Colorado-Sacramento State Quotes - University of Colorado Athletics

Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General
“I thought as for home openers go it was a good one. We certainly have some areas where we can improve. Some really nice things happened out there. I told the team after the game that the strength of this team is going to be the balance of this team. And I thought that the balance of this team showed tonight. Obviously our rebounding on the defensive end has to get better, they had 17 offensive rebounds, and that’s way to many. That was disappointing and our ball screen defense and our hand off defense really broke down late in the second half. So I think that our focus there needs to be better. So we’ve got some things to work improve, but overall 20 assists and ten turnovers, sharing the ball and a lot of unselfishness out there. We played inside out offensively, we did a lot of good things.”

On Team’s Defensive Intensity
“I thought it was better tonight. I think we lost it at times there in the second half. But you really have to be disciplined in a game like that to keep it for 40 minutes. But I thought that our defensive effort and intensity was pretty good. I think when you look at our field goal percentage defense, I thought it was very good. We played shots and played without fouling for the most part. Overall I was pleased, up until the second half when we really broke down a couple of times.”

On Derrick White’s First Game at CU
“He’s pretty special. The thing about Derrick is that he was only about 70 percent tonight, he twisted his ankle two days ago in practice and he’s not 100 percent. So he showed great toughness and resolve to even play tonight. And he was not 100 percent. Dominique Collier isn’t 100 percent either, he tweaked a foot a few weeks ago. When those two guys are 100 percent they will be even better.”

On Collier Coming Off the Bench
“His foot had something to do with that, and in the last scrimmage he wasn’t able to play. He has been practicing so I wasn’t going to not play him. We really put an emphasis on rebounding tonight, so whether or not Dom come’s off the bench it really doesn’t matter. I thought he showed great focus when he came in tonight, and it really showed. Thomas [Akyazili] gives us great energy. So again I don’t worry about who starts and who comes off the bench. The strength of this team is the balance and the depth. So when we send in the first round of substitutions you want to see that lead extend. And that happened tonight, I think in both the first and second halves. Tonight I thought Dom was terrific.”

On Rebounding Expectations
“Here’s the deal with rebounding. On defense we expect all five guys to be involved. We expect all five guys defensively to box out and go get it. Offensively our three, four and five men are supposed to go rebound it every single time offensively. So the guys like Xavier [Johnson], George King and Wesley Gordon they go all the time. There’re some guys who go sometimes, but sometimes they need to get back and stop the break. Guys like Thomas and Dom and maybe Derrick sometimes. Josh Fortune can be a really good rebounded, and he’s shown that. So we want certain guys to go both offensively and defensively. But on defense we want everyone going, and that’s were Sacramento State have 17 offensive rebounds make me a little concerned. Because that’s been an issue and it was an issue tonight, so we need to get that one shored up.”

On CU’s Offensive Rebounding
“I haven’t really looked at the numbers that close. We had ten offensive rebounds, but we only missed 28 shots. It was ok, I don’t think we dominated them on the glass like we should have or could have. We were plus seven at halftime, and plus seven for the game. So the second half was a stalemate rebounding and that’s not where we need to be, we don’t have that edge yet.”

On Collier Playing Off the Ball
“The thing that makes Dom so dangerous off the ball is that we have sets where we are setting ball screens for our guys off the ball. Derrick’s got great size in transition, he’s really good at pushing it and he knows when to push and when to pull it back. He had four assists and no turnovers in the norm for Derrick White. So to have Dom, a guy who can play on the ball and off the ball it just makes him a dual threat. So we ran a couple of plays for him tonight, and he knocked down a three and played inside out. Dom’s one of our best our best shooters and we want our best shooters shooting the ball. So he’ll on and off the ball, and it’s nice to have that luxury as a coach.”

On Xavier Johnson’s First Game Back
“It was good to have him back. Xavier’s had a long road and it’s been a long recovery for him. It was a tough injury that he suffered. I thought he really rebounded the ball defensively well for us tonight. Offensively I think he’s got to start to get a few more, which is something we challenge and encourage him to do. I think that Xavier is playing unselfishly, he’s not taking bad shots. He’s one of our better screeners, and I think he’s doing a great job. He’ll be an inside outside threat for us before it’s all said and done. But in his first game back I thought that he was terrific.”

On Team Shooting Well Tonight
“I hope we can expect to shot like that every night. I think it really helps when we play inside out. Getting the ball down low to Wes [Gordon], getting the ball to Tory [Miller] down low and getting the ball to Xavier [Johnson] down low. And then the defense collapses and we kick out, and that really helps. And of course we had that with Josh [Scott] last year. And that’s why I’m really happy with tonight’s performance because we continue to get the ball inside, and knock down some threes. You saw that Lucas Siewart is a big time threat behind the line. And we’ve got a lot of different guys who can shoot it, and if we continue to play unselfishly and continue to share the ball, we should be a tough team to guard.”

