Colorado-South Dakota State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“This was obviously a huge win for us. We needed that for our confidence. We had some guys really grow up tonight. We overcame some things, even though we were playing at home, and beat a really good team. South Dakota State is an NCAA Tournament team in my eyes, Their big guy [Mike Daum] is obviously pretty special, David Jenkins is a heck of a player. We knew that coming in. I’m really proud of our guys, I thought we really could’ve folded our tent there down six in that first overtime, but we didn’t panic, we got stops and converted those stops into buckets and pushed it into the second overtime. I felt really good going into the second overtime. Tyler Bey was terrific defensively down the stretch, Laz [Nikolic] was terrific in the minutes he guarded Daum. They made him work, and he’s a hell of a player.”
On Tyler Bey’s performance, particularly in overtime:
“He made his open shots, he made his free throws, he took care of the ball, he made good decisions. He took one shot that made me go, ‘no, no, no, yes’, on the baseline jumper, but he shot it with confidence. You guys have seen it with our free throw shooting, some nights we can be really good and other nights we can’t buy one, but our shooting can be the same way sometimes. We need to become a little more consistent in that, and hopefully this week our guys will be able to get in the gym and work on it. I was proud of Tyler, and all the guys. Lucas [Siewart] had some big time post moves for us in the second half. We knew we were going to have to score a lot of point to beat these guys, because they make scoring look easy. At times tonight, our guys did too. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction offensively and I’m just really proud of this team.”
On advice to Tyler Bey on guarding Mike Daum:
“Make him work to catch. Use your athleticism. Tyler has great length and great athleticism. When [Daum] catches it, you have to be solid and play without fouling. Make him take tough shots. And he did, he made him take some tough shots in the lane. The key for Tyler is he boxed out and got those rebounds, we got a few over the backs on Daum. Tyler was big rebounding the ball. As I look at this team and decide on who gets minutes, I’m looking at defense and rebounding. We have a lot of guys that can score, and hopefully we can unleash that offensive juggernaut more often. Not that we’re going to score 112 every night, but we may play against better defensive teams. It was a great effort.”
On individual defense vs. team defense
“They shoot 41% from three as a team, so you have to guard the three point line. We didn’t do a very good job of that, but they also have guards that can drive and where we broke down is understanding who their drivers are and who their shooters are. We helped off shooters a couple of times when we shouldn’t have. #0 was a driver and he got to the rim like four times in the second half, and he’s little, so just use your length and athleticsm, keep him in front of you, and contest his shots at the rim, but he got a couple of wide open layups. We have to do a better job not having mental breakdowns in terms of who are the shooters and who are the drivers.”
On McKinley Wright’s decision making:
“That’s what great point guards do. Number one, you figure out when you’re open, and you shoot it. Then, when you’re not open, you make a play for somebody else. You don’t have to a point guard to do that, you can just be a basketball player. We say a lot in practice: the game tells you what to do. Where some players get in trouble is having it predetermined in their mind what they’re going to do driving or coming off a screen. That should be dictated by the defense. McKinley has that innate ability to make those decision. Not that he makes the right decision every time, but more often than not he makes good decisions. I feel comfortable when the ball is in his hands.”
On different starting lineup:
“That was more of a practice thing. We had a two-zone segment for about 10 minutes at the end of practice yesterday, and the guys with the gold jerseys on whipped the guys wearing black jerseys. I think the guys in black jerseys were thinking practice was over, [the drill] really doesn’t mean a whole lot. I want our players to know that we’re going to need to zone [defensively]. We only played four minutes of it tonight, you guys know I’m not 100% committed to zone defense, but we’re going to need that in conference play against certain teams. It was an opportunity to let those guys start and play in it, and I thought they responded well. It was more of a message to the guys who weren’t playing hard until the end of practice, that that’s not okay and I’m watching. It started with Josh Repine on the tip. Josh Repine dives on the floor for a loose ball and we get possession to start the game. Would one of those other guys dive on the floor for that? I have not seen it yet. Look, I trust everybody on our team and I love every one of them too. It was just a message I wanted to send and hopefully it was received.”
