Colorado-Kansas State Quotes
COLORADO HEAD COACH TAD BOYLE
On McKinley Wright IV…
“I said it Wednesday, and I’ll say it tonight, he’s an All-American and he’s playing like it. I don’t care what anybody says. He’s my All-American I can tell you that. He’s our All-American. His teammates love him, he loves his teammates. I love the kid.”
On the upcoming game against Arizona …
“We know how good Arizona is in this league, and how good they’ve been year in and year out since we’ve been in the Pac-12, we’ve never won. All you can ask for in life is an opportunity. I don’t know who we are going to have, or how many people are going to play. We just want to get back to Boulder and get healthy and we’d like to have all hands on deck, but we’ll see how this week unfolds from that standpoint. And this year is going to be like this, that’s why the NCAA a year back for situations like this when you come to Manhattan with 14 guys and you suit up 11 two days later. I thought about young guys, Luke (O’Brien) and Domonique (Clifford), got some big minutes in some big games. Jabari (Walker) was terrific. These guys are still learning as we go, a lot of newbies. I thought Dallas (Walton) was great when he was in there, I just feel bad for his foul trouble and we got to figure that out. But definitely a good team win, and our depth was maybe questioned because it was untested, but it really helped us in both games.”
On if the players out with Covid affected the slow start …
“Zero percent. It had absolutely nothing to do with it. We talked about taking the floor before the game I said on Wednesday night we had one guy to play for, and that was D’Shawn (Schwartz), and tonight we had three guys to play for, D’Shawn, Tristan (Da Silva) and Keeshawn (Barthelemy), so it had nothing to do with that, it had everything to do with K-State and being the aggressor and tougher. We didn’t handle their pressure very well. Obviously, 10 turnovers in the first half, and the one in the second half, was on me not our team. So a tail of two halves in terms of our offensive execution and handling that pressure they brought.”
SENIOR FORWARD JERIAH HORNE
On playing for the guys who were out with COVID-19…
“That was definitely our main focus. We had three guys down tonight, so it was very important that we came together as a unit, and more importantly play for those guys. It could have been any of us the way this whole Covid thing is going on, so we just were very fortunate and happy that it wasn’t us. But we wanted to make sure we took care of business for our team and those guys tonight.”
On playing in Tad Boyle’s system …
“I feel like Coach Boyle really allows us to play. We practice hard and go over exactly what he wants from us and he entrusts us to go and do that in games, but bottom line he always says players make plays, and that’s the most important part. That gives everyone confidence in themselves and their abilities to go out and play and to what they are capable of playing.”
SENIOR GUARD McKINLEY WRIGHT IV
On the halftime adjustments…
“Early in the game we didn’t match their intensity and energy they came out with. Coach told us before the game they were going to come out with a lot of energy for the first 10 minutes, but tonight it was the first 15 minutes and they had us on our heels early. So that’s on us to be better coming out of the gate. The halftime message was to handle their pressure and let go.”
On Jabari Walker…
“I love playing with Jabari. He may be a freshman but he doesn’t care. He’s going to go at you and play with a lot of energy. That’s what he does in practice and that’s what we expect from in the games. I told you early in the year our freshmen would have to step up and I really like the pieces that we brought in and they are going to be valuable for us, and Jabari played huge tonight.”
K-STATE HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
Opening Statement...
“Obviously I was pleased with the energy and effort, especially at the start of the game in the first half. If we would’ve had that energy and effort against Drake, I totally believe that the outcome would’ve been different. It’s part of dealing with a young team, trying to be patient. I was really happy, as I said, with that. Obviously, some plays that went against us. We have a 13-point lead in the first half, Nijel (Pack) gets hit and we get a flagrant foul, a bunch of free throws in a row that definitely changes a game. But give our guys credit. We finished the half, took the lead. I think the second half, obviously Wright was special. I gotta give him credit. We got into him. We pushed him and made him make plays, and he stepped up and really made plays on both ends of the court. I was really impressed with his defense even. He got into Nijel and got into Mike a little bit and chased him. Kudos to him. I thought they had some other guys step up, guys like Walker coming off the bench that made some plays for them. Tad does a good job. He’s got an older team. They’re very, very solid. Defensively and offensively know their roles. We probably lost our poise a little bit in the second half and took some tough shots. We didn’t turn it over as much, but we took some tough shots and need to learn how to work and get better shots all the time, especially when the momentum goes the other way.”
