on the positives, and keep getting better and our guys have to understand that.”
On how the team player tonight
“I thought we did a great job of playing inside out, which is something that we always talk about doing. We want to get our post guys involved, even if they don't get shots which they didn't get early because Air Force was doubling the posts. But we need to kick the ball back out, and penetrate the second time looking for some open threes that we knocked down and again that's a strength of this team having guys who can knock down shots. The inside out I thought was really good, and then they quit doubling and we let our post guys go to work. I thought the balance with our offense tonight was terrific. And it shows up in the box score, we shot 52 percent tonight. It gets back to the consistency aspect, I thought there were some transition plays we could have made that we didn't but that's some places we need to improve. But we did take some strides offensively tonight.”
On Thomas Akyazili
“He's getting better and better, but I've said this before he's like a sponge. He's the type of guy you can tell something to one time and he's going to take it to heart and understand it. When he makes a mistake you can see the pain on his face, but he recognizes the mistakes and learns from them. When you have a player like that, they're just going to get better and better and do it quickly. You can see that with Thomas, he's getting better quickly. But he's a freshman so it's going to be a roller coaster, with good games and bad games. The key is you come back the next day ready to fight, and get better. The thing I like about Thomas is he's that guy and he's going to be a good player. Four assists and no turnovers, I'll take that every night.”
On rebounding by the wing players
“Rebounding is something we've challenged all of our wings with, and when I say wings I mean Josh Fortune, Tre'Shaun Fletcher and George King. I want those guys to have a running feud on who can get the most rebounds both offensively and defensively. Josh Fortune has had some really good rebounding games for us lately and if that can continue, and both George and Tre'Shaun do it, it takes a lot of pressure off of Wesley Gordon, Josh Scott and Tory Miller. We want to be a great offensive and defensive rebounding team and those wing players are the missing link. We know Josh, Tory and Wes will do it, but those tall wings will really help us”
On Wesley Gordon not in the starting lineup
“He was late to the pregame meal, so he didn't start and he missed a rotation.”
On Tory Miller's flagrant two foul
“Tory's an emotional player, there was something in the jump ball scrum that the officials saw. The Air Force player said something and the officials believed him and confirmed it. We'll deal with it, but Tory is a great kid. He's an emotional player and a competitive player. He needs to learn to keep his emotions and competitive juices in check, and tonight maybe they got the best of him but he'll be fine and he's a terrific young man.”
On Brett Brady
“Xavier Talton had two fouls in the first half, Dom Collier had two fouls and Thomas was a little gassed while we were facing zone. Brett's quite frankly one of our better shooters and while they were in zone we said hey lets steal a couple of minutes and we put Brett in there. One of the things I love about our team is what Josh Scott said to Brett, he told him to be aggressive. Our guys know how good of a shooter Brett is and he got an open look and knocked the first one down, missed the second one. But we are really proud of him for being ready, since he didn't expect to go in but you never know what the games going to dictate. Because of the zone play it was a good opportunity. I've got a lot of faith in him, so I'm really proud of him.”
On meaning of Air Force game for Josh Scott
“I don't know if it means more to him, but I know it means a lot to him. The thing I love about Josh is I think every game means something to him. He's a guy who's playing college basketball for the right reasons, he's not interested in himself, his stats or his NBA draft stock. He's here to enjoy school and go to college. I think the reason Josh really looks forward to this game is his mom and dad and how much he respects the Air Force program. He grew up in Colorado Springs, and his mom played basketball there and his dad played football there. I know it holds a special place in his heart but he plays hard every time he plays. I was glad he played well tonight, we look for him and we got him the ball. Thomas and Dom had some good looks in transition to get him the ball. So I'm really happy Josh played well.”
On getting better tonight
“In certain aspects we did, again we took a step backwards in our turnovers getting 12 last game to 17 tonight. But we got better offensively in terms of playing inside out, shooting the ball and having balance. I think we're getting better in certain areas but sometimes you take one step forward and two steps back. We've got to play Colorado basketball which is taking care of the ball, getting great shots, defending our tail off and rebounding our tail off for 40 minutes and we've yet to do that. There are opportunities for improvement, but we're getting better in certain areas. This is a coachable team of tremendous young men, and the ceiling is high. That's the good thing, we're not playing anywhere near our ceiling. That both excites and frustrates me as a coach because I want us to play up to that ceiling. We're going to need to play near that ceiling as we move through the season.”
On offensive firepower compared to 2010-11 team
“I'm not going to go as far as to say that this team has more firepower. I think it's the second best offensive team that we've had during my time here. I mean Cory Higgins was one of the all-time leading scorers here. Alec Burks was a lottery pick, Austin Default could shoot it from the five, (Marcus) Relphorde could shoot it from the four, and Levi (Knutson) came off the bench, no I'm not going there with this team. But we're pretty good offensively but that team was explosive.”
