Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Utah Quotes
vs
UC Davis
Nov 21 (Fri)
7 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement:“This is a great win for our team and our program, especially in March. It is so hard to win basketball games this time of year. Especially when you are playing against a quality team and quality program like Utah. I have a lot of respect for their coaches and players. You have to beat Utah because they are not going to beat themselves. I thought our defensive toughness and identity tonight really exhibited itself and it has to. That is something that has to be a constant. It doesn’t guarantee you are going to win, but it gives you a chance. We held Utah to five threes on 26 attempts, which is how many they usually take, but they usually make 10 of those and only made 5 tonight. That was a big part of the game. I can’t say enough about how good Sedrick Barefield is offensively and the challenge McKinley took on tonight and the job he did on him. That was one of the big differences in the game. Barefield can score on a lot of people, but struggled with McKinley. He did still end up with 19 points, but had to take 16 shots to do it. It was a great team victory. I am really happy with today’s result. Now we have to string it together a little bit.”
On Big Plays From Alex Strating, D’Shawn Schwartz, and Lucas Siewert
“Alex is always in the right spot it seems like. When you talk about toughness, the reason Alex is a Colorado Buffalo is because when I went over to see him oversees when I was recruiting him, I loved his toughness. D’Shawn Schwartz’s three at the end of the half was a huge play and a momentum play going into halftime. Lucas’s three was the only one he made all night, but it was a timely one and a big one. Utah is a team that is never out of it. They shoot the three so well. They came back from down 22 to win a game this year and came back from 17 to win a game this year. I thought our focus stayed true to form for 40 minutes and that is what we have been asking of these guys. They answered the bell tonight.”
On Evan Battey
“Evan got one (foul) early at Washington and then picked up a second one and then I had a decision to make. It (pulling him after one foul) wasn’t anything against him. Keeping our bigs out of foul trouble is key. The officials let us play tonight. It was a physical game. Evan welcomes that. He is a physical player. I thought he really did a good job of taking his time. He was 6 for 9 from the field and missed a wide-open bunny so he could have been 7 for 9. When Evan, Tyler, Lucas, or any of those guys catch it in the post, slowing down is a key. I think Evan slowed down tonight offensively. He is important to us. You can see him coming each and every game. He is an important piece for us. He is much for confident. When we played USC in Los Angeles, it was the first time I said, ‘That is the guy we recruited. That is the guy who is playing with poise and confidence on offense.’ He is such a force down there. One thing people haven’t seen from Evan yet is his ability to pass the ball. As his career develops and he becomes a force down low and people start doubling him, he is really going to be a guy that we can rely on to be a playmaker as a post guy. I’m glad we’ve got him and glad he is healthy. I was really proud of him tonight.”
On Getting Outrebound By One
“Jayce Johnson was a beast. They had 12 offensive rebounds. He is a guy that knows his role. When the shot goes up, he is a very good offensive rebounder. That is what he does. We were fronting the post a lot. When you front the post that is one thing you sometimes give up, but I thought he out toughed our guys a few times down there. He is a load. We were +2 (in the rebounding margin) and were -3 in the second half. We don’t like to lose a rebounding battle, but If you guard like we guarded, execute the game plan which means taking away Utah’s threes, battle on the boards and come up one short, I can live with that. I want to be +8, but Utah has some good players. Timmy Allen is a heck of a freshman. Jayce Johnson has gotten much, much better. Tillman is a physical presence down there. We beat a good team today.”
On Turnovers
“When we played them in Salt Lake, turnovers were a big issue. I talked about that earlier this week. We did a much better job. We had nine for the night and took care of the ball. I am trying to simplify the game for our guys. Basketball is not complicated. Let’s contest every one of their shots and get great shots when we have the ball. Part of getting great shots is not turning it over. We had some silly ones. Our interior passing needs to get better. We are throwing some balls through the defense in the paint. You can’t do that. You have to throw bounce passes or lobs.”
On Maturing
“One of the things I talked to our team about after the game was about having the mentality of communicating and not getting our heads down if a guy makes a tough shot. We did that tonight. That is a step in the right direction. We have to continue it. Defense is something that should be able to travel. It should be able to play in Boulder, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington, or wherever you are. If our players will understand that and start playing like that on a consistent basis, we can turn the corner. You can kind of feel it happening. It is hard to win. College basketball is a zero-sum game. Every game that is played has a winner and a loser. We have been on both sides of it. This side is a heck of a lot more fun.”