On how far this team is away from playing 40 minutes...
“We made some progress, but tonight it was 20-some. Now we gotta get to 25-30. I thought our bench was much better. I thought Selton (Miguel), a young man that sat out 17-18 days and had three-four days of practice and is now back in there, I thought he was a little better. I thought Rudi Williams after the other night, I thought he really stepped up and was better. I thought Monty gave us a better energy and effort. We’re going to need everybody, and it’s going to be key. Slowly but surely figure out some roles. MIke (McGuirl) and DaJuan (Gordon), it wasn’t as easy today. They gotta learn that to be the guy doesn’t mean you have to make every play. You gotta let the game come. I was happy that Mike got five assists. That was impressive. Rudi gets three assists. Just too many turnovers. You guys probably know better than I, but it seemed like charges, illegal screens and a hook on a postup, all those little fouls and turnovers, and they were big momentum stoppers for us.”
On the stretch in the first half without Nijel Pack...
“Well he was plus-9 when he was in there in the first half, and obviously it was a big difference when he went out. He’s a good player, there’s no doubt and I just hope and pray he’s ok. He got hit pretty hard. He said he was ok, I don’t think he was perfect in the second half but we’ll know more by tomorrow. I don’t want to miss him. He gives us another look who can pass and come off screens. They all just have to figure it out. I told them over and over, college basketball is hard. They had to learn the hard way against Drake and today, and even winning is harder. And UMKC, we have to come out with the same enthusiasm. The bench was great, the energy, and the defense as well. And then we have to keep our poise when teams make runs.”
On helping a younger team to deal with opponent runs…
“I think the thing that happens several times, even with Nijel in the second half, is they try to go make plays on their own instead of letting the game come. And part of that is practice. Being together, playing together, understanding when we need a shot, getting it to the right people at the right time. It’s just going to be a matter of time, working together and working through some of these. I thought at the start of the second half Dajuan (Gordon) had a couple wide open threes in the corner. Somebody made some good passes, and we make a couple of those and now we make the game close, but it just was the poise and understanding who is the go-to guy and how we are going to get him open. It’s all part of growing up and it’s all different for everybody, not only the new guys who have never played but also Mike (McGuirl) to be the guy and DaJuan to be one of the guys. It’s a different role, and they all have to figure that out, and it’s just going to be games and practice to get better.”
FRESHMAN GUARD NIJEL PACK
On not being able to sustain the performance in the second half...
“I think it was all around. I didn’t think it was just offensively. I think we came out defensively with more energy. I feel like our effort and things were there. We were on the ground. We were talking on defense and were able to jump out to that big lead. I just feel like we need to be able to work on that in practice, and we’ll be able to sustain that for 40 minutes and we’ll be a great team.”
On where this team stands after two games…
“I don’t see anything wrong. I see us as a great team, a very young team that’s still learning. The season is very, very early. We definitely made big improvements from the first game against Drake. I feel that we came out with more energy. Defensively, we played together. I feel like it’s a long season, so we’ll be able to work together more and more and practice more and more on things, and we’ll be great by the end of the season.”
On McKinley Wright from Colorado…
“He’s a great player. The coaches told us about him. I knew he was a great player coming in. We knew he would be great at scoring and assisting his teammates. We did the best we can. We played two great guards in our first two games, and I think they were good challenges for us. I give him all his props. He did great, and he led his team.”
SOPHOMORE FORWARD ANTONIO GORDON
On what the team showed early against Colorado...
“I feel like we definitely improved from last game to this game. We just have to put it together for 40 minutes now, and I think we’ll be good overall.”
On the feelings after this tournament…
“We’re definitely disappointed, because a loss is a loss. At the end of the day, we definitely made improvement. We made strides. We’re a really young team, so I think that throughout the season we’ll keep improving and it will be good down the road.”
On better energy to start the game…
“Coaches talked to us about how our energy just wasn’t there the first game. We even watched some film on our bench and different stuff, so we just made sure we brought the energy from the get go and just carried it throughout the game.”
