Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement“I think it’s a good sign for our program when you win a game by this much at home and you feel a sense of disappointment. I thought we weren't at our best tonight, more so from an emotional standpoint than a physical standpoint or execution standpoint. We just weren’t ourselves, we weren’t as sharp. I told them at the eight minute media timeout in the second half that it just didn’t seem like we were having any fun. I can’t say enough about our crowd showing up on a Monday night and sending these guys off for the last home game the way they did, and I thought we owed them a little more than we gave them tonight. We got the win and we live to see another day, it's about surviving and advancing this time of year and thank goodness we are.”
On the short turn around to Wednesday night’s game
“I think these guys will respond. The one thing about our guys is they’ve responded to adversity usually every year. I don't want to say we were terrible tonight because we weren't. We just weren't ourselves and weren't as sharp as we needed to be. Wednesday night we know we’ll have to be better and sharper, more crisp. We’ve got to pass and catch the ball better. Texas is good, they’ve got good players, and it’ll be a heck of an opportunity.”
“I’ve watched them on film a little. They’re a talented team, they’ve got some talented guys that we’ve seen in the AAU circuit. It should be a heck of a matchup. We’ve got a team that's playing well right now, these guys love each other, they're connected. We've just got to go down and make it happen. It’s a great test on the road.”
On first half standing ovation for Evan Battey
“That was one of those goosebumps moments. I think it gives an indication of what our fans think of Evan, and I think they feel that about our whole team. These guys have earned that with the way they’ve played and how they’ve connected with our fans.”
On Shane Gatling
“Shane wasn’t himself tonight, he twisted his ankle a couple of days ago in practice so he wasn't full speed tonight. We need Shane to be the shooter he’s capable of being, we need him to be the defender that he was in Las Vegas. We’re going to need him dialed in defensively Wednesday night and making open shots when he gets them. That’s what shooters have to do, especially this time of year.”
Colorado Players
Evan Battey, Fr., FOn the long ovation he received at the free-throw line at the end of the first half
“I was blown away by the fact that they were clapping so much. They were really clapping for a long time. It meant the world to me see them clapping throughout the whole stadium.”
On what he wanted to address to fans after tonight’s game
“I was going to say to them, thank you for coming. You have to come on a Monday night during spring break. All of the students aren’t here. It meant the world to us knowing that the crowd came out.”
On being effective offensively in the paint tonight
“I try to do the same thing every game; shoot the ball when I’m open, pass the ball when I’m not, and rebound. It is nothing different from what n try to do every game. The fact that I scored a lot in the paint is just a plus.”
On a turning point noticed during the season
“I think it was after Stanford, if I am not mistaken, I think that was the game before Oregon State at home. We tricked that game away. We were up by 10 or so in the first half and let it slip. We played our butts of here against Oregon State. We came up on the short end. We really bonded together, came together as a family, fought, and implemented that word ‘fight’ in our circle.”
McKinley Wright IV, So., G
On what to improve on Wednesday night against Texas
“We have to play with emotion – starting with me. I wasn’t fully there tonight. I think these guys; their actions follow a lot what I do. When I’m not there emotionally, a lot of them follow me. So I have to start out better Wednesday night in Austin with more emotion.”
On how the next 24 hours will be spent before playing Texas
“Some guys have to get in the cold tub and hot tub – get their legs back under them. I am sure tomorrow’s practice will be very light. We will be ready to go. We have to get off our feet a little bit and get a little rest.”
On a turning point noticed during the season
“After out Oregon State loss, we played Oregon. We play music before every game. I huddled everybody up and told them to look to their left and right and tell them we love each other. We did that and ever since then, we have had this thing kind of rolling. I think when we show our love for each other, one another feels it and we go out and play for each other.”
On playing against a Big 12 opponent against Texas
“It will be fun. It will be fun to get this one for the Pac-12. Both are power five schools. If we can steal this one, it will be good for us, good for this program, and good for the Pac-12 as a whole.”
On attention to detail taken to improve this team during the season
“I took a lot of it. I was beating myself up about it a lot. After one of our losses early in the year, we were coming back to the airport, I had a conversation with [Assistant] Coach (Kim) English. He told me as a leader and as a point guard, I have to find a way to get this team to win. I needed to get guys more shots like D’Shawn (Schwartz), Shane (Gatling), and Lucas (Siewert) – who shoot the ball very well. I needed to feed Tyler (Bey) and Evan (Battey) more. I needed to try to pick them up from an emotional standpoint as well. We were struggling early in the year. I was beating myself up a lot about it. I wasn’t playing my best either. I was struggling and it was killing me. I promised myself we were going to figure it out. We had a lot of good practices, came together as a family, started loving each other more, and playing for each other.”
Norfolk State Head Coach Robert Jones
Opening statementHats off to Colorado, I wish them well in the next round of the NIT. It was a tough game especially that first half, I think our guys just didn’t come in with the right mindset and I think a lot of us thought that after that big upset win against Alabama that it would be a similar situation. But I told our guys at the same time that you make it harder on yourself because everybody’s attention is to you now as they realize you are a good team whether Alabama took you serious or not. Colorado took us seriously and it was a tough first half. Second half we settled down and I think we played Norfolk State basketball, and the results showed. Defense was better, offense was better, we won that half. So, I wish that we could just replay that first half a little bit.
On the effects of altitude
I was joking with coach [Tad Boyle] that you guys have the cheat code out here. With that altitude that’s different, we haven’t played like that all year. We got guys like Derrik Jamerson Jr that runs a 4:57 mile, almost a track runner and he’s gasping after three trips up and down the floor. So, the altitude definitely plays a part. Once we got our second wind, I guess played better the second half.
On coming of Alabama game
I don’t think they were drained, they were pumped up and some over confident. I think that in theory you come off beating the number one seed and you play the fourth seed so supposedly it’s a lesser game, but it’s really not as you have the attention and Colorado is a pretty good team in my opinion. Coach Boyle does a good job with everything, offensively, defensively. I don’t think they were drained, we had two good days of practice and shoot around was good, we just didn’t come out the right way in the first half for whatever reason.
On season as a whole
A lot of time in the locker room you talk about your last speech, everybody is talking about what should have or could have happened. We could have got to the quarter finals, we could have maybe gone to Madison Square Garden, we could have got to the NCAA tournament if we got three points on that Saturday. But I told the guys to reflect on what happened, what actually happened. We had the second-best season in school history. We got 22 wins without a pro. When we had the 26 wins, we had a pro in our team, we had a whole bunch of regular guys out there that just bought into what we were trying to say, and we made a good run. We got the biggest upset in NIT history. We have a list that goes on and on about all the great things we have done so we are not going to hang our head on this showing.
Mastadi Pitt, So., G
On second half and reflections on the season
I feel like my shot was getting on in the second half when I made my first three. I was kind of winning the first half, but my shots weren’t really falling. I got the hang of it the second half. This season, it was an amazing season we got 22 wins that’s hard to do especially for us, that’s hard. We fought, we love each other, and we just grind.