Colorado-USC Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General“Obviously it’s very disappointing. Our team is hurting right now and this is a time that we are being tested and we have to believe in the process and ourselves. Bottom line is that we weren’t good enough defensively in terms of finishing off possessions. We were good enough on first shot defense but we weren’t good enough in boxing out and finishing possessions. 17 offensive rebounds defensively and 17 turnovers on offense is a pretty good formula to get beat. Whether you’re at home or on the road it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, we just weren’t good enough tonight. Offensively I thought that we went on some droughts. We stopped moving the ball and we talked about that at halftime. We have to get better in every phase of the game but tonight I thought it was turnovers and second shots by them that cost us a basketball game.”
On CU’s Defense
“Our first shot defense was good enough but I thought that we put them on the line to much especially in the first half. At halftime we should have been up 10. We were shooting 50 percent and over 60 percent from three-point range. But we turned the ball over. We had 11 turnovers in the first half. We weren’t ahead at halftime because we weren’t taking care of the basketball.”
On CU’s Scoring Droughts
“What happens to us is the ball sticks and doesn’t move. And when it sticks we’re easy to guard and when it moves we’re really hard to guard. I thought that Tory [Miller] gave us a nice post presence for a stretch and he had a couple nice post moves. But outside of that we really didn’t have any inside game. We got the ball in the paint but at times we couldn’t finish. The ball sticking, not moving from side to side and not getting paint touches is something that we talk about all the time and when we have those droughts we aren’t doing those things.”
On Defending USC’s Chimezie Metu in the Second Half
“No we didn’t, we fronted him a little bit more and we didn’t let the ball get into him as easily. We ran a three-quarter front in front of him, but it wasn’t a full front. He’s a good player and he made a big time play at the end. McLaughlin [Jordan] is really good in the ball screens. Our ball screen defense wasn’t really good in the game either. With this team it comes down to ball screen defense, guarding the ball and boxing out. Those are the three things defensively that we have to be better at to win games in the Pac-12. Offensively we have to get more paint touches and move the ball. Those are the basketball issues that we have and we just have to get better.”
On What Might Be Different from Last Season to this Season
“We’re a little bit snake-bitten right now. In the UCLA game, Arizona game and Utah game we faced some tough deficits and weren’t really good at Utah. But I look at the Arizona State game and tonight’s game and we’re right there we just came up short. And you take a loss at Utah, Arizona beats you and before you know it you’re 0-5. Now we head out on the road. There’s not a team left on our schedule that we can’t beat I believe that. I also know that if we don’t take care of the problems that are plaguing us right now there’s not a team on our schedule that can’t beat us. From a fan’s perspective it’s worth dialing into because you never know what you’re going to get. We have to figure out what it takes to get that first win and 17 turnovers and offensive rebounds aren’t going to get it done in this league.”
What the Team needs to do Going Forward
“We just need to stay positive and understand what we’re doing well and what are the things that we need to sure up. We need to stay positive, this team doesn’t need to be yelled at, they just need to stay positive. They need to understand, and I think that we have guys that do, that going from practice to the game floor we have to get it done. And right now we’re not getting it done. We have guys who have gotten it done before they just aren’t getting it done right now. And that’s on the coaching staff and the players. But I love our team and I like our guys and it’s not like they aren’t trying we just aren’t getting it done right now. We’re challenged right now and we need to rise up and face that challenge.”
Colorado Players
George King, Jr., G
On Tonight’s Loss“I don’t really have much to say about it.”
On His Last 3-Pt Attempt
“Derrick [White] found me. I probably should not have dribbled; probably I should have just caught it and shot. I ended up taking a contested shot versus maybe a not so contested shot. I’m kicking myself over it.”
On the Chance of Scoring the 3-ptr
“It had a chance. I was trying to give myself a chance to get to the free throw line with it, trying to lean into my defender [USC’s Jonah] Matthews. It looked all right but it did not go in. On my birthday, it is supposed to go in. In 7th grade it did, but not this time.”
