Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:
“This was an extremely disappointing loss, especially given what this team has done over the last two and a half weeks. I called this a separation game, and Washington separated themselves from Colorado. When you get outrebounded by 16 in your own building, something is wrong. We got out-toughed on the boards. This is not a hard game to breakdown. We lost by ten, they had 20 second chance points, and they outrebounded us by 16.”
On the Team’s Rebounding:
“It was very disappointing. I don’t remember being as upset over a rebounding performance as I am right now. Two guys on our team had offensive rebounds, and those were Mckinley Wright and Tyler Bey. Nobody else had an offensive rebound. Utah had 18 offensive rebounds against this team and that is how they won.”
On the Offensive Performance:
“We got the ball where we wanted to get it, but missed some shots that had been going in for us recently. We made pretty silly plays against their zone in the second half, but for the most part we got the shots we wanted and we didn’t turn it over. This program is based on defense and rebounding. We talk about holding our opponents to under 40% from the field, and going plus eight on the glass. They did that against us today.”
On How Washington Was Able To Go On A Run Halfway Through The First Half:
“They were 4 for 20 shooting at the 8 minute media timeout, and ended the half making 9 of 13 shots. They were able to get their defense set up, and we weren’t able to execute, and they went on their run. We tried to call a timeout to slow it down, but that didn’t work.”
On The Play of Tyler Bey:
“Tyler Bey got two stiches in his lip at halftime and finished with a double-double. He and Mckinley (Wright) played good minutes.”
On What The Team Needs To Do For The Upcoming Road Trip:
“We got out toughed in our own building. That is disappointing as a coach and a player. We need mental toughness for this upcoming road trip. Arizona and Arizona State are going to be ready. We need to show more toughness rebounding the basketball or the results aren’t going to change. We have to defend, rebound, and take care of the ball.”
Colorado Players
Dallas Walton, Fr., F
On what changed eight minutes through the first half
“We need to focus on remaining poised no matter how far up we go or how far down we go. Our rebounding effort defensively needed to get better. Coming into that first media timeout, they had five offensive rebounds. I mean, that’s the game. We’re a team that’s based off of defensive rebounding and when we have those lapses, that hurts us. That was one of those lapses that we couldn’t recover from and that we need to eliminate from our game.”
On if Washington surprised them with anything
“No, the scouting report that we were given before the game was spot on. We knew that we were going to get zoned for 40 minutes and that’s exactly what happened. During the practices leading up, we were preparing for zone. We knew that they were an inside-out team with a couple shooters. But they play inside-out first. There was nothing new. Our coaches prepared us for that game.”
On getting back on track with rebounding and the road trip ahead
“It’s definitely a key focus point for us going forward, it’s something that’s always a key focus point for us. But now we have to focus on the Arizona’s. We’re going to get back to practice, get better, and we’ll be in Arizona ready to show everybody we’re capable of the team that we are and tonight was not a good example of that.”
Tyler Bey, Fr., G
On struggling versus Washington’s zone defense
“We just weren’t hitting shots. We didn’t grab offensive rebounds. After we missed our shots, no one really crashed the boards. We didn’t have much effort or energy and it’s just the little things that we missed.”
On not being able to get a stop down the stretch
“It was very frustrating. Like I said we didn’t have effort or energy and that’s something that this team really needs. Home or away, you have to have energy, period. Its concentration so we have to get dialed in. Just take it personal.”
Washington Head Coach Mike Hopkins
On seeing improvements from their last game
“Listen, you just always try to find ways to improve and inspire your team. The biggest thing that I have felt is that we have been getting our butts kicked on the glass. I just felt like we weren’t fighting, just settling for jump shots. I just felt that we challenged the guys to fight. You hear Dominic Green screaming “For Scotland” from Braveheart in the film room this morning. Our kids fought today and I told them it doesn’t matter if you make or miss shots, just take good ones. But you have to fight, you just can’t go out there and be pushed around. Those guys went out there and fought, Jaylen Nowell and David Crisp coming back and getting four those are the keys to the game. Then offensively, I thought when David plays like that he ran the team. He got us in our offense he was like a conductor. The ball was moving and touching different hands, we didn’t just get good shots we ended up getting great shots. When you get great shots, you shoot better percentages so we haven’t been shooting the ball well so to see that go in and have success does a lot.
On the importance of Matisse Thybulle’s three-pointer that helped kindle the offense
“He is a great shooter. He has had some tough games shooting the ball but he impacts the game in so many ways. He is one of the best defenders in the country, he had ten rebounds today. I just told him Jeff Fryer, the best shooter at Loyola Marymount back in the day, had a quote “Shoot it till you make it and make it till you miss it” so just take good ones. The thing that he did today, he attacked the rim as good as I have seen him attack the rim. We challenged the guys to not just settle, just to go because we were going to the foul line a lot earlier in the year. We won the free throw battle today, we won the rebound battle today and I think that is a toughness fight piece.”
On whether or not he has seen a more dominate half of rebounding
“I have been a part of games that it has happened to us, so yes. I just felt like we had five guys going in there and everyone was playing their part, it wasn’t just two guys. That is what you are trying to do, trying to get five guys. We felt if that we can get it we can win. We were able to get some good shots in transition as well.