On The Current Pac-12 Standings
“These next games are really important. If you lose this game (against UCLA) you go to 7-9 and drop yourself out of the muck. At least we’re back in the muck now. The muck is pretty big. The only way to get out of it to continue to win games. That’s easier said than done at this time of the year. UCLA has come in here and won four or five games. They have a really talented team that’s playing well right now. USC is coming in as a very talented team. Our fans are going to be watching some very talented guys next weekend. Now, the good news is that we have talented guys too. Our mindset is right and it’s not going to be easy just like today wasn’t easy. They have an emotional edge. I thought that we should have had an emotional edge on Utah today because they kicked our tail in Salt Lake. We have to match that edge that UCLA comes in here with and USC will come in here with. They’ll bring it. This is a competitive league. I know we’re getting no respect here nationally but the only way to change that is to win the next game. Our guys have really bought into the ‘get better the next day and win the next game’ and that has allowed us to bounce back.”
On Eli Parquet’s Injury
“He’s day-to-day, he hurt his knee pretty good. The good news is that it’s not an ACL but there are some other things going on in there. He went down and was in a lot of pain. We didn’t have him today and I don’t know if we’ll have him next week. We’ll know more about that on Monday. McKinley Wright participated in a shooting practice Tuesday and didn’t practice again until yesterday. He had the flu this week. Shane Gatling had an infected toe and didn’t practice on Thursday. Eli (Parquet) got hurt on Thursday. When I left the CU Events Center on Thursday I had a total of six scholarship athletes that could play as long as we didn’t take Jakub (Bombek) off of his redshirt. Only six scholarship athletes that could play. It was a tough deal. I told Grier, ‘I’m not going to let this get me down.’ I knew McKinley Wright would be back. He’s a tough kid and the flu is no joke. I knew Shane (Gatling) would be back too. You didn’t know how effective they would be. You have this whole week to prepare, you give them a couple days off, then you have a shooting practice. This week wasn’t a great practice week. But, the guys responded at four o’clock today so that was the most important thing.”
On The Perimeter Defense
“Daylen Kountz, Shane Gatling, and D’Shawn Shwartz are getting better. D’Shawn Shwartz has become much better as a perimeter defender. He did a great job on Timmy Allen than he did in Salt Lake City. To me, McKinley Wright and D’Shawn Shwartz are where they need to be defensively. What we need to do is get Shane Gatling and Daylen Kountz where they need to be, defensively. Then we’ll be fine. Alex (Strating) can come in and give us good minutes and he’s got great toughness. Staying healthy and staying out of trouble is critical for us coming down the stretch. Because, you can only take so many hits before it starts affecting your ability to win games. We’ve had our fair share of adversity this year but our guys have responded to it. They haven’t put their heads down and that’s what I’m proud of.”
On Tyler Bey
“The one thing I have seen from Tyler is Tyler is starting to understand who he is when he is successful and why he is successful. A few games ago we were really on him. When he would set a screen, he wouldn’t roll hard to the rim. He would roll to the middle of the paint or to the free throw line. He wouldn’t put any pressure on the defense. He has done a much better job of that since we really challenged him. When we do our shooting drills in practice, Tyler Bey is taking 15-foot jump shots. That is a money shot for him. He is a 15-foot jump shooter. Will he be a 3-point shooter? Absolutely he will in time. He will continue to work on that. During the first two months of the season, when we would do shooting drills he would shoot threes. Now he is shooting 15-footers because he knows that is his money shot. I am really proud of Tyler. Now when the offseason comes, Tyler will continue to work on his three and hopefully we will bring that into his package next year. Jayce Johnson for Utah understands who he is and has become a pretty darn good player because of that. Tyler is the same way. As a player, you have to have self-awareness to what you do well and what you don’t do well. Tyler is starting to figure that out. I think the results have shown.”
Colorado Players
D’Shawn Schwartz, So., GOn What Led To The Strong Defensive Effort
“I think it’s just a matter of knowing personnel. We were really focused on running people off the line that we needed to and making sure drivers don’t get in the paint, it’s a lot harder getting drive and kick threes when the drivers stay out of the paint and if you get high hands it’s hard to make shots.”
On Attacking The Rim More After Jayce Johnson’s Fourth Foul
“Yeah, I think it’s just feel. Just something that players notice, when a good shot blocker, offensive rebounder is out of the game it’s a lot easier to attack and get easy buckets. We were looking inside a lot, especially to Evan (Battey) and Tyler (Bey). They both played really well tonight.”
On What He Does To Beat The Zone
“Yeah, I just try to get it to the high post, let our bigs go to work, and then when we space out, that’s usually when guards get confused in the zone. So if you can kind of get behind them, confuse them a little bit, it’s easier to get shots, so that’s what I was kind of focusing on today.”
On How Good Evan Battey Is
“Yeah, he’s a beast. He’s been taking a lot of big steps in practice just as far as aggressiveness, leader, energy. That’s just something he brings to the team that you really can’t teach. So we really appreciate having that on the court at all times.”