On using multiple players to guard Mike Daum:
“We knew we would have to use different guys. He creates foul problems, George [King] had four, we lost Laz [Nikolic] to fouling out. We knew Tyler [Bey] would have a shot at him, we put Lucas [Siewart] on him a couple of times. The big thing we wanted to do was play at a pace that would wear them down. I give South Dakota State a lot of credit, that’s an NCAA Tournament team we beat tonight.”
On whether he’s ever had as much trust in a freshman as he has in McKinley Wright
“It’s been a while… I’d have to think about that for a minute. Josh Scott was pretty special, but the difference is the position they play. McKinley is that guard that you give the ball and say, ‘here it is.’ He’s pretty special.”
“This was obviously a huge win for us. We needed that for our confidence. We had some guys really grow up tonight. We overcame some things, even though we were playing at home, and beat a really good team. South Dakota State is an NCAA Tournament team in my eyes, Their big guy [Mike Daum] is obviously pretty special, David Jenkins is a heck of a player. We knew that coming in. I’m really proud of our guys, I thought we really could’ve folded our tent there down six in that first overtime, but we didn’t panic, we got stops and converted those stops into buckets and pushed it into the second overtime. I felt really good going into the second overtime. Tyler Bey was terrific defensively down the stretch, Laz [Nikolic] was terrific in the minutes he guarded Daum. They made him work, and he’s a hell of a player.”
On Tyler Bey’s performance, particularly in overtime:
“He made his open shots, he made his free throws, he took care of the ball, he made good decisions. He took one shot that made me go, ‘no, no, no, yes’, on the baseline jumper, but he shot it with confidence. You guys have seen it with our free throw shooting, some nights we can be really good and other nights we can’t buy one, but our shooting can be the same way sometimes. We need to become a little more consistent in that, and hopefully this week our guys will be able to get in the gym and work on it. I was proud of Tyler, and all the guys. Lucas [Siewart] had some big time post moves for us in the second half. We knew we were going to have to score a lot of point to beat these guys, because they make scoring look easy. At times tonight, our guys did too. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction offensively and I’m just really proud of this team.”
On advice to Tyler Bey on guarding Mike Daum:
“Make him work to catch. Use your athleticism. Tyler has great length and great athleticism. When [Daum] catches it, you have to be solid and play without fouling. Make him take tough shots. And he did, he made him take some tough shots in the lane. The key for Tyler is he boxed out and got those rebounds, we got a few over the backs on Daum. Tyler was big rebounding the ball. As I look at this team and decide on who gets minutes, I’m looking at defense and rebounding. We have a lot of guys that can score, and hopefully we can unleash that offensive juggernaut more often. Not that we’re going to score 112 every night, but we may play against better defensive teams. It was a great effort.”
On individual defense vs. team defense
“They shoot 41% from three as a team, so you have to guard the three point line. We didn’t do a very good job of that, but they also have guards that can drive and where we broke down is understanding who their drivers are and who their shooters are. We helped off shooters a couple of times when we shouldn’t have. #0 was a driver and he got to the rim like four times in the second half, and he’s little, so just use your length and athleticsm, keep him in front of you, and contest his shots at the rim, but he got a couple of wide open layups. We have to do a better job not having mental breakdowns in terms of who are the shooters and who are the drivers.”
On McKinley Wright’s decision making:
“That’s what great point guards do. Number one, you figure out when you’re open, and you shoot it. Then, when you’re not open, you make a play for somebody else. You don’t have to a point guard to do that, you can just be a basketball player. We say a lot in practice: the game tells you what to do. Where some players get in trouble is having it predetermined in their mind what they’re going to do driving or coming off a screen. That should be dictated by the defense. McKinley has that innate ability to make those decision. Not that he makes the right decision every time, but more often than not he makes good decisions. I feel comfortable when the ball is in his hands.”
On different starting lineup:
“That was more of a practice thing. We had a two-zone segment for about 10 minutes at the end of practice yesterday, and the guys with the gold jerseys on whipped the guys wearing black jerseys. I think the guys in black jerseys were thinking practice was over, [the drill] really doesn’t mean a whole lot. I want our players to know that we’re going to need to zone [defensively]. We only played four minutes of it tonight, you guys know I’m not 100% committed to zone defense, but we’re going to need that in conference play against certain teams. It was an opportunity to let those guys start and play in it, and I thought they responded well. It was more of a message to the guys who weren’t playing hard until the end of practice, that that’s not okay and I’m watching. It started with Josh Repine on the tip. Josh Repine dives on the floor for a loose ball and we get possession to start the game. Would one of those other guys dive on the floor for that? I have not seen it yet. Look, I trust everybody on our team and I love every one of them too. It was just a message I wanted to send and hopefully it was received.”
