Colorado-UCLA Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement
“What a disappointing loss. We shot ourselves in the foot, for the second game in a row with our turnovers. I didn't think it would get worse than 16 and here we are tonight at 21, but I have gotta tip my hat to our guys, they battled back in that second half. This team's got fight. It's got resilience, it's got, heart. We just have to understand the little things and every possession means something and we haven't figured that out yet. We have to understand it is a 40-minute game. We talked about it before coming out on the court, but we acted almost surprised at their pressure, we knew that they were going to come out and blow up handoffs and get into us a little bit and get passing lanes so we can't be surprised when that happens. But to battle back from 15 down and claw your way back and get it to a one-point game. We just couldn't get over the hump. And you know, there's some a lot of things we didn't do well, but there are times in athletics and this may be one of my I do think down the stretch, where you have to tip your cap to your opponents. And I think Johnny's a first-team all-American for good reason. He made big-time plays down the stretch and then Tyger Campbell, who you know, is a point guard that's one of the best I think one of the most underrated point guards in the country, quite frankly, made a big-time three at a critical time when they needed it and that's what great players do. And UCLA has got great players, They're well-coached, they're disciplined. And so to fight back against a team like that, that went to a Final Four last year. It's got to give us some sort of confidence that we can play at that level, but we just have to play at that level consistently. And that's what our guys have not figured out yet. And we have to figure it out as we go through conference play because we're getting ready for a three-game road swing. Just got to keep chopping wood keep getting better keep learning from our mistakes. We made strides tonight in the second half. We didn't make strides in the first half but in the second half we did for that I'm proud of our guys, but no moral victories. We knew before the season, I mentioned this to many of you I think in immediate days, that we knew there were going to be growing pains this year and there have been some growing pains. And we've been able to win some games doing it. Well, guess what you get into conference play and you play teams like USC and UCLA. Those Growing Pains turn into losses. It doesn't get it done and we didn't get it done tonight. So we gotta live with that and move on.”
On strides made today
“I mentioned to Mark Johnson on the radio Jabari Walker made great strides tonight. He had five turnovers on Thursday tonight. He had one tonight and that's terrific. He didn't get sped up. He was trying to take heed to the things that he saw in our film session on Thursday and so if Jabari will continue to do that and now and Tristan continues to do that and Keeshawn and KJ and Julian all the all these young guys that are earning through these live bullets that are coming at them you know, from really good teams and really good players, if our guys will take heed to that and commit to improving and we can get those turnovers down we can beat anybody in this league, but if we don't, we're going to continue to have nights like this. So it's quite simple. Figure it out or keep losing close games like this.”
On turnover happening from bad passes
“We talked at halftime about really spreading them and because they were pressuring and let's play through our big at the free-throw line. Let's look for driving opportunities and back-cut opportunities. So yeah, I think that might be a fair thing, although even when we're moving the ball, you know, side to side and the first it's not like the first half we weren't trying to be aggressive and get our paint touches that we always talk about. The idea conceptually was not different, but the execution of it was and you know, we had 14 turnovers in the first we had some opportunities in that first half to get easy baskets to get an easy three, but every pass we made was deflected or stolen. You've got to pass and catch the ball cleanly. Our practice number one every single year is the offensive emphasis the day has passed and catch the ball cleanly because it doesn't matter what offense you're running, what sets you're running, who's in the game. It doesn't matter if you can't pass and catch the ball cleanly. We did a better job of that in the second half. We were aggressive in driving the ball. We still pass the ball, we ended up with 16 assists, which is a great number for us. It's got to be 11 turnovers instead of 21. And now we got to you know when you shoot 50% And you cut your turnovers in half, you know just take shave 10 off the 21 and get to our 11 which is the number we want to win this game going away. But we didn't, so UCLA did and we still had a chance at the end we cut it to one we just couldn't get over the hump because we couldn't get a stop. Campbell made terrific plays, made big plays down the stretch.”
On KJ’s big minutes
“I mentioned Nique at Arizona State making a big, statement defensively that he was ready to play in the Pac-12 defense but I think KJ made that statement tonight defensively. So yeah, I think his defensive intensity and his willingness to take a challenge. Seven rebounds. I think he had zero defensive rebounds on Thursday. And you know, when you challenge players and you try to coach players and you see them trying to do what they're asked to do, there's some hope as a coach and so I've got hope I do. I've got belief in this team. Because I think we can get over the hump. But conference play is not easy. I mean, I want you to apply Utah plays with unbelievable energy. You know they're trying they're maximizing their effort. Every game they play and they're one in nine you know, it's not because they're not a good team or don't have good players. It's just it's hard to win league play, home road, whatever. So we got to take our show on the road now we got three straight road games and so here we go. This team is a work in progress. But I saw some hope from the first half of the second half tonight.”