Colorado Players
Josh Scott, Sr. F
On Relying on Teammates Shooting When Being Double-Teamed so Often
“It's really easy when you have guys that can shoot. In years past – I wouldn't say that we didn't have shooters – but this year we do have shooters, Josh Fortune obviously being one of them. That helps me out. You don't have to worry when you garner so much attention. It's nice for these guys, because they get wide open shots and it worked out that way. That's how it should be. If someone's getting attention, you drive the lane and find the open man; if you get double-teamed, you find the open man. Honestly, if people want to play zone, they saw what happens. Not that we're going to shoot that way all year. Obviously we have good shooters.”
On Team's Response After the Last Game
“Honestly, Coach Boyle didn't need to say anything after Sunday's game. He did, but I think we all, as players, understood that we have to get better defensively. I would say even tonight we need to get better defensively. It's a process. We had some really defensive-minded practices. People came out energetic and ready to play both Monday and Tuesday. I would say even tonight, even though it was a slow start.”
On Brett Brady's Role on the Team
“Brett can shoot; he's a shooter. In years past, you'd have to coax Brett into shooting in games, but in practice, boy he'd be lighting us up with scout team. For him to get in there and shoot the ball and play aggressively is big time for us. It gets our team going. It's good to see him in there. He's a zone-breaker; he's a good shooter, so it helps us out a lot.”
On Play of the Point Guards
“Coach [Boyle] harps on them a lot. I don't think anybody really understands that he's on top of them in practice. He really expects a lot out of them. They've been playing really well this year. I've been really impressed with how they've been moving the ball. Thomas [Akyazili] has gotten better every single day; Dom [Collier] get's better every single day; so does XT (Xavier Talton). He's kind of the guiding hand behind the two of them. There's no complaints; it's definitely a step up from last year.”
On Being 4-0 Against Air Force in His College Career
“It's special, because growing up all you hear about is Air Force Falcons football and basketball growing up near there and playing in their gyms. It's nice to have four W's against a team that I watched when I was growing up. I played with coach Pilipovich's son as a freshman. There's lots of connections here or there. It's special to know you swept a team in state that's close to your heart.”
Josh Fortune, Jr., G
On How He Could Have Fit into Last Year's Team
“I saw certain spots where I could help the offense. Him [Josh Scott] attracting so many traps and double-teams, it freed up the offense and made the game easier for us as a team.”
On Becoming More Comfortable Having Sat Out a Year
“I've been to the gym almost every night trying to get my rhythm back. With that being said, it's about playing with an open mind and playing free and as a team and good things will happen.”
On Role as a Rebounder
“It improved a whole lot since I've been playing in college. Coach [Boyle] has been on me almost every practice to crash the boards and make it a habit in practice. I've been trying to do that every game and stay aggressive.”
On Play of the Point Guards
“I think our point guards did a great job of pushing it ahead and making the simple play, not just the homerun play like we used to in previous games. They've been playing good for us and it's been helping the team out.”
On Being Able to Bring the Ball Up in the Offense
“If I do get it, I'm pushing it ahead to my teammates that are open. It's pretty easy and helps the offense to get the ball up the court faster and start the offense faster.”
Air Force Head Coach Dave Pilipovich
On the Strength of the Buffaloes
“That's a really good team. They shoot the ball really well, they have size, they have depth and athleticism. I was really impressed watching them on film but watching them live, they were really close and tight. I like that team.”
On What His Team Needed To Do To Beat The Buffs
“We were trying to take away the inside, we got some perimeter shots and we wanted to take away a few things. But then, they made some shots and we knew that they were capable of doing that.”
On Air Force's Low Free Throw Percentage
“We had some layups in there that we didn't finish and we missed a couple free throws. That changes the complexion a little bit. We battled until the end, came back, made a run at the end but we can't be 8 of 18 from the free throw line. That's not going to help us.”
On His Team's 41% Three Point Shooting
“We made some shots from the perimeter which is good to see, we had to make some threes. We were 41 percent or so, so we made some shots from there. IT's always good to see. I think we grew from it.”
On Tory Miller's Flagrant Foul
“The flagrant, he got bit on his shoulder. They saw the teeth marks on there.”
On Josh Scott's Talent
“He is very good. Josh is very good. He lets the game come to him. He's strong, he's a savvy veteran, a four year veteran. He's really good. We're a big fan of his when we don't play him. He's a very talented player.”
On Upcoming Challenges In the Schedule
“It's a tough loss because we have to grow from this. We look at this as a conference game because they're probably the top of the guys that we'll be playing in our league, the UNLVs and New Mexico's. We have to grow from this. We're only four games into it so I think we will. This Saturday against New Mexico State will be as big of if not a bigger test for us.”
