Colorado-Montana State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“Hard fought win. I knew it coming in that Montana State is a good basketball team, a veteran team and I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Really proud of our players and the fight that they showed. It’s funny, a lot of our guys don't even know the fight song and so we sang in the locker room. Evan (Battey) kind of taught them. The fight part of this team obviously was on display tonight. We weren't great. It was kind of an ugly win, but they showed a lot of grit down the stretch defensively. I don't know where that defense was the first 30 minutes that I saw the last 10 minutes or eight minutes maybe. We started switching their ball screens, I probably should have done that a little earlier. Great hard-fought win against a really good team. I got a lot of respect for Montana State and their players and their coaching staff. Danny Sprinkles did a heck of a job putting together a nice team.”
On Coming Back in the Second Half
“Our backs were against the wall and I saw a little bit of that in Nebraska when we got punched in the face. Our guys didn't quit. They didn't go away, but we just got to understand it's a 40-minute game and there's going to be ebbs and flows. RaeQuan Battle hit a big time tough three at the end of the halftime. There's good defense, and the little kid (Xavier Bishop) hits the deep three. It reminded me of Texas A&M my first year, flashbacks. Those shots I'm not worried about. That doesn't bother me. It's the ones where we're not guarding the ball or we're hand checking and they penetrate and kick to a three-point shooter and we don't switch. Our switching is got to get better. We gave up a minimum of 15 points tonight just in ball screen switches and you're supposed to switch to take away threes. You're supposed to switch from taking away the role. We didn't do a good job of that tonight. So, there's a lot of things we have to get better at. Guarding the ball post defense. There's a lot of things that Colorado needs to get better at and our guys understand that, but that's what the film room is for and now the game starts coming and the balance between making sure we're improving. Cleaning up what we learned tonight and getting ready for New Mexico is kind of a little bit of a delicate balance because we have to take days off. We're off tomorrow and should be because it's late. I don't want to get up at 7:30 in the morning and wear these guys out so they’ll get rested tomorrow. Well get two days of practice for New Mexico and get after it.”
On veteran players during the game
“Eli (Parquet) and Evan (Battey) are two seniors, we're going to lean on them a lot. KJ (Simpson), we got to get him on the floor more. We didn't get Julian (Hammond) out there tonight. Luke O’Brien, I thought gave us great minutes. I thought the end of the first half probably the last six to eight minutes our bench did a great job. We didn't finish the half very well. We got to a four- or five-point lead. It dwindled away because we didn't finish the half well but for the most part I thought the bench played pretty good there in that first half. We had Tristan with two, Lawson with two, Evan with two. Just getting ready to put you know Will Loughlin in our big walk on who's a good player, but Luke O'Brien gave us good minutes in that first half.”On Eli’s Shot For Overtime
“Yeah, coming out of that timeout I said Okay. It was a play drawn up to a ball screen to get our guard downhill, get Evan roll into the rim and fill up with a shooter behind the ball screen. I said we'll take a quick two but if we get a wide open three, we'll take that too. We just need to get a great shot. That position and that possession was kind of like a broken play if you will. Jabari (Walker) I thought made a really heads up play on the drive kicking it out. Because at that point there wasn't a lot of time and that was a really astute play on his part. I say this all the time, players make plays at the end of the games. Jabari made a great penetrating kick. Obviously, Eli relocated, was shot ready and knocked the shot down. Those two guys did a heck of a job but I had nothing to do with that. But the play originally was designed to get a quick two or three whatever came quick but we wanted to get it quick because if we didn't score, we got to get the clock stopped and go to the other end so I got it over in time.”On Nique Clifford and His Game Improvement
Look, last year wasn't his fault because he didn't get the chance last year. He didn't get the minutes last year. He got the minutes tonight. And yeah, when he gets a defensive rebound, we want him to push it, and we want KJ or Keyshawn or whoever else, on the wing is in there with them, to run and I want our guards and wings to get rebounds and push it. Nick is a makes a good ball handler and he's good passer; he's a willing passer. I thought turnovers were a little issue for us tonight. You know in the first half, I really challenged Jabari and Tristan because they had all of them for us in the first half, but the second half their teammates helped them out. But 16 turnovers is too much against a high quality team like this.On Keeshawn Barthelemy and A Post-Mckinley Wright Era
Keeshawn is going to be great. KJ Simpson is going to be great. Julian Hammond is going to be coming. Our point guard position is in good shape. It's just a matter of who can be consistent and it might be a different guy in a different night. The only thing I get frustrated with Keeshawn is on the defensive end and rebounding the basketball, the two things that I bleed, and he needs to help, and he tracked down an offensive rebound in the second half a big one, and we we've got to have five guys rebound the ball defensively. Keyshawn has got to be a big because that's what McKinley did. McKinley was a great rebounding guard. So again, room for improvement, but Keyshawn. I got I had confidence in Keeshawn, I got confidence in KJ, and I have confidence in Julian Hammond even though he didn't play tonight. It's just hard to have a 10 minute rotation sometimes.”On Mental Toughness, Keeshawn and Jabari
It's not letting that turnover affect the next play. I thought they both did a good job of that. Now obviously, Jabari is going to do a better job taking care of the ball, and a lot of his [mistakes] were driving and being off balance not playing off two feet. But you know, that's an adjustment to Jabari’s game that he's going to make this year and it's going to take time. It's not it's like you just gonna snap your fingers and now he's penetrating like a point guard, but I think he learned it and learned within the game because that last play he made a really good kickout. So yeah, mental toughness is being able to not be at your best but not let the last play affect the next play. I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”On Improvements for Saturday
I'll meet with our staff in the morning and we'll start figuring out finding the balance between learning from tonight in the film room and preparing for New Mexico. That's what we'll do on Thursday and Friday.
Colorado Players
Elijah Parquet, Sr., G
On team locking in down the stretch“Oh, yeah, they were shooting like 11 for 16 in the first half. So we had to lock in for sure. We couldn't keep trading baskets or this game was going to get out of hand so we had to get stops in the end so we just locked in.”
On final play of regulation
“It wasn't designed but Jabari (Walker) made a great pass and then I was just creating space on the outside. I was open so I just took the shot. I didn't let my past threes get in my head and my teammates just told me to keep shooting.”
On what changed for the team late in the game
“Well, they were getting to the line on their end of the court and we weren't getting to the line on ours so they were attacking us we weren't attacking them. We started attacking more and then again on defense, we had to just lock in. If we didn't do that we weren't going to win the game.”
Keeshawn Barthelemy, So., G
On his aggressiveness during the game“Yeah, I was looking to be aggressive because they were playing the ball screens and I just had to make plays for my teammates and then they pulled through for us.”
Evan Battey, Sr., F
On team’s slow start“To be honest, I don't know. We just didn't have it defensively. They are not an easy team to guard, they're a hard team to guard. They put together their experience. They were returning eight or nine guys from last year so they're really good offensively and we just had to lock in”
On how he stayed composed throughout the game
“I'm in my fifth year here in Colorado. I've seen a lot happen, I've seen a lot of games. So for me it's about keeping my head and composure. Never get too high or too low and just get ready to make an impact.”
On game’s importance for young players
“I know how important it is for game one, just to set the tone for the requirement of energy, the attitude and effort that's required to win games. That's the cost of entry almost, that's the price. I think now we dive into what it really takes to come out and win games.”
On defensive adjustments in the paint
“We started switching stuff and did not give them any of the advantages of our switches. You have to really make it hard on their guys to see in the post. So I mean, it's all around effort actually.”