Colorado-Colorado State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:“Well that was a hard fought win against a really good Colorado state team. I mentioned to Mark Johnson on the radio that when I look at their record of 4-4 I scratch my head and think ‘how?’, the way the play tonight if they continue to play like that they're going to win a lot of games this year. So my hats go off to them, tough kids, really a hard team to guard and we knew that coming in. our guys fought and we battled, we had some great individual performances, but at the end of the day this is a great team victory for the buffs. A gutsy one, we’re up 10, relinquish the lead, and showed the guts to not let that affect us and get down.”
On Evan Battey’s foul trouble
“Mike Rohn does a great job, a lot of people don't realize he does a lot of our substitutions. He does a great job of keeping our bigs fresh, being aware of foul trouble. Obviously at the end we were going offense-defense with he and Tyler because Evan is a really good offensive player, not that Tyler isn’t, he made some big time plays down the stretch. I thought coach Rohn did a great job of keeping those guys fresh, a lot of times with your bigs you want to keep them fresh.”
On Tyler Bey
“He didn’t have a great start to this game, but what shows me so much progress about that kid is that maybe in games past, certainly last year, his head would go down and it would just be a bad game for Tyler. But he found a way throughout the game to get himself going and he brought himself out of that funk he was in. That shows great progress by a sophomore who is growing up before our eyes. Going 9-9 from the free throw line, making 6 of them down the stretch, and that block against J.D. Paige was as big time a play as you’re going to see in college basketball. I’m really proud of Tyler.”
On contribution from big men
“Not having Dallas hurts, but we have three really good bigs that we have to keep fresh and stay out of foul trouble and we’ll be okay going forward.”
“Evans an emotional kid, he's an emotional player, that's what makes him who he is. And to have him show that emotion, especially when you see what he's been through over the last couple years, you just love to see guys like that do well.”
“Look, at the end of games, especially games like tonight, players make plays. I can call the plays, CSU can call their plays, but the players who make plays is the team that wins the game. Tyler made some big time plays defensively, he made his free throws, Evan had that big time drive, it was a good victory for us.”
On difference in second half
“To have 17 assists and 9 turnovers, for this team, shows great progress when we share the ball and great great shots. I thought we forced some shots, we didn’t trust our offense in the first half, we didn’t trust each other. In the second half we started trusting it and that's why we had I think 12 assists in the second half.”
On first half offense struggles
“Coach English made a really good point at halftime that our players wanted to win so bad we thought we could blow them out on one possession. Guys want to get themselves going, they're excited, they're eager. We got to slow down and trust the offense, trust that if you get it moving from side to side you're going to get a good shot and we settled for quick jump shots in the first half. And in the second half we trusted each other and moved the ball and got better shots, and we made them.”
On how the team is still growing
“Mental toughness, being able to handle that adversity late in the game down the stretch. You’re up 10 now you’re down one, you’re like ‘oh-my-gosh this thing could slip away”. In a rivalry game with a big crowd it’s a sign of progress of maturity and toughness.”
On Shane Gatling’s shooting
“As long as he's got his feet set and it's a good look we want him shooting. Our players want him shooting. He has to trust that he’s going to get the ball back, if you’re open you shoot it and if you’re not get it moving. He’s still adjusting to this level, he hasn’t played at this level of basketball yet, so he’s going through a growth and a maturation process. And you know we expect more of him because he’s older, so the growth that he’s showing we’ve got to continue.”
On impact of student section
“Look, this is a fun team to watch, this is a fun team to coach. This is going to be a fun team to watch grow throughout the season, and when you see our student section today relative to our other 3 home games, anybody who was here those other 3 games knows the difference. I want our students to understand they make a big difference, they make a huge difference. And we’re the University of Colorado Buffaloes, and it doesn’t matter if we’re playing Colorado State or South Dakota, South Dakota or Arizona, I want our fans, our students to show up and cheer on the Buffs. Because that's what high level fans, high level programs do and they make a difference. They make a difference in wins and losses at home, and they make a difference in wins and losses on the road. And I want our students to understand it is not a spectator sport, it is a participant sport, they participate in our wins, and they were a big reason we won today. Our players feed of that and I just wanted to let them know how important they are and that we want them back.”
Colorado Players
McKinley Wright, So., GOn playing against CSU
“They give us their best every year, last year when we played them it seemed like they couldn’t miss. We kind of talked about that today, and we knew what to expect. Coach always says that this is their super bowl, playing against us, and they don’t like us.”