On using multiple players to guard Mike Daum:
“We knew we would have to use different guys. He creates foul problems, George [King] had four, we lost Laz [Nikolic] to fouling out. We knew Tyler [Bey] would have a shot at him, we put Lucas [Siewart] on him a couple of times. The big thing we wanted to do was play at a pace that would wear them down. I give South Dakota State a lot of credit, that’s an NCAA Tournament team we beat tonight.”
On whether he’s ever had as much trust in a freshman as he has in McKinley Wright
“It’s been a while… I’d have to think about that for a minute. Josh Scott was pretty special, but the difference is the position they play. McKinley is that guard that you give the ball and say, ‘here it is.’ He’s pretty special.”
Colorado Players
McKinley Wright, Fr., G
On reaction to tonight’s starting lineup
“We come in to get a win. I’ve bought in and I think this whole team has bought in to doing whatever we need to get a win. At the beginning of the year, I told coach I didn’t care about coming off the bench or starting. I just want to help the team win. It wasn’t anything that made me mad. I just wanted to come out and win. We needed this one.”
On if it felt like coach was sending a message with the starting lineup
“For sure. It’s black vs. gold in practice and the gold team has been killing us lately so he made the right decision. They deserved to start tonight.”
On playing with confidence down the stretch
“My teammates do a great job in having confidence in me and telling me to be aggressive. Coach drew up a couple plays for me to get to the rim. I attack and try to find teammates if they’re open. If not, I try to finish or get to the line. It’s just confidence from myself and this whole team and coaching staff.”
On if this is a character building game
“Yeah, just never give up. In the first overtime we were down by six. You just have to buy in, we bought into our defense the entire game. I thought we played pretty good defense. Obviously they have a very good player, probably going to go to the NBA, and he scored the ball at all three levels tonight. We just had to buy in, contain him and the rest of their players, and get stops down the stretch. It was definitely character building.”
On success with everyone chipping in
“We have a very deep team. We have a lot of players that come in and play. Obviously, coach recruited the right guys. Everybody can come in and play a big role for us. I have high confidence in this team and believe in every single player.”
On coaches message after the game
“That this is a huge win for us. We had to make up for the San Diego loss, obviously. Iowa is a very good team. We just have to come in against Iowa, which will be like a road game for us over there in South Dakota. His message is just that we have to get better this week in practice. We’re going to take Saturday and Sunday off for finals and we’re going to be back at it Monday through Friday.”
“We come in to get a win. I’ve bought in and I think this whole team has bought in to doing whatever we need to get a win. At the beginning of the year, I told coach I didn’t care about coming off the bench or starting. I just want to help the team win. It wasn’t anything that made me mad. I just wanted to come out and win. We needed this one.”
On if it felt like coach was sending a message with the starting lineup
“For sure. It’s black vs. gold in practice and the gold team has been killing us lately so he made the right decision. They deserved to start tonight.”
On playing with confidence down the stretch
“My teammates do a great job in having confidence in me and telling me to be aggressive. Coach drew up a couple plays for me to get to the rim. I attack and try to find teammates if they’re open. If not, I try to finish or get to the line. It’s just confidence from myself and this whole team and coaching staff.”
On if this is a character building game
“Yeah, just never give up. In the first overtime we were down by six. You just have to buy in, we bought into our defense the entire game. I thought we played pretty good defense. Obviously they have a very good player, probably going to go to the NBA, and he scored the ball at all three levels tonight. We just had to buy in, contain him and the rest of their players, and get stops down the stretch. It was definitely character building.”
On success with everyone chipping in
“We have a very deep team. We have a lot of players that come in and play. Obviously, coach recruited the right guys. Everybody can come in and play a big role for us. I have high confidence in this team and believe in every single player.”
On coaches message after the game
“That this is a huge win for us. We had to make up for the San Diego loss, obviously. Iowa is a very good team. We just have to come in against Iowa, which will be like a road game for us over there in South Dakota. His message is just that we have to get better this week in practice. We’re going to take Saturday and Sunday off for finals and we’re going to be back at it Monday through Friday.”