On Team Depth
“The strength of this team is the balance of this team, and the balance of the team comes from the depth of the team. We have different guys who are able to score, and I loved our balance tonight. When you look down the shot column you see that nobody had double digit shots and that the shots we really well distributed. We had 20 assists and only ten turnovers, a lot of good things offensively and hopefully that can continue.”

On Lucas Siewert and Deleon Brown’s First Collegiate Game
“They were terrific. I thought that Lucas was terrific and that he shot the ball well. We know that he can do that. We continue to ask him to rebound and post up. To be that inside out presence. Deleon I thought was terrific. He played with great energy defensively. Deleon’s going to be a good player, and I thought he was terrific in his first college game. I couldn’t be more proud those guys.”

On CU’s Sense of Urgency
“It was better tonight. Again that was my concern coming in. I believe and trust in our guys. But look it’s the first game, especially with the guys who were having their first game I knew those guys would be dialed in. But Wesley and George, those guys coming off the bench like Tory and Dom, I thought those guys had a great sense of urgency tonight. So overall I was pleased.”

On Veteran’s Day Halftime Ceremony (What It Meant to George King)
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to George about it, but I think that it meant a lot to him. Obviously it meant a lot to his mom as well, and I saw a tear in her eye while she was out there. I thought I was great that Angela Fortune was able to present her, and it was nice to have Eddie Gordon out there, who’s Wesley’s dad, and he’s a proud military man. Veteran’s Day is a special day for our country and it was really special tonight. You could tell that the crowd was dialed in as well. So to have that tie with three family members of our current players was pretty special on a day like today. And I think it meant a lot to George.”

Colorado Players

Derrick White, Sr., G
On scoring the first points in the game – “It was a cool feeling playing with my teammates. I was looking forward to this game for a while, so to score the first points it was awesome. I’m glad we got the win. I always try to get my teammates involved and do whatever it takes to help.”

On senior leadership – “We just want to go out, and this is our last time, we just want to take every game and not take it for granted. It might be your last. We try to be leaders of this team, go out and be aggressive so we can help the team. There were parts of the game where we could have picked it up and done more, but for the most part we came out aggressive.”

On playing point guard – “I’ve been playing a lot of different positions in practice and in scrimmages. I’ve just been prepared for whatever position the coach throws me out to play in. I just try to do that job, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Xavier Johnson, Sr., G/F
On his pregame standing ovation – “It was good, it was awesome. I am blessed to be back in the court. I can’t take anything for granted. So this feels awesome.”

On coach Boyle’s post game talk - “We missed a lot of offensive rebounds and box outs as a team. So he wasn’t happy about that. But, at the end of the day, a win is a win so let’s talk about that.”

On team balance – “We’ve talked about it. Everyone can score the ball; everyone can score differently. So that’s what you’re going to see a lot of this year. The ball will be in different people’s hands when it’s a clutch game. But when we’re playing the ball and everyone is firing on all cylinders, you’re going to see scoring from a lot of different people.”

On defensive improvements from pre-season- “It was there, but it can always be better. We weren’t always on the wings, the ball got stolen too easily. They got way too many offensive rebounds. We were alright but to beat top ten teams we need to be better.”

On freshmen Lucas Siewert and Deleon Brown – “Lucas can shoot the ball. Deleon can shoot the ball. They’re both awesome players. We know what they can do as players. We’re going to put a lot on their backs and hopefully they can come into the games and give us great minutes.”

On playing after the Achilles injury- “It’s good. I don’t really think about it anymore, because if I think about it that means you’re going to play timid. So, I just go out there and play. I think I still have a little ways to go, for full recovery. My explosion it’s not what it was in my foot. But I’m a right side jumper, so I’m going to use that to my advantage.”

On his first game since injury - “It was good, it was a good win for us. I’d rather play someone more difficult early on like we usually do. But it was good to get that first win underneath our belt, so that we can have confidence going forward.”

G Dominique Collier
On coming off the bench – “I knew since yesterday after I met with the coach. He just told me to come off [the bench] and be aggressive. Also, to be aggressive on defense and offense.”

On working with Thomas Akyazili – “When Thomas and I are in the game it’s good. He did a really good job of being the point guard. He had six assists and 13 minutes so that was really good. He was on it.”

Sacramento State Head Coach Brian Katz

General
“We got off to a bad start. We couldn’t score. I thought we played pretty good defense and made it tough for them. When we got down, we couldn’t score and broke down defensively. They’re easily the best team we’ll play all year, not even close. They did a great job here. Tad and his staff do a great job. I can see them going into the NCAA tournament and winning a game or two.”

On His Team Playing Better Second In The Second Half Than First
“I think the atmosphere got to our guys a little. We were a little nervous and skittish in the first half. They played good defense. They’re a tough team.”

On What His Team Will Take Away From This Game
“It’s funny because we’ve actually won three of these games. We’ve beaten three Pac-12 teams in the last five years but when you schedule it you always know it’s going to expose your flaws. When you play up, it’s going to expose whatever you’re not good at. We’ll learn from that and get better.”