On what got the offense going in the second half
“We just kept stressing how much this game meant to us, and this program, and all the former players that went here. I just kept telling the guys, we can’t lose this one, let’s go out and guard, once we get out in transition we’re hard to guard. The main thing we talked about was getting stops and keeping them from scoring.”
On what it means to beat CSU
“It was big for us, last year we sent out a couple seniors, and it was emotional for them after the game because it meant so much to them, especially being from Colorado. We just wanted to win the game for them, and for our whole program. In the long run this game made us better, we executed down the stretch, and we guarded them really well. Overall, this game helped us a lot.
On bouncing back down the stretch
“That’s a good sign for us, teams are going to make runs in college basketball, and it happens every game. We just kept our heads up, and coach drew up a good play. We executed down the stretch really well and kept getting stops.”
On the student section today
“It was fun, they know how much this game mean for us, and this University. We needed them tonight, they were huge for us down the stretch. They got our energy up, and they motivated us to keep going. Now we’re just trying to get them to come out like that every game.”
Tyler Bey, So., G/F
On his career high 23 points tonight
“I had a great first half, and coach told me to do the little things and the game will come to me. That’s exactly what happened, I started playing defense and rebounding more. I thought I had great energy, and it help my team out a lot.”
On the team’s first half shooting
“We did have trouble hitting shots in the first half. In the second half we got to the rim a lot, and made a lot of layups and that helped us get back on track.”
On his great free throw shooting and second half
“Making free throws is a big part of the game. It’s important to make them because it helps the team out.”
Shane Gatling, Jr., G
On the student section today
“It was great for us, the student section brought a lot of energy for us. I feed off the student section and the whole crowd itself. The student section being there helped us a lot.”
On his critical three point shooting today
“It felt good, I’ve been telling my teammate’s every day, that I’m still getting comfortable with the team and the style of play. I think I’m feeling more confident, my teammates kept finding me, and they kept telling me to shoot the ball, because they know I’m a good shooter.”
Colorado State Head Coach Niko Medved
On What Made the Difference
“I think the guys came out and played with a really good mentality. Clearly we have struggled defensively, I thought that was the best defense we have played all year in that first half. I also thought that is what hurt us in the second half. It was just a heck of a college basketball game, which is what you would expect. We had the lead late, maybe we are just talking three or four more stops just a couple errors you know. Maybe a free throw block out or a three in front of our bench that almost goes in that would have given us the lead late but they get it and we don’t get back, that turned there. I thought that they got really aggressive in the second half. We didn’t do nearly a good enough job at getting back, guarding the ball. We were in rotation a lot but then they hurt us on the glass and they hurt us in the paint in the second half which they didn’t do in the first half. Give them credit but he have got to get better for longer periods of time.”
On Possibly Relying on Nico Carvacho in the Paint Too Much
“I don’t know about that, I didn’t think that we were offensively. I thought that we did a nice job sharing it and we were running some ball screens, he was getting some really good angles in there to score. So if they are going to put a 6’1” guy on him we are going to throw him the ball there. I don’t think so, I think that we did a nice job on offense keeping it simple on offense but yet again if you look at the numbers that isn’t the issue. The issue was we had to find a way to dig a little deeper defensively down the stretch and get a stop.”
On Colorado’s 12 Point Run
“We did a good job in the first half getting back and getting our defense but they really got aggressive and went on the attack. We were on our heels for a little bit, I think these guys knew it but we just have to continue to have the will to sprint back to get your defense set, to guard the ball. I thought that often times they drove it, maybe our first rotation was pretty good but then you have to help the helper, rotate down and keep multiple efforts. You are right that ended up being the difference in the game, points in the paint.”
On Being Proud of the Team’s Performance
“Listen, there is stuff to build on from this game there is no question of that. I told the kids after the game that they showed that they will respond. We had two great days of practice and they came out here and battled. There are no moral victories here, that game was right there for us. We have to make the plays to win that game and we have to continue to buy into defense. But we have a really tough one on Tuesday coming up, I think that is great. I think it is great that we played in a tough environment today. We just have to come back, keep practicing well, get better and good things will happen.”
Colorado State #32 Nico Carvacho
On Tempers Running High Between Him and McKinley Wright
“It was just emotion and a rivalry game. We know that it is all love in the competitiveness.”
On the Team’s Resiliency
“That is one thing that I know that my team will do. We stay together through everything; you know, we were down and came back. Now we are going to get back at it on Monday and get some work in before facing a good team Wednesday.”
On How To Handle CU’s 12 Point Run
“You just have to get back to it, get back to what we know what to do on defense. Play good defense, rebound the ball, and we have to score too.”