Tyler Bey, Fr., G
On approach facing Mike Daum
“Coach told me to stay down on pump fakes and stay on the ground period. I just wanted to step up. It was a good opportunity to step up for my team and play defense.”
On mentality offensively
“I was just flowing, going with the flow.”
On growing confidence and jump shot in second overtime
“That was definitely a big shot for me. I’m more confident going into this season and getting more confident as I keep playing.”
On emphasis of rebounding in practice
“Definitely, coming into the season I didn’t rebound that much and it was getting to me. I’m tired of playing bad so I just have to step up, get over it, and move onto the next game after every game. Coach really talked to me about stepping up.”
Lucas Siewert, SO., F
On confidence boost from this game
“It definitely gives us a lot of confidence. This was a big game. We have another road game right now. So it’s good coming into a road game with a win. The PAC 12 is right here so we have a lot of confidence on this team right now.”
On seeing his shots go in
“I missed the first one but that came off wrong out of my hand so when I shot it again, it came in right. I shot it again and it went in. It builds my confidence so it was good seeing the ball going through the net.”
On status of ankle
“It’s not 100% yet but I know since Tory’s out I have to take it for the team. When I’m out there I don’t think about my ankle I just want to help the team get a win. I’m still working on it. It’s improving everyday as long as I’m not taking a step back.”
South Dakota State Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger
“Yeah I’m proud of our guys. We compete, I thought we turned it on after halftime. I thought our effort in the first half was ok, but beyond that point I thought we did a really good job. We are a little bit short handed, one injury and another guy that is kind of hobbled so we had to do it all with eight guys. We played six guys the majority of late in the game and in the overtime period. I’m really happy with the way our guys competed. I have a lot of respect for Coach Boyle and this program.”
What a difference not having Ian was
“Yes it’s a big difference for us. He makes a huge difference for our team. He is physical. They went inside a lot and he gives us a defensive post prescience, some toughness on the interior, and we really missed him tonight”
Amazing amount of three pointers. What do you attribute that to?
“Yeah we have some guys that are really tremendous shooters as a group. They put the time in at the gym and
I believe in them and encourage them to take those shots. Their shots that we know that they can make and be successful taking because we know the work that they have put in and the talent they have. We are going to continue night in and night out to do what we think is the best chance to win. Some nights its go inside some nights its three point line. There is a lot of different ways, we try to play our best advantage on any given night.”
Mike had his average in first half. How important is a player like that when you are starting slow?
“It’s extremely important. He is such a unique offensive talent, so gifted, scores it so well. Obviously to be above the twenty point threshold by halftime against a really good defensive team says a lot about his elite ability to score the basketball. He did keep it together. He kept us in it with his efforts offensively and that gave us a chance down the stretch.”
Difference in second overtime
“You know I think we had our chance to win at the end of the first overtime. We were up four and we were going to the foul line. You could look at it either side of it. We either didn’t get the stops or we didn’t convert the plays. You kin of tell as it went to that second overtime I think our guys were tired and ran out of gas a little bit. They had all the momentum at that point. It’s tough, the momentum swings in the season and it swings through a game. I think that was part of it to, but you know our guys didn’t stop fighting and competing. It was just one of those where we didn’t make enough plays.”
How important is a game like this when it comes to conference?
“They are all important. We play them to win them. We’re not in them for the moral victories. I think for us we want to find a way to win and at the same time you are playing a really good team. A really well coached team on the road. Those type of games you want to continue to challenge are program and play great competition that put us in tough spots. I believe we got a lot of character in our locker room. As a result we will learn from it and we will grow from it and be better as we move forward”
To be so close a couple of times, how tough is this to lose?
It’s a tough loss, but our guys will shake it off. We will be off practice tomorrow and we will get back to the floor. We have fun with each other. The guys are a great group. We will keep it in perspective. It stinks tonight and we will wake up tomorrow and start preparing for the next one. You know we are at that early point of the season. You know we are only fourteen games into the deal so we play thirty-one in the regular season and on from there and it’s a marathon not a sprint. We just want to keep getting better.”
David Jenkins Freshman
“Yes he is a phenomenal player. He has got tremendous confidence. He does great job in big moments of games. We expect a lot from him and he has stepped up to the challenge a lot of the nights for us. We expect him to continue to do that.”