Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:“That was a great, hard-fought victory against a really good team. We have a lot of respect for Stanford. Reid Travis is a load and Dorian Pickens is a heck of a player. Those were the two keys tonight. I thought our defense on Reid Travis was stellar. A lot of credit goes to our post guys like Lucas Siewert, Dallas Walton, and Tyler Bey. Our perimeter guys were pressuring the ball. It was a great team victory, and a great team effort. It was the third time in a row where we held our opponents to under 40% shooting which is something we really hang our hat on, and that allowed us to win tonight.”
On The Emergence of Lucas Siewert
“Lucas is really emerging. He shot the ball well from three today. He really gives defense’s problems. The defense has to choose on ball screens between McKinley Wright and Dom Collier coming down hill or on Lucas with the pick-and-pop. I am more proud of Lucas’s 7 rebounds compared to his 17 points, though. Obviously I love how he is shooting the ball the way that he is, but when he defends and rebounds like he did tonight, he really helps this team.”
On The Play of Tyler Bey:
“Tyler really played well in the second half. Offensively he was aggressive, and defensively he has such quick feet. His quickness gives opposing post players a lot of problems. Getting him in foul trouble doesn’t help, but when he is active he really helps this team. He can really be an elite level defender, and how he defended in the post tonight showed us that.”
On The Balance From The Team:
“We have a team that on any different night a guy can go off. Lucas shot the ball well tonight, McKinley can score, Namon, who was good to have back, can really score, and Dallas had a big three in the second half. Balance scoring, swarming rebounding, and team defense can win this team some games.”
On The Message After Wednesday’s Win:
“We treated the win against Cal like a loss. I really challenged them. I had individual meetings with certain guys that were challenging them to get better in certain areas. The thing I love about this team is that they really respond to challenges, and they responded to that challenge. They responded today with great energy, toughness, and effort. When we do that I can live with anything.”
On The Youth Of This Team Against the Experience From Opposing Teams:
“Our Freshman and sophomores are going up against these older experienced guys and they are showing real toughness and grit. That really makes me feel good about the future of our front line. Also in the front court we have McKinley, D’shawn (Schwartz), and a lot of talented guys. The future of Colorado basketball is bright. People were saying how we were really young and lost some games early that we shouldn’t have lost, and we did, but our guys are getting better and showing improvement against PAC-12 level play which is what it is all about.”
On Carrying On the Momentum From This Home Stretch:
“If we want to continue to climb the latter which our coaches and players want to do, we have to compete on the road like we competed at home. It is the same game, same group of officials, and same basket height, just different venues. We have to play with great effort and toughness in Pullman on Thursday and in Seattle on Saturday.”
On the Status of Deleon Brown:
“He broke his hand in practice yesterday. He is going to see specialists and doctors tomorrow, but he is probably out indefinitely. It was a freak thing at the end of practice.”
On McKinley Wright:
“McKinley, whether he knows it or not, is the focal point of other defenses. That is different than what he was facing earlier in the year. The thing about McKinley is that he has such great toughness, and tonight he had an offensive rebound and put back that got us back going again. He just makes those plays. I don’t worry about McKinley Wright, other than keeping him healthy and on the court.”
On The Return of Namon Wright:
“We are going to need Namon, especially with Del (Brown) going down. We are going to need him to really defend, help us offensively, and rebound the ball.”
Colorado Players
Tyler Bey
On strong ending to the game and playing through adversityCoach encouraged me to go to the boards whenever I could. I was able to chase down a lot of those boards to help my team. I was in foul trouble and was kind of upset by it. I just wanted to come out the second half and do what it takes to help my team win.
McKinley Wright IV
On assists coming off three pointersWhen I’m driving to the lane, there’s a lot of help side. Their big men were coming to block a lot of shots. Having Lucas as a stretch 4 and George as an under sized stretch 4. Having those guys who can step out and shoot is a big part for us. Those guys do a good job of letting me know they’re open. I just ty to find them and I trust them.
On winning last three home games and how that helps them in the future.
It’s been a huge run for us at home getting these quality wins to help build our resume for us to go to the tournament. Going on the road, these are two must win games for us and we are very confident.
Lucas Siewert
On strong performance todayCoach challenged me to do better on the glass after the Cal game. My shots were falling today, which made things easier. I know last year I had my career high against Stanford too, I thought about that which gave me some confidence coming in today.
On how today’s game will help him in the future
I want my performance today to be the standard on how I should play going forward.
Stanford Head Coach Jerod Haase
After a tough loss from Utah, what did you want to see from your team today?The biggest thing was having the spirit to compete and fight and I thought we had that today for the entire game. We didn’t play well on the offensive end, but I did think we competed.
You got the team within one in the second half. What were you able to do to get within one?
I thought consistently our defense played at a fairly high level. We were able to make some shots down the stretch to get the lead cut down a little bit. Defensively I thought there was some consistency there, but offensively we couldn’t find any sparks.
How was Colorado able to pull away?
Sounds simple, but players make plays. We had about three or four clean looks down that stretch the last four minutes there and we didn’t make them. They had three or four looks and they made them. They did a nice job getting looks and making plays.
Did the team have the energy you wanted to see?
We did. I thought we competed really hard.
The turnovers kind of hit you a little bit in the first half.
Yeah, offensively things weren’t easy. We got it inside and missed some shots we should make around the basket. I think we tried to be more aggressive off the bounce and delete some turnovers.
How tough is this road trip?
It’s really tough. Our entire league has great teams and great coaches. We travel and this one is a little unique, but at the same time we are seeing that everywhere in conference when you go on the road is not easy.
From here did see anything you can build off of?
Absolutely, their guys are playing hard they are together. Basically everyone in the league is bunched together in the standings. These last five games are important for all the teams.
It almost seems like the league is beating itself up right now.
Yeah there are lots of good teams and there is a big group in there with us.