Colorado-Seattle Quotes
Nov 3 (Mon)
7 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“That was the definition of winning ugly right there. We were not very good offensively on a lot of different levels. But to figure out a way to win on a night when you’re not functioning offensively this early in the season is a testament to our guys will and their toughness, and our defense and rebounding which is why we always emphasize it. So on nights like this you can win a game when your offense is anemic.”
On Why Offense Struggled
“I don’t know if its focus, part of it is execution. We wanted to get the ball inside against their zone and we’ve worked against the zone for the last two days in practice. I thought in the first half we got the ball inside but we made kind of weak moves. Our post guys just weren’t aggressive enough in the paint, and they did kick it out for us to get some good shots. We were 3 for 18 from three after going 13 for 21 the other night against Sacramento State. That’s the way offense goes some nights they go in and some nights they don’t. We really wanted our post guys to establish a presence. I thought they did a much better job in the second half of doing that then they did in the first half. In the first half they just caught it and were looking to kick it out. Which is fine when the threes are going. They had the guy who was a seven-footer down there, but the other guy was six-foot-five. So we’ve got to go after those guys and put the ball in the basket. We did a great job of getting to the free throw line which is again part of what we do.”
On Wesley Gordon’s Rebounding
“Wesley’s a good rebounder. The other night against Sacramento State I didn’t think he rebounded all that well and he ended up with 12, and tonight he ended up with 14. We know he’s a good rebounder and he’s got a nose for the ball. But we need to get more guys, defensively we need guys doing it. And offensively we need to be more of presence down there. Wes is a presence but we need multiple guys being a presence. But 19 offensive rebounds were a key to the game as well.”
On Team’s Defensive Rebounding
“That’s something that we praised them about in the locker room. We told the guys that this is why we talk about it and you guys went out and did it. I think the record is 40-2 when holding the opposing to under 40 percent field goal shooting, and out rebounding them by at least plus eight. When we do both of those things, we’re now 41-2 because we did both of those things tonight. We defended and rebounded at a high level and we were able to win a game when we shot 30 percent from the field and we couldn’t make a free throw. That’s why our program is based on those values and I think our players need credit for that. Obviously we need to take better care of the ball and we need to shoot the ball better. But you’ve just got to figure out a way some night’s when it’s just not happening.”
On Xavier Johnson Passing 1,000 Career Points
“We need XJ to be a presence offensively and on the boards. We keep challenging him to rebound the ball, and tonight he had six defensive rebounds but we need him to be more of a presence on the offensive glass. We need George [King] and Josh Fortune to be a presence on the boards. Wes obviously is, Derrick White had three from the point guard position. We need better offensive numbers from some of the taller guys on our roster. But for XJ to get 1,000 points it quite the testament to his career, but we can use this as an opportunity to improve.”
On Getting Bryce Peters Back for Thursday’s Game
“I certainly like to get Bryce some minutes. We’ll see how this week kind of transpires. But he’s definitely off suspension and now it’s about figuring out what’s the best mode going forward.”
On Dealing with Adversity Early in the Season
“Tonight we won ugly. And I think that’s the sign of a good team. We’re in the process of becoming a good team. We’re not a good team right now, we’re in the process of becoming one. And we have to understand that.”
On CU’s Second Half Run
“We did get a ten-point lead, but we let them get back in it as they shrunk it to three. But then we kind of bowed our back and extended it again. Josh Fortune hit a couple of big three’s there at the end which were key to kind of break the game open. Our defense definitely did a much better job in the second half. We still had some breakdowns that we have to get better at. But overall it wasn’t our best performance. And the good thing about our team is that the players know it. There wasn’t any hooting or hollering in that locker room, they know that they weren’t very good tonight. It’s funny when players don’t play well offensively it effects their mojo. I commend our team, and we talked about it during halftime, and that’s don’t let your frustrations on offense bleed over to defense and we didn’t do that in the second half and that’s a testament to our guys.”
On Dominique Collier’s Injury
“Some days are good and some days are bad. I thought he was terrific Friday night. Saturday he was really hurting, and on Sunday he was better. Today he wasn’t himself in the first half and then at halftime coach Mike Rohn asked him how he was doing and he said that he wasn’t sure if he could go and that he was in a lot of pain. We might have to shut him down over this. I’ll have to talk to Dom and talk to our trainer and figure out what’s the best thing long term. Sometimes you hurt it more by trying to fight through it. We’ve got to get it healthy and healed, and if we’ve got to shut him down we’ll shut him down. That decision will come from Dom and the trainer. Not necessarily from me, I just want him healthy and right now he’s not. And its apparent by the way he’s practicing. Because we know he’s a good player and we need him. We need Dom Collier to be effective for us this year.”
On Bench Rotation
“We shortened the leash a little bit on Deleon [Brown] and Lucas [Siewart]. You’ve got to win these games. I wish you could just go through and winning and losing didn’t matter as much as it matters. For us to win we just felt like our veterans needed to take us home and they did. Freshman are going to play more some nights and not as much other nights and they need to understand that and be able to handle that. I thought that Deleon gave us some good minutes. Lucas struggled a little bit. When we’re trying to establish an inside presence against the zone, Lucas is more of an outside guy right now and we need him to be more of a presence when he needs to be. I thought in the second half thought he got a rebound or two and kept the ball alive. He did a better job in the second half. Not indicative of me not having confidence in them, I just I maybe have more confidence in some veterans right now in the second half.”
