Colorado - CSUB
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“It was a good win. Workmanlike win. I got such respect for Rod Barnes and his program and the way they play. They don't make it easy on you. They're physical, they're tough, they guard you, they rebound, they're physical. It's not easy to score on Bakersfield. We knew we were going to have to make some shots. We finally made some shots from three tonight, which I think was a step in the right direction. We went on our normal drought in the first half offensively that we kind of do from time to time, but it wasn't a result of turnovers for the most part. It was just a result of not finishing during a seven-possession stretch. We missed four layups, we missed two wide-open threes and we missed a post-move but we had good looks and as a coach, that's all I can ask. We just got to finish better and finishing has been an issue for this team since Costa Rica this summer and continues to be something we have to get better at, whether it's offensively at the rim, whether it's defensively finishing possessions with rebounds and limiting them to one shot. They had 11 offensive rebounds, they averaged 12 and a half. That wasn't good enough tonight, but this team finds a way and just keeps grinding and that's what we did tonight. It was a grinding game and we knew that going in and we took care of business. So now it's onward and upward. We know what we got in front of us.”
On Jabari Walker
“I don't know what happened because I didn't see the play. I won’t know what the status is until probably he sees the doctors probably tomorrow. We’ll see how he's feeling and we'll figure that as we go. When your leading scorer and leading rebounder go down, you got to make up for it. It's a team thing. It's not one guy. It doesn't fall all on Tristan (da Silva). It doesn't fall all on Lawson (Lovering) and it didn't. It falls on everybody. We still outrebounded them by six. We want to outrebound by eight again. If we do our jobs on the off, boxing them out, limit them to one where we hit our numbers again but we didn't. We’ve got to understand defensively and we talked about it at halftime, our guards have to help us rebound the ball defensively more than they are because five guys have got to rebound the ball on defense. Now on offense, it's a different story. The three-four or five their job is to go to the glass. There's a play in the second half where there was a long rebound and Eli (Parquet) did what he's supposed to do which is go to the long rebounder spot and guess what, ball fell right in his hands. When you do your job, it's amazing how rebounds just kind of come to you and not every time, but sometimes they will so we just have to do our job on a consistent basis. We need our guards to help us defensively and three, four, and five have to be more aggressive. Tristan has got to be a better rebounder force than he was tonight. Keeshawn (Barthelemy) did a good job. We all have to pick up the slack when Jabari goes out.”
On Holding a Good Week Start to Finish
“I think it's a testament to our defense. We kept getting stops. We tried to get a kill which we talked about is three consecutive stops in a row. At the last media time out of the second half, we didn't have any of them in the second half. We got enough we just didn't string enough together to really break it open. I looked at the stat sheet at halftime we're holding them to 18 and a half percent and we were up by nine. I felt like we should be up 19 but when you sputter offensively and can't make shots and you can't finish it makes it hard. I feel good about where our defense is at. I've talked about that probably over the last two, three weeks. Our offense needs to continue to get better. I thought we showed some flashes tonight and some signs. We’ve just got to be consistent because every game we play from here on out it's going to be an absolute battle and 18-week games and a top 10 team coming in on Tuesday. We've got our work cut out for us but this team is competitive and they're going to continue to improve and get better and so we just got to strap it up and get ready for Tuesday.”
On the Rebound Improvement
“I think we will really evaluate with the film because we chart every game, how many bad box-outs do we have, how many no box-outs do we have. Those are individualized numbers. Obviously, you get a total for your team, but each guy has a responsibility. We chart that very regularly and every day. We look at our offensive rebounding effort. If your job is to go to the glass and you don't go to the glass, boom. We’ve got numbers we want to hit and if we don't hit them, you know we let our guys know about it. I think rebounding becomes an individual thing. At the end of the day, it's a team thing. We don't expect zero offensive rebounds by the other team. I'm not looking for perfection, because there are times, and there were a couple of those tonight where the ball just bounced, there was a long rebound, Evan (Battey) was boxing out it just it fell into their guy's hands. That's going to happen from time to time. But it can't happen 11 times and the ball didn't bounce that way 11 times but it can bounce that way four or five, six times in the game. That's why we set our numbers where we do.”