On McKinley Wright IV…
“I said it Wednesday, and I’ll say it tonight, he’s an All-American and he’s playing like it. I don’t care what anybody says. He’s my All-American I can tell you that. He’s our All-American. His teammates love him, he loves his teammates. I love the kid.”
On the upcoming game against Arizona …
“We know how good Arizona is in this league, and how good they’ve been year in and year out since we’ve been in the Pac-12, we’ve never won. All you can ask for in life is an opportunity. I don’t know who we are going to have, or how many people are going to play. We just want to get back to Boulder and get healthy and we’d like to have all hands on deck, but we’ll see how this week unfolds from that standpoint. And this year is going to be like this, that’s why the NCAA a year back for situations like this when you come to Manhattan with 14 guys and you suit up 11 two days later. I thought about young guys, Luke (O’Brien) and Domonique (Clifford), got some big minutes in some big games. Jabari (Walker) was terrific. These guys are still learning as we go, a lot of newbies. I thought Dallas (Walton) was great when he was in there, I just feel bad for his foul trouble and we got to figure that out. But definitely a good team win, and our depth was maybe questioned because it was untested, but it really helped us in both games.”
On if the players out with Covid affected the slow start …
“Zero percent. It had absolutely nothing to do with it. We talked about taking the floor before the game I said on Wednesday night we had one guy to play for, and that was D’Shawn (Schwartz), and tonight we had three guys to play for, D’Shawn, Tristan (Da Silva) and Keeshawn (Barthelemy), so it had nothing to do with that, it had everything to do with K-State and being the aggressor and tougher. We didn’t handle their pressure very well. Obviously, 10 turnovers in the first half, and the one in the second half, was on me not our team. So a tail of two halves in terms of our offensive execution and handling that pressure they brought.”
SENIOR FORWARD JERIAH HORNE
On playing for the guys who were out with COVID-19…
“That was definitely our main focus. We had three guys down tonight, so it was very important that we came together as a unit, and more importantly play for those guys. It could have been any of us the way this whole Covid thing is going on, so we just were very fortunate and happy that it wasn’t us. But we wanted to make sure we took care of business for our team and those guys tonight.”
On playing in Tad Boyle’s system …
“I feel like Coach Boyle really allows us to play. We practice hard and go over exactly what he wants from us and he entrusts us to go and do that in games, but bottom line he always says players make plays, and that’s the most important part. That gives everyone confidence in themselves and their abilities to go out and play and to what they are capable of playing.”
SENIOR GUARD McKINLEY WRIGHT IV
On the halftime adjustments…
“Early in the game we didn’t match their intensity and energy they came out with. Coach told us before the game they were going to come out with a lot of energy for the first 10 minutes, but tonight it was the first 15 minutes and they had us on our heels early. So that’s on us to be better coming out of the gate. The halftime message was to handle their pressure and let go.”
On Jabari Walker…
“I love playing with Jabari. He may be a freshman but he doesn’t care. He’s going to go at you and play with a lot of energy. That’s what he does in practice and that’s what we expect from in the games. I told you early in the year our freshmen would have to step up and I really like the pieces that we brought in and they are going to be valuable for us, and Jabari played huge tonight.”
K-STATE HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
Opening Statement...
“Obviously I was pleased with the energy and effort, especially at the start of the game in the first half. If we would’ve had that energy and effort against Drake, I totally believe that the outcome would’ve been different. It’s part of dealing with a young team, trying to be patient. I was really happy, as I said, with that. Obviously, some plays that went against us. We have a 13-point lead in the first half, Nijel (Pack) gets hit and we get a flagrant foul, a bunch of free throws in a row that definitely changes a game. But give our guys credit. We finished the half, took the lead. I think the second half, obviously Wright was special. I gotta give him credit. We got into him. We pushed him and made him make plays, and he stepped up and really made plays on both ends of the court. I was really impressed with his defense even. He got into Nijel and got into Mike a little bit and chased him. Kudos to him. I thought they had some other guys step up, guys like Walker coming off the bench that made some plays for them. Tad does a good job. He’s got an older team. They’re very, very solid. Defensively and offensively know their roles. We probably lost our poise a little bit in the second half and took some tough shots. We didn’t turn it over as much, but we took some tough shots and need to learn how to work and get better shots all the time, especially when the momentum goes the other way.”