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On Losing Confidence
“I don’t think so. We have confident players. The coaches did a great job recruiting confident basketball players. We are still confident within ourselves and we are still confident as a group and as a team. It is not going to be an issue. It’s hard to say that and you look at our record but we are still a confident team. I am confident in Dominique Collier, and I am sure he has confidence in me and it goes on for the next guy and the next guy and down the line. It is not an issue at all.”
On Improving Play But No Wins
“Obviously, it is hard to say we are playing better but we are still losing. There are some good things we did out there on the floor but we are not getting enough of those things that eventually gets us wins right now. That is why consistency is important. But if we can be consistent in doing those good things, getting wins will be a little bit easier.”
Dominique Collier, Jr., G
On Team’s Turnovers“We were just not being confident, not being aggressive and jus being tentative. That is where a lot of our turnovers came, from being tentative. We just need to fix that.”
On Battling Back
“We fought back, but cannot take more victories, we’re 5-0. It doesn’t matter if we play hard, well it does matter, but at the end of the day it is all about winning. I feel like we came up short, obviously.”
On Dry Minutes without Field Goals
“The shots were not falling so we had to rely on our defense. We just needed a couple more stops at the end to come out with a win. We did not get those.”
USC Head Coach Andy Enfield
General“Colorado is an excellent basketball team. They have had a tough schedule. They are very good at home. So this is a great win for us. Especially how we played the other night, we didn’t play well at all at Utah. We thought we had to come in and just play hard. We missed a lot of shots tonight but we did what we had to do and we didn’t turn the ball over. Colorado is going to win a lot of games in this league. We knew coming in we were going to have to play 40 minutes to beat them.”
On the Long Stretch of Keeping Colorado from Scoring While Not Scoring Themselves
“Well, we got easy shots tonight. We missed layups. We were 3-of-19 from the three. I think we were 2-of-18 until Jonah hit that big one down the stretch to give us the lead. Our players competed the entire game. They didn’t let their missed shots affect their defense. It would be nice if we could make a few shots to make it easier on ourselves, but we didn’t and somehow we have three conference wins with not shooting the ball great. So we are competing and we are playing hard and we are trying our best.”
On if this was the best he had seen Chimezie Metu play
“This is probably his best game offensively because he shot such a high percentage. We went to him down the stretch and he gave us the lead in the last minute – in the last 30 seconds. He played a terrific basketball game. He was active. He got into a little foul trouble so we had to take him out. In this altitude, it was probably a blessing for him to sit on the bench for a few minutes because I probably wouldn’t have taken him out.”
On the Go-ahead Play for Metu to Give USC the Lead
“That was drawn up to give him the ball in the post and he made a nice shot. That was impressive.”
On the Defense of USC After Taking the Lead
“Our philosophy is that we usually try to foul five seconds or under, but we switched one through five there. If we would’ve fouled, they probably would have been on the foul line shooting three shots. We try to foul if the back is to the basket but if he’s facing you then you can’t foul him because he’s just going to go into a shooting motion. I would rather have a guy shoot a contested desperation three than foul him. I thought the ball was going in because it was straight – it just hit the front rim. Watching Xavier Johnson’s shot two plays before where he through the thing up, I was like oh my goodness, again. But thank goodness for us anyway – the ball bounced out.”
On the Prior Experience of Having to Come Back in a Game
“Well, we were down earlier in the game. Our guys kept their composure. Colorado made seven threes in the first half. They were shooting the ball very well and we weren’t, but we just kept grinding it out. We were in a game against Cal last week at home who we lost to by one at the buzzer, very similar to this game. We came up a play short and our shot at the buzzer didn’t go in. So, I know how it feels like Colorado. We came out on the right end but in the PAC-12, we are going to have a lot of close games this year. I think the big key in the PAC-12 is that you have to defend in the last three or four minutes when the game is that tight.”