On Lawson Lovering’s Improvement
“No doubt. In yesterday's practice, he and Jabari (Walker) were going at it hard. (Walker) was talking a little smack and trash to him. He bowed his back, and he wasn't backing down. I thought that was a great sign that he came out tonight and played like that. Lawson’s getting better. He just has to slow down. I thought he did a really good job in the first half on a couple of occasions where he got the ball down low, and he was in a crowd and he kicked it back out. Julian (Hammond) hit a three and somebody else had a three when he kicked it out. (With) playing inside out, we don't want our post guys to be black holes -- when the ball goes in and never comes out. He did a good job of that and Evan (Battey) has done a good job of that. He made some progress tonight. (In) the second half he finished a couple times. He just has to understand, ‘When am I one-on-one and I can slow down and go to work and use my post moves I work on every day, and when am I in a crowd where I can't put the ball on the floor and maybe it's hard for me to get to the rim and that's when I have to kick it out?’ He made progress tonight in that area. I thought Lawson had his best game as a Buff offensively and he's getting better defensively as well”.
On K.J. Simpson Balancing His Aggressiveness
“It's understanding that you can't make a play every time you have the ball. Like with Tristan (da Silva), we want him to be aggressive. I want KJ to be aggressive. That doesn't mean he needs to shoot every time he's aggressive. Every time he gets the ball to the rim, he doesn't have to shoot it. He can come to two feet and keep his dribble alive. Getting his shot blocked at the rim has been an issue that needs to change. His turnovers have become an issue that needs to change. But his aggressiveness offensively doesn't need to change. It's just his decision making at the end of those plays has to get better. He's getting better. It's a learning curve for every freshman. It's a fine line as a coach -- I don't want to take his aggressiveness away. That makes him who he is. I want to help his decision making get better and his understanding of how to run a team to get better. That's what I'm trying to help him with. He'll be fine. K.J.’s going to be a good player.”
On Playing Kansas on Tuesday
“I'm looking forward to having the CU Events Center full of Buff fans. That's what I'm hoping for and counting on. More importantly than that, it's having our team ready to play and having them ready to defend a very efficient offensive team that has really good players. (Kansas) is very well coached. Bill Self is in the Hall of Fame for a reason. He's a hell of a coach on both sides of the ball. They're going to guard you. Our offense will be tested against Kansas. We're going to have to make shots. We'll have to execute. We'll have to be strong with the ball. It's a hell of an opportunity. That's all you can ask for in life. Our players are looking forward to it, I know that. I've coached against Kansas. I've played in that uniform (and) I know what it's like. We better strap it on because it's not going to be easy. Hopefully this is a college basketball game that the state of Colorado can get excited about. I wish they got excited about every game. I'm watching Duke play Appalachian State the other night. The place was packed. The student section was packed. I wonder why (that isn’t the case) here.”
On Playing with Cancer Fighters’ Names on the Back of the Jersey
“It meant so much. It was branded so well – ‘bigger than basketball’ – because we all know how cancer has touched so many people's lives through the years. Every family, in some way, shape, or form, has been touched by it. I've been in sports a long time and I've seen a lot of promotions and ways to get people excited. When this one went across my desk, (I thought) ‘why haven't we been doing this for years.’ I hope it's something that we can continue because it's not just the cancer patients that we represented that were on the names of our jerseys. We heard their stories on the Zoom call. We were proud to represent them and their families and their fight today. But it's more than that. There are thousands of people fighting cancer throughout the state (and) throughout this country. (With) UC Health (and being) part of the University of Colorado system, we're one campus here in Boulder. We're one basketball team. We hopefully had a day to represent UC health and the health care workers and all they've been through certainly since COVID has started, but also the ones that work with cancer patients and have worked with cancer patients for the last 30, 40, 50 years. It's not going away. We have got to deal with it. We have got to handle it as best we can. To have an opportunity to fight on the basketball floor and bring their fight to the public's knowledge and our fans is an honor. It's an honor for us. It's an honor for our players. We have got great kids who embraced the opportunity. I was really proud of our guys and I'm proud of every cancer survivor that's out there. I feel bad for the people who have lost loved ones to cancer because it's a fight that's not going away.”