On how far this team is away from playing 40 minutes...
“We made some progress, but tonight it was 20-some. Now we gotta get to 25-30. I thought our bench was much better. I thought Selton (Miguel), a young man that sat out 17-18 days and had three-four days of practice and is now back in there, I thought he was a little better. I thought Rudi Williams after the other night, I thought he really stepped up and was better. I thought Monty gave us a better energy and effort. We’re going to need everybody, and it’s going to be key. Slowly but surely figure out some roles. MIke (McGuirl) and DaJuan (Gordon), it wasn’t as easy today. They gotta learn that to be the guy doesn’t mean you have to make every play. You gotta let the game come. I was happy that Mike got five assists. That was impressive. Rudi gets three assists. Just too many turnovers. You guys probably know better than I, but it seemed like charges, illegal screens and a hook on a postup, all those little fouls and turnovers, and they were big momentum stoppers for us.”
On the stretch in the first half without Nijel Pack...
“Well he was plus-9 when he was in there in the first half, and obviously it was a big difference when he went out. He’s a good player, there’s no doubt and I just hope and pray he’s ok. He got hit pretty hard. He said he was ok, I don’t think he was perfect in the second half but we’ll know more by tomorrow. I don’t want to miss him. He gives us another look who can pass and come off screens. They all just have to figure it out. I told them over and over, college basketball is hard. They had to learn the hard way against Drake and today, and even winning is harder. And UMKC, we have to come out with the same enthusiasm. The bench was great, the energy, and the defense as well. And then we have to keep our poise when teams make runs.”
On helping a younger team to deal with opponent runs…
“I think the thing that happens several times, even with Nijel in the second half, is they try to go make plays on their own instead of letting the game come. And part of that is practice. Being together, playing together, understanding when we need a shot, getting it to the right people at the right time. It’s just going to be a matter of time, working together and working through some of these. I thought at the start of the second half Dajuan (Gordon) had a couple wide open threes in the corner. Somebody made some good passes, and we make a couple of those and now we make the game close, but it just was the poise and understanding who is the go-to guy and how we are going to get him open. It’s all part of growing up and it’s all different for everybody, not only the new guys who have never played but also Mike (McGuirl) to be the guy and DaJuan to be one of the guys. It’s a different role, and they all have to figure that out, and it’s just going to be games and practice to get better.”
FRESHMAN GUARD NIJEL PACK
On not being able to sustain the performance in the second half...
“I think it was all around. I didn’t think it was just offensively. I think we came out defensively with more energy. I feel like our effort and things were there. We were on the ground. We were talking on defense and were able to jump out to that big lead. I just feel like we need to be able to work on that in practice, and we’ll be able to sustain that for 40 minutes and we’ll be a great team.”
On where this team stands after two games…
“I don’t see anything wrong. I see us as a great team, a very young team that’s still learning. The season is very, very early. We definitely made big improvements from the first game against Drake. I feel that we came out with more energy. Defensively, we played together. I feel like it’s a long season, so we’ll be able to work together more and more and practice more and more on things, and we’ll be great by the end of the season.”
On McKinley Wright from Colorado…
“He’s a great player. The coaches told us about him. I knew he was a great player coming in. We knew he would be great at scoring and assisting his teammates. We did the best we can. We played two great guards in our first two games, and I think they were good challenges for us. I give him all his props. He did great, and he led his team.”
SOPHOMORE FORWARD ANTONIO GORDON
On what the team showed early against Colorado...
“I feel like we definitely improved from last game to this game. We just have to put it together for 40 minutes now, and I think we’ll be good overall.”
On the feelings after this tournament…
“We’re definitely disappointed, because a loss is a loss. At the end of the day, we definitely made improvement. We made strides. We’re a really young team, so I think that throughout the season we’ll keep improving and it will be good down the road.”
On better energy to start the game…
“Coaches talked to us about how our energy just wasn’t there the first game. We even watched some film on our bench and different stuff, so we just made sure we brought the energy from the get go and just carried it throughout the game.”