On Team’s Mentality for the Game
“There was a difference in our mentality and focus and energy at shoot around this morning then it was on Friday. That might be the mental part of approaching the game. This is going to sound like an excuse, but it’s not an excuse believe me, but we’ve got a lot of guys who academically have some things on Monday that they have to attend to in the afternoon. So they’re not back in their apartments resting and focusing on the game. They’re basically coming from Dal Ward of class straight to the arena to play. And again that takes some mental toughness to be able to handle that. And I don’t think we handled that the way we could have. But in the second half the energy was there and the effort was there so I’m not displeased with that. I am displeased with our ability to play the game between the ears. I thought some of our turnovers were silly and they were mental turnovers. We ran some plays wrong. And in the second half we gave up a layup with three fifth year seniors on a side ball screen. That stuff can’t happen.”
On CU Pulling Away Late
“I do think that you need to play with poise and that you can’t panic. And it’s easy to do in those situations. When we have some of the turnovers we had tonight, all I can do is just shake my head. We’ve got to get better. And that’s good, hopefully our players will learn and understand that. We go from ten turnovers, on Friday night, which is a great manageable number. To 19 turnovers tonight against the zone, we weren’t getting pressed or pressured, we just turned the thing over. We’ve got to be a little bit more consistent against the zone.”
Colorado Players
Sr. F, Xavier Johnson
On Low Shooting Percentage – “Credit to Seattle. We weren’t making shots, I guess sometimes you’re not making shots, players didn’t seem to get into a rhythm you could say, their flow could be off. I feel like we weren’t making shots and we let that lead to (poor) defense and that’s a mistake we shouldn’t make.”
On Facing Zone Defenses – “Throughout Colorado history we’ve kind of struggled with zones. We’re so used to playing man that’s what we practice mostly. That’s not an excuse but we should probably practice more zone in the future. We weren’t efficient, we weren’t making shots, but when we’re not making shots we need to be able to score in other ways.”
On Scoring 1,000th Career Point (After Sitting Out Last Season) – “It’s a blessing to be able to play the game again coming off and Achilles tear. I’m just happy to score the basketball I guess.”
Sr. G, Derrick White
On Offensive Boost From Back to Back Fortune Threes – “It was big. They were making a little bit of a run, they cut it to four. He’d been struggling, the whole team had been struggling from deep, it was big for us. It was a big play from Fortune.
On Offensive Rhythm – “Not really. I was 3-8 from the free throw line. What really matters was the win, so I just have to get back in the gym and figure out how to help the team.”
On Defense and Rebounding – “Definitely. We had 19 turnovers, we shot 3 for 18 from three, and we still won. It just goes to show that if we guard and we rebound, we can win. Our record when we do both of those things is great so we’ve got to keep doing that.”
On Second Half Defense – “They had two or four points for the longest time and that’s when they made their run, so we definitely changed our focus and locked down on defense there. We just had to come out and play Colorado basketball.”
On Figuring Out Seattle’s Defense – “We watched some film on their 3-2 and we knew which ways we wanted to attack. I know that I personally missed a couple of post feeds. We just have to keep attacking inside-out.
Sr. F, Wesley Gordon
On The Last Time He Matched Up On A 7-3 Guy – “I think Washington had (Robert) Upshaw…. probably three years ago?”
On 14 Rebounds – “I knew in the zone they don’t have any assigned box outs so I really tried to get in there and make things happen.”
On Sloppy Game – “I wouldn’t rather have a sloppy game but it’s good early to show the young guys we’re not always going to be able to score when we want to and the shots aren’t really going to fall every night. That’s how important defense and rebounding are. It was pretty good to show them what we’re about.”
Seattle U Head Coach Cameron Dollar
On not being able to come out on top in a close game
“You have to give them credit, they track you down and contested. They’re long, athletic. We had some looks, but didn’t capitalize on it. We fought hard on the defensive end and weathered them having some success, but you have to be able to score a little bit more than we did tonight.”
On the CU defense
“They do a heck of a job just being consistent and kind of always being there. They don’t give you a whole lot of easy ones. We had some guys take some [shots] that can make it, but sometimes you’re just not able to get over the hump. I was proud of my guys’ effort overall, I thought we really battled and competed all night.”
On what there is to be taken away from a game like this
“It’s a process of continuing to get better. I thought coming in that we could compete and match up and fight so it’s good to see that what you thought is true. Whether you won or lost it’s preseason, second game for us, you just have to keep improving and working on the things that you’re weak at and keep enhancing the things that you’re good at.”
On what he learned from the CU v Seattle matchup two years ago-
“Before we played them two years ago, I knew of them, but I didn’t know them in depth and man I’m thoroughly impressed with this program and how [Tad Boyle] runs it. I knew that they were going to be a tough out, but even with 19 turnovers, they don’t beat themselves. They’re hard to guard and they consistently chase you down and stay on you on defense and they scrap on the boards.
“I knew from two years ago that it would be tough to beat them, but it’s a good challenge for us. It shows where we’re at and what we need to keep working on. You want to play these games early in the year to get you ready for conference.”
On whether or not the amount of fouls called affected the team’s rhythm
“Maybe a little bit, but you always have that early in the year. You have those points of emphasis. Frankly I think for both teams you’re learning to play without fouling. Some of the discipline you’re required to have you don’t have right out of the gate. We’re good enough to where that shouldn’t be an issue. We try to get so good to where nothing on the outside that is out of our control affects us.”