Colorado-Stanford Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
“Great, great win for Colorado basketball today. More importantly than that, our hearts go out to Oscar da Silva and his injury and I hope he's okay. I said this on the radio, but I'll say it again. I got great respect for coach Haase and how he handled that and how his team handled that. I’m proud of how our guys handled that. It was unfortunate. Injuries are part of the game. It was nothing that we tried to do but we had a great group of guys and they responded. Our fans responded. But my heart goes out to Stanford. They were down two guys, two starters with Oscar going out and Bryce Wills twisted his ankle the other night against Utah. So, they're down a couple guys but they battled, they fought and as good as a win it was for Colorado it was a tough loss for Stanford. I just want them to know our hearts go out to them.”
On If He’s Ever Experienced Anything Like The Scene After Da Silva’s Injury
“No. I haven’t. It was as emotional. Again, I think the way their coaches and their players responded and the way our players responded was really special.”
On Getting Back Into A Flow After Da Silva’s Injury
“It's hard. It's really, really hard. That's why I'm so proud of our guys. Evan obviously was emotional about it. It's an emotional day, it's an emotional game. Sports brings out the emotions in people. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. You saw some bad emotion from the Colorado coach at the end of the first half. Sometimes it brings out the worst in you and in players, but sometimes it brings out the best and that's an example today of the best.”
On Low Bench Production Recently
“Bench production, sometimes it comes and goes. I saw the same stat you did so I think it’s a very astute observation, I'm not going to look too much into that because I just think I've got confidence in the guys coming off the bench. We shortened the bench a little bit tonight. Some of those guys didn't get the minutes that they normally get, but we're going to be fine. Guys have to be ready when their numbers called. Sometimes it's difficult when, you know, Maddox didn't get a lot of extended minutes tonight, Daylen didn't, Dallas didn't. So certainly, Stanford. They had the injury and coming into altitude I think they were planning on playing more people anyway. I don't read too much into that. Our bench is good. I've got confidence in them and I think that'll turn itself as the season goes on.”
On Defense In Second Half
“We kept talking. The only way we're going to get this thing shrunk is to get stops. Then when we got the thing tied, the only way we're going to get this thing to Colorado's advantage is to continue to get stops because you cannot trade baskets with teams and get ahead or come from behind. It's about getting stops and our guys did that the second half when they needed to. Stanford was down a couple guys, but they were on good offense. I was really disappointed again, it reminded me a little bit about Northern Iowa. They made 12 three-pointers. We fouled a three-point shooter twice. That's 14 threes. 10 of them were from their shooters. The ones from the big kid, Delaire, we'll live with those. He's not a shooter in the scouting report, but he's a division one player on scholarship, so he's capable of making a three. You have to adjust to that. We knew White, we knew Jones, we knew Terry. Those guys can knock down threes. We got to take away threes because the great equalizer. That's what kept Stanford ahead and certainly in the game as long as they were.”
On How Proud He Is Of This Team
“I’m really proud of our guys. They got what it takes. We may not always play well, we may not always shoot well from the free throw line, but we're good free throw shooting team. What we can’t do is feel sorry for yourself because it’s just part of the game. You just got to toughen up and come down and get a stop. Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way but our guys, they got heart, they got toughness. I’m really proud of those guys.
On Knowing If The Shots Were Going To Start Falling
“Yes. I said it in the timeouts, ‘guys, our shots will start coming, they will. We're getting great looks. They're going to come. We got to dial in the defensive and we got to take their threes away’. That’s easier said than done. Stanford is a very, very good basketball team. We beat a really good team, a short-handed team with da Silva's injury and with Wills out, but still a very good team. They've hit a rough stretch in their schedule, but they'll be back, and we got to go back to the Bay Area, at the end of the year, so we'll see them again. I got great respect for Stanford.”
On Going Into The Oregon Trip
“I feel good. We know that the Oregon trips tough and Oregon’s one of the most talented teams in our league. It's not easy to win there. We're gonna have to strap our boots up and lace them up and go let it all hang out. Oregon State beat us here. One thing I know about Oregon is they'll be ready. They're well coached, they're talented team, they're down a couple guys. I expect probably one of their bigs to be back. I have no idea about N’Faly Dante's injury. I know the Okoro kid was away out of the country for his father's funeral. I expect him to be back. Oregon’s a very, very talented team.”
Colorado Players
McKinley Wright IV, G, Jr.
On the change at the second half“We knew we couldn’t afford to lose this game. We have a target on our back since we are the number one team in the PAC-12, so everyone’s going to give us their best shot. We just want to dial in on the defensive end and get stops in the first half. They shot 40 percent so we just have to be better on that end. Shots would start falling and we just had to keep shooting.”
