Colorado-UCLA Quotes
vs
Grace College (Ind.)
Oct 19 (Sun)
12 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement“Credit to UCLA. They deserved to win this game. They were the tougher team. In the second half they made the plays down the stretch that needed to be made and we didn't. Our defense in the second half wasn't good enough, especially our ball screen defense. It really just left us and then we tried to start double teaming Campbell and try to make it a little tougher on him to make his reads and make his plays and that didn't work either. We talked about going zone but it's almost like that clock got down to three minutes and I was afraid to go zone down eight with under three minutes to go because I just felt like they'd melt clock. I just wanted to try to get stops and we didn't get enough of them. Certainly, it wasn't a make-miss game. They made shots, we didn't make shots. I think it's more that they executed their stuff. At one-point we were plus 16 in points in the paint in the second half and we ended up even. UCLA really took advantage of our breakdowns defensively. Tyger Campbell; 11 assists on the roads is hard to get. He's a terrific player. They deserve to win. We didn't. There was a lot of contact. The referees let us play tonight. We average 21 free throws attempted per game and we shot 10 tonight. You have to play through the contact. You have to make plays through contact on nights like that when the whistles not blown and we weren’t able to do that down the stretch. We had opportunities to, but we didn't. The whistle didn't blow, and we didn't get finishes and they did. Seems like we were in a crowd and they weren't in a crowd and that was a result of our breakdowns defensively. Tough, tough loss.”
On If The Players Took Their Foot Off The Gas
“No. I don't think so at all. I don't think we took our foot off the gas. I just think the gas tank went empty in terms of our ability to make shots. I mean, we went how many minutes without a bucket. It wasn't a matter of we changed or tried to take our foot off the gas at all. We continued to try to score but UCLA got stops and we missed open shots. We had some good looks that didn't go in. That part is make-miss. When you get a good look in a game like this you have to step up and make them. UCLA did that when they came back. We were up nine and they did that. They kept getting stops and then they made shots when they were open. I like to try to control the defense. It's hard to control that offense when the shots not going in and it is frustrating when there's contact and there's no whistle, but there's nights like that. We just got to finish through contact better than we did tonight. Bottom line.”
On The Offense Affecting The Defense
“Yeah, it definitely happened tonight. Without a doubt. It's happened at times this year. That's where we've got to grow up and be a little bit more mature because your defensive identity cannot lose you. That's what UCLA has now. They have a defensive identity. Early in the second half to get that lead I thought we were terrific on offense. We got the ball moving, we got good looks and then it went dry. Anybody that's followed this team this year knows that's not the first time we've gone on droughts offensively. That's just part of who we are. I credit the UCLA defense because they got up into us and they were physical, and they were in our space and we didn't we didn't handle it well enough.”
On UCLA’s Defensive Game Plan
“They're just ultra-physical. You see them trying to blow up handoffs and get into your space, and secondary defenders. You beat your guy, there's a secondary defender there, and they're gonna get up into you, and they're going to be physical. They were physical tonight. We weren't able to finish through that contact.”
On Rebounding Battle
“We won the rebounding battle, but they got two offensive rebounds off free throws in the second half. That can't happen. Those are two extra possessions in a one possession game. Those things kill you. You can't let that happen. There are so many things in these types of games you can look to whether it's offensive rebounds, missed shots, non-calls or fouls that’re called on us. There's so many things you can look at that could sway the game. I just felt like defensively we let down and that can't happen in high level basketball games. Home, road, neutral court. Can’t happen. It happened tonight and that’s what cost us the game.”
On The Three Road Games Ahead
“We got to figure out a way to be beat Cal next Thursday. That's what we have to do. Cal is playing really good. They're very good at home. Stanford's got all their guys back; they got all hands-on deck. Utah, we know how good they are at home. UCLA came in and swept the mountain schools and that's a testament to them. They're playing very, very well. You look at Arizona State and you look at UCLA right now, probably the two hottest teams in the PAC-12. This one stings because it was senior night. Shane and Lucas deserve better than they got from their team and their coaches.”
On This Loss Testing The Mental Toughness Of This Team
“Absolutely. Three road games. You got to be able to win on the road to compete for league championships. We've got five losses now. Arizona has four, they're playing at home tonight. This one stings because you're supposed to hold serve at home. This is our third home loss. Sellout crowd. Our fans deserve better than they got tonight. I'm sick to my stomach for a lot of reasons but mostly for the two seniors and mostly for our fans because our fans were terrific this last homestand and we didn’t play well enough. That stings because when they show up, you want to give them a reason to show up and we didn't do a good job tonight.”
Colorado Players
McKinley Wright, Jr. G
On why shots were not falling in the end“I couldn’t tell you. We were getting some good looks and some stuff wasn’t falling and we let it affect our defense on the other end. We have to do a better job of staying together. On the offensive end when the ball doesn’t go in, people get frustrated and it effects our defensive efforts and what we’re doing on that end. Moving forward we have to be better about that. We have to hang our hat on defense. Our defense in the second half wasn’t it tonight.”
Evan Battey, So. F
On how this loss effects the overall moral“Just the fact that our seniors deserve better. Our senior players deserve better, our senior managers deserve better. That’s all I can think about right now.”
On getting down after certain unfair fouls
“I mean yeah, but that’s part of the game. You have to play through it. You have got to get the call, it’s part of the game.”
UCLA Head Coach Mick Cronin
On what went right in the second half
“We got six deflections before the first TV timeout so it was around fifteen minutes. From 15 in the first half to 12:30, 23 minutes roughly, we only had one deflection. They are too good, you have to try to take something away. You have to play with more energy and intensity or they are going to call you out, they have too many good players. I talked to the guys and said this isn’t who we are, they get 50 points with 12:38 to play we are going to give up 80 then our day is over, this is not who we are anymore. You have to give our guys credit, they came out of that timeout got a bucket and stopped giving up layups. We stopped getting beat, locked them down defensively and our communication was better but from that point on we had 14 deflections, 14 pieces of the ball. Our defense from that point on is why we won, that and we got a shot off every time in the second half.”
On what made the difference
“Our defense; in a lot of these games the last 10 minutes, or for us the last 12 minutes, we stopped giving up layups. Even some of the baskets they made were hard shots.”
On the significance of this win
“It’s monstrous. I mean how many teams are going to come in here and win? It's late, its senior day and they are playing for the PAC12 title. That’s huge, to be able to come in here when you are nine down with 12 to play on the road against a great team. They were playing all juniors and seniors while we were playing freshman and sophomores and you are able to pull it out is monstrous for us. Every time we win the game gets bigger.”
On what the message to the team was at half
“First of all Jake Kyman had two big threes that kept us in it. When you are playing a team like this on the road you just have to stay in the game, you can’t get blown out. Those were monstrous. But we missed layups, Jaime missed a dunk, we missed a lot of point-blank shots around the rim and we got some good looks so offensively we were okay. The ball just wasn’t going down for us, our problem was with the defense.”