On Tristan da Silva’s Struggles After Making His First Shot
“I want Tristan to be aggressive and take good shots. When he's aggressive, we're usually pretty good. He's been, up to this point, pretty efficient. We want Tristan to be aggressive just like we want K.J. (Simpson) to be aggressive. He's got the ability to make plays for himself and others because he's very unselfish. It was just one of those nights. He’s got to get rid of the blocked shot that he had there in a crowd. He's got to get rid of that one. (He needs to get rid of) the turnover he had in the second half where he probably should have shot it. It's part of the growth process for Tristan that every one of our young guys are going through. I'm not worried about Tristan. I love his aggressiveness. He's a very efficient player. He's one of the last guys I worry about.”
Colorado Players
Nique Clifford, So., GOn The Three-Point Improvement
“We had a week off and so what we focused on a lot was getting a lot of shots in and I think it paid off this week. A lot of practices, a lot of work, and some of the shots started to fall tonight so we just got to keep that up and be more consistent when we're taking our three.”
On Filling in for Jabari Walker
“I was just doing what I do. Rebounding, making easy plays, and just everything the coach talks about. I don't think it's anything different, I’m not trying to change anything, just play my game and play smart.”
On CSUB’s Offensive Rebounding
“We didn't get as many offensive boards as we wanted to and we're supposed to keep them to 6 offensive boards or less and they got 11 so we’ve got to fix that. We battled on the glass though but we got to get even a little better and hit our goals.”
On COVID-19
“Coach talked about it. We got to stay safe and make sure we're wearing our masks but we’ve got to be thankful and grateful for these opportunities. We're getting to play the games and he said 20 teams didn't get to play today or 20 games got canceled. We just got to be grateful and come out every game strong and play our hardest.”
On Playing for Cancer Patients
“Nothing that we do compares to what they have to go through. It was just a blessing to be able to play and honor them and just show our respects and it just give them hope to keep fighting. I think it was an honor and I hope they enjoyed what we brought to the table tonight.”
Keeshawn Barthelemy, So., G
On His Performance
“I’ve been interested in my work recently and it's just confidence. My teammates trust me and I trust them back and as a point guard you can’t be turning the ball over a lot so I really pride myself on that.”
On the Upcoming Game Against Kansas
“It's a big one but it's really just another game. We just got to fall back in preparation and just trust each other, trust our work and we're going to come ready come Tuesday.”
On Defense Improvement
“We really emphasized that over the past few weeks and the week off where we had practiced, we were focused on shooting and guarding the ball and rebounding so I think our defense has literally gotten better and defense travels and from here and now we play Kansas and PAC-12 teams so we're really going to have to focus on that the defensive end to win some games.”
On Playing for Cancer Patients
“For me, it meant a lot. When we met on zoom it really gave us a perspective on how lucky we are to be here, play ball, and be healthy. It was just an honor to wear the name and share their stories. It meant a lot to me.”
CSU Bakersfield Head Coach Rod Barnes
On his assessment of how the Roadrunner’s played
“I thought we hung in there. Early on, we dug too big of a hole for ourselves and that’s something we have to give them credit for but we also didn’t play well from the beginning. They were part of us not playing well. We have to execute better than what we did. We got it down to eight [point deficit] and then we had two really bad plays to give them the opportunity to go back up. They have a good basketball team – they’re well-coached. The team does what the coaches ask them to do. When you go on the road and put yourself in that situation, it’s tough to come out with a win.”
On battling throughout the game with the Buffs even though they weren’t shooting great
“We’re a defensive-minded team so everything we do is predicated by our defense – whether that’s on the fast break [or] wearing teams down. Today again, we had great opportunities, great looks and we missed the shots. They’re a good defensive team but for us to get some of the looks that we got today, we have to knock those shots down. You can’t go on the road and get your guys in the best position [possible] to make shots and they don’t.”