On the aftermath of the injured Stanford player play
“Accidents happen in basketball. I’ve known Evan for three years now and he’s got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, including my family. I’ve never met someone with a heart like his so he didn’t do it on purpose at all. It was emotional because I looked over and seeing Oscar’s head bleeding and his eyes starting to roll back into his head, I just got down on my knees and said a prayer. Coach Boyle wanted me to call both teams together and say another prayer with both teams so we got together and Coach Hasse said for both teams to keep playing hard and I said a prayer and thanked God that he was okay and he wasn’t worse than what it was.”
On what came together for second half takeover
“We just had to shoot the ball with confidence. In the first half we were getting good looks but stuff just wasn’t falling for us. When that happens you’re supposed to tighten up on the defensive end but we didn’t do that either. Coach got on us a little at half time but he told us that we were going to win the game. He knew it was going to come down to stops and guarding the ball. Shots started falling.”
On needing better defensive starts to the game
“On the defensive end we need to be better, especially with a team like Oregon, they get a lot of deep threes. As far as offensively, I think we are doing the right thing. We got a little stagnant in our circle. We were getting some good looks, some looks that we wanted. I’m not too concerned with the offensive end but the defensive end we need to tighten up.”
Evan Battey, F, So.
On the play that injured the Stanford player“I was emotional. I’m a big dude. I had my eyes closed when I went up and I elbowed him in his face and I saw his reaction and the way he was landing and I just broke down. After, Coach Haase told McKinley to lead a prayer and we just all prayed and wished for the best.”
On continuing on with the game after the injury
“I had to go into the locker room for five or 10 minutes, trying to debrief and get my head together. As the game went on, I was still praying, still saying prayers. When I hit that three, I was shedding tears as well. It was an emotional game all the way through and I don’t know how we played when I went into the locker room, I don’t know how Stanford played, but I know how I played, and I played for Oscar. My mom came back into the locker room because I couldn’t calm down, I couldn’t stop hyperventilating. She was telling me to calm down and she knows me the best, she just told me, ‘you’re going to be alright’, and I just went out and played.”
D’Shawn Schwartz, F, Jr.
On coming together after the injury“Everybody came together for Evan. We were playing for something bigger than basketball at that point. It was a tough game and we knew Ev was emotional about the whole play. We wanted to get that win for him. He started taking over the game and getting some huge plays. Stuff like that got us going. It’s hard to play after something like that happens but I think we did a good job of staying tough as a team.”
On feeding off the crowd’s energy
“It’s unbelievable. In games like this, there’s sometimes in the games that I just have to look up and look around and be really appreciative of all the people that come out to the games. I know that we work really hard and they love to watch us play. We really feed off of the energy.”
Stanford Head Coach Jerod Haase
On Oscar da Silva
“Oscar will be fine. I don’t know the timeline of when he’ll be back, but he’ll be fine at some point. I believe he got stitches already, but I don’t know for sure.”
On The Success In The First Half
“A part of it was them [Colorado] missing shots that they usually make, but in the second half I think they shot unbelievably well and played some decent defense. In the first half, I loved our game plan, I loved how we were getting the ball inside and out, we made some shots that were a byproduct of us getting into the paint, but I thought our guys followed the game plan really well.”
On Why They Struggled In The Second Half
“It was challenging in terms of numbers, the personnel, and matchups, but it was not a lack of effort or a lack of understanding of the game plan. In some ways, there was a lack in ability because of height or having a limited bench. I am certainly proud of the way the guys competed. I’m not proud of the results from the second half, but I thought we took a step forward in many ways today.”
On Oscar da Silva Injury
“I was concerned, same with all of the guys on our team and everyone in the building. You never want guys to go down and there’s always a great level of concern when there’s any kind of injury.
On Both Teams Coming Together For A Moment
“I think it was a great show of unity. I have a great deal of respect for the Colorado basketball program. Coach Boyle is first class and I think everything you saw out there was genuine and real. Again, I think this game represents what’s right about college basketball in a concerning time for our sport. Colorado and Coach Boyle are at the forefront of people doing it well. I know Coach Boyle has been an advocate for doing things the right way. He’s involved with so many things in the NCAA. Although it was a tough game for us, it was fun to watch two teams just compete as hard as they could.”
On If Coach Boyle Spoke To Him About Coming Together
“Yes, he talked about getting the team together. His team was also very emotional and especially a couple of his guys, so we just wanted to get a quick moment together. I definitely have to give Coach Boyle the credit for that moment, he was able to see the situation and handle it in a real classy way.”
On Letting The 16-Point Lead Go
“I would have been concerned if we would have been passive and let them get us on our heels, but I was proud. We lost a big lead at USC earlier this year and I felt like we were passive, but that was not the case today. We ran out of players, we were playing with a short bench, and they made a bunch of good shots. They won that game and they made the shots that they needed to make.”
On The Loss
“It was an extremely tough loss. All of the guys have taken all of the losses really hard. I think we’re growing and building as a program and doing the right things as a team. We have to get over the hump at some point here. There’s certainly no sign of splintering with the team, no sign of complaining, no sign of anything other than dedication and commitment to the process. I believe and they believe that we’re going to start winning some of these close ones.”