On Evan Battey Learning From His Foul Trouble In Previous Games
“I think he just knows what he needs to do. He’s a good learner, good listener, good all that. If coach tells him he needs to do something, he’s going to do it and do it well, so after one foul I know he’s not going to make another mistake after that, after learning it so many times.”
On His Three To End The First Half
“Yeah, felt good. I think anytime the guys make the extra pass to the corner it’s a pretty easy shot. That and kicking out from the post, those are two really good shots that coach really likes from us, so getting a shot like that and getting some momentum going into halftime was really big for us I believe.”
Tyler Bey, So., G/F
On The Importance Of His Rebounds
“Getting rebounds is helping this team out a lot, especially my offensive rebounds and then offense I just let it come to me. Let the ball just come to me and then do my thing.”
On The Defense Being So Vocal
“Oh yeah, definitely. We all felt good yesterday in practice, especially me. I was talking a lot in practice. I just wanted to take that into this game.”
On How Good Evan Battey Is
“I think he came in in Washington and just wanted to step up. I feel like he’s more confident on offense and he’s playing great.”
On If Utah’s Poor 3 Point Shooting Allowed Them To Focus More On Defense At The Rim
“Yeah, I think so. I think we just ran them off the line and made them take the tough shots. They made a couple tough shots but that started our fast break and stuff like that. We didn’t turn the ball over also.”
Evan Battey, Fr., F
On If He’s Becoming More Confident In The Post
“Confidence I would say no because I’ve always had the ability to score on the post and drive the ball but I’m getting more and more comfortable.”
On How Good Tyler Bey Is
“He’s really good. I mean, he could be as good as he wants to be when he puts his mind to it, so hats off to him.”
On What This Win Means
“It means the world, honestly, to our teams and to our coaches. If we can get these three wins at home in a row we can potentially be in fourth in the Pac 12 and maybe get that bye. That means the world to us as well. Just playing hard every game and thinking about the next game. The game in front of us is the key.”
Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On Missing ShotsThat was a big part of it. I think defensively we were pretty dialed in for the most part. When you are playing in the 60’s on the road in this conference going into the last media timeout that’s where you want to be. I can think of eight or ten open threes that we have been making. It takes three phases to win games. You have got to have some offense, defense - we kind of checked that box - and we outrebounded them, which you don’t normally do against Colorado. But it’s as simple as it sounds, give them credit they played really well. I think our backcourt was 2 for 18 from three and a lot of those times, they weren’t bad ones, there was a couple forced at the end, but there were a lot of wide-open ones. When you do the math on that, all of a sudden, we are in a ball game.
On Having Mckinley Wright IV Play
It’s remarkably different, I think he is a warrior playing through his injury right now. Offensively, defensively anybody who leads in scoring and assists seems like the head of the snake for them. I’ve got a lot of respect for that kid. I didn’t think overall, we did a bad job on him. Defensively, we had a mishap at the end that we switched one of the details just a little and Sedrick Barefield and Donnie Tillman didn’t switch and Siewert hit the shot when we had two minutes to go and a chance to get it into a one position game. But that’s an example of him making a play, he had the ball in his hands, and he found a shooter and he does that regularly.
On Log Jam Getting Tighter In The Top Four
We have just got to focus on getting better this week. There is going to be a lot of talk about it for everybody’s program as you wind down the last two games. Everything is hypothetical until we are done Saturday night. I know one thing, we have to focus on us and not worry about what’s going on around us, and we will stay true to that.
On Differences In The Game
We didn’t make shots. I think that was the biggest difference. I think we are the top team in the conference of making threes and shooting from three and if they don’t go in… to me threes add up pretty fast. Off the top of my head if my math is correct if we make two of those it’s a tie game with two minutes to go. So, we’ve got to make shots.
On Having Timmy Allen Back
We need all hands-on deck at this point. He’s still probably a little out of rhythm with being out of action. But we will have a solid week, we don’t have an overly deep team so, we need everybody’s involvement. I think he brings a level of physicality certainly on the defensive end, rebounds he does a nice job. We need all our guys to step up and make some plays going down the stretch.
On The Slow Start And Whether It Happens In More Games Than Not
No, not off the top of my head. I know we have looked at all the numbers and our worst stretch is if you take it in five-minute segments, is actually the last five minutes of the first half statistically. Once again, we were in a close game and gave-up I think seven points going down the stretch. You have the big three going into halftime was a dagger for us. Again, defensively we were pretty dang good, we just missed a lot of shots. Not only do we need to hit threes’, but we need to have a post presence. We don’t have a lot going on around the rim and we need to do a much better job. Colorado definitely checked that box in terms of some of the big boy basketball in and around the rim and under the basket, they definitely got the best of us. Their bigs at halftime I think had 22 of their 35 points and we can’t be completely dependent on the three.