Colorado-California Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General“It’s a special day for our four seniors, and for two senior managers who have helped this program in their own way. We’ve got our season ending banquet tomorrow, it’ll be a good opportunity to give some awards out and recognize some guys. Then it’s off to Vegas next week. We’re playing good basketball. If we put it all together on defense and offense, we can beat anybody in this league. We also know that if we don’t, we could be one and done and headed home.”
On How Good Team Would Be Without Derrick White
“I don’t even want to go there. We would not be as good as we are. He is a really special player. We knew how good he was and it took a while to get him ramped up and adjusted, but he’s playing with great confidence now. He is a special player and one that I’d like to keep coaching.”
On Defensive Performance
“That was kind of an old school grind of Colorado Basketball. Nate Tomlinson was here today and after the game he said, ‘that’s an old school grind it out win how we used to do it’. If you put the offensive performance from Thursday with today’s defensive performance today, you’ve got the recipe to beat anybody. We overcame some things that didn’t go well offensively because we guarded and we rebounded. We rebounded like we want to in the second half, and that produces wins.”
On Finishing Conference Play 8-10 After An 0-7 Start
“We’ve won 8 of 11. That says something about this teams resiliency. You’ve got to win some close, grind it out games. This groups four possessions away from being 12-6, but we’re not. You’re never as good as you think you when you look at you record, you’re never as bad as you think you are when you look at your record.”
On Importance of Finding A Way To Win In March
“You’ve got to find ways. That’s why defense and rebounding are so important. Winning in February is hard, winning in March is really, really hard. Post season basketball, you lose and you go home. If we lose our first game in Vegas our season could be over. It’s about figuring out a way, no matter who you play or where you play them.”
On First Season During His Tenure Without A Sellout Game
“We’ve got such a passionate core group of fans here at Colorado, and I thank them. There’s a belief in our fans. It’s the periphery fans that come when you win, and don’t come when you lose. As long as there are empty seats in this building there’s a challenge to be had. Our challenge is to grow that core group of fans. There was a lot of energy in the building today for the number of people that were here.”
On George King’s Role In Rebounding Turnaround In Second Half
“He was big time. The tip dunk he had got the crowd into the game, and George has the ability to make those game changing plays. He was big. I thought Xavier Johnson’s defense on Ivan Rabb was huge for us. Derrick White and Dom Collier hit big shots down the stretch.”
On Whether Derrick White Deserves To Make The All-Conference Defensive Team
“He’s fifth in the league in blocked shots, he can guard multiple positions; yes, absolutely he does. He’s one of the top five players in our league, I believe that. Lonzo Ball is good. Markelle Fultz is good. I’m not sure I’d trade Derrick for anybody. Derrick’s an everyday guy, you can just count on him to make big plays at big moments.”
On What Led To Fewer Good Attempts Than Thursday’s Game
“Ball Movement has a lot to do with it. Body movement, cutting away from the ball, was not as good as it was against Stanford. And free throws, we’ve got to shoot better from the free throw line. You’ve got to make shots.”
Colorado Players
George King, Jr., G
On Depending on Defense“Absolutely. Offensively, we struggled a bit, well some of us I should say. We had to rely on our defense for sure. But we played great D and it got us the win.”
On his Second Half Rebounds
“Just more effort not and allowing Cal boxing me out to affect me. Just going to do what I do. Being athletic and trying to get rebounds.”
On Turning the Season Around
“It shows we can weather storms, we can get through adversity. I think that’s a credit to our seniors, just keeping everyone positive and not allowing that 0-7 beginning to determine our entire season.”
Dominique Collier, Jr., G
On Today’s Opponent“For sure we know that Cal is a good team. We lost to them at Cal. We knew it was going to be a fight in the last regular season game. We just wanted to get it done for our seniors. That is what it is all about. They gave it their all this year, especially this guy right here Derrick White. That’s what it is all about.”
On His Last 3-ptr
“Just always being ready, getting my feet ready when the guys are penetrating, so I’m staying at the three-point line because the clock is running out. I just wanted to take the ball and make a big shot. I saw the clock so I just went up and shot it.”
Derrick White, Sr., G
On Winning on Senior Day“It was cool. The most important thing was to get the win. You never want to lose on senior night and have that bad taste in your mouth for the rest of your career. So it was cool to get the win, most importantly.”
On His One Season of Eligibility
“These past two years being here at CU and being here at Boulder have been great. Getting to know these guys on the team and working with them every day has been great. I would not change anything.”
On Gaining Confidence from this Game
“Yeah it is good to win a game like this. We just know if we put our defense there from tonight, and our offense from the Stanford game, we are going to be a dangerous team.”
Cal Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
On What He Believed The Difference In The Game Was“I thought we missed quite a few shots around the rim, especially in the first half. After that, I believe what changed the game was Derrick White. He was a difference maker on the floor. He’s a big time talent and when knew going into the game that he’s the one guy who can make plays. We did a good job of defending guys, White just made plays. He’s a special talent.”
On What The Team’s Game Plan Was When Jabari Bird Hit The Three Pointer Near The End Of The Game
“I think we had enough time. So when Jabari hit the three, we were going to go without fouling. We felt like we’d have 19 seconds on the shot clock and obviously White made a big three pointer that changed the game. I thought we did a good job defending him, he just made a big time shot.”
On How Difficult It Is To Lose A Game Like This
“It’s always tough when you lose when you’re a competitor. You learn from it and you move forward.”