On offensive/shots
“I talk offensively all the time. I just want a great shot for our team. Even if the shot doesn't go in. As long as we're taking great shots, I can live with that. Conversely, defensively, if we're shaking hands with them, and we play great defense and they make shots over our hands. I just want contests to jump shots and we had that for the most part. So as long as we are playing good, solid fundamental defense and not giving up layups, I can live with it. And I think that was a case down the stretch. I think Campbell's three was a little bit too open. You know, we went under that ball screen but KJ, he made some strides tonight defensively.”
On the Team Working Together
“I got a lot of belief in Jabari Walker. I’ve got a lot of belief and trust in the de Silva. I got belief in every one of our players I do. But, you know, we need we're one of those teams where we need to collectively play well together. And if we start doing that now, if when we start doing that, then then we're going to be a team to be reckoned with. But you know, if two or three guys aren't doing what they're capable of doing, this team doesn't have that guy. They can just put a team on his back and take him to take him down the stretch.”
On Overall progress
“Lawson's minutes tonight with terrific Luke did a great job guarding juicing in the second half I thought both those guys' minutes off the bench were terrific. And Lawson got his hands on a lot of balls there on the offensive end that turned into offensive rebounds that you know don't show up in the stat sheet. He got to finish at the rim KJ made a nice movie, you know, KJ and Lawson are going to play a lot in the pick and roll together in their career here. And KJ made a nice pass he made a nice catch and finish. So again, those guys just you know, all we need is solid minutes off the bench. You just got to come in and be solid, defend rebound, make an open shot, and when you got it. And I think, again, this team is getting better. I said this to our team, a few weeks ago when we won a few games in a row. I said you can't always judge yourself on wins and losses. That’s m judge that's our team is judged at the end of the day, I get that I'm not saying winning and losing is not important. It is, but we were winning games but we weren't getting better. And we have to dial into incremental improvement, day to day, week to week, at practice from one game to the next and not make the same mistakes you know in January that we were making in December, and we were winning games but we weren't getting better. Tonight in the second half, I felt like we got better, against a really good UCLA team. We got better. We were better in the second half than we were in the first half. We have to build on that and we can't take one step forward and two steps back when we go to Oregon. Losses will keep coming. We got to keep getting better. You can get better when you're losing games. I believe that you don't want to admit it, but you can. And eventually, if you keep getting better. You're not going to keep losing games. It's gonna flip and that's what our young guys have to understand. KJ is six defensive rebounds versus zero on Thursday. KJ made some steps tonight. The future's bright for Colorado basketball, but we got to get to start winning games now and it starts with an opportunity in Eugene on Tuesday night.”
Colorado Players
Fr., G K.J. Simpson
On the second half comeback
“I felt like in the first half we dug ourselves a hole. Our big thing was turnovers. We were doing this to ourselves. When we came out in the second half, I just felt like we needed more energy, so when I got in the game I just tried to push it and get guys active, and get everybody on the bench up. When we play together as a team like that, you see what happens.
On what inspires the team to keep fighting after falling behind early
“It just shows the character we have on this team. Everybody on this team are not quitters. We fight ,we push and we play until the end. I think that's something that every game we keep on doing. We just got to push even more so we can come out on top and get the outcome we want. That's just the character we have as a team.”
On getting close and UCLA responding with big shots
“I'll just say we got to give credit to them. That's a tough team they’re ranked for a reason. They're going to make tough shots. Even though it may seem like we had it going and then we got stops. They're a tough team, they're going to make tough buckets and they have tough players. That's just a credit to them.”
On getting assists and what his confidence level is at
You love to start but coming off the bench you learn a lot of things. You see the pace, you see how things are going and I just noticed how we needed to pick it up a notch. We needed a boost, like after a rebound we needed to fly around. Once I was able to fly around and get stuff going, I was just trying to hit the open man. That's really how simple it was. That’s a big thing for us. We try to make home run plays. I've done that in the past and I'm getting better at not trying to always do that. Just make the simple play. I got great teammates that help open shots, so credit to my team.”
On turning around and getting results on the road
“This isn’t something we can dwell on. Obviously we wanted to win both games but this is something we can't dwell on. We can't keep looking back in the past at this. We can learn from it but we have to clear our mind and just get ready for this away stretch that we're about to go on. Because it's going to be tough it's going to be a battle so we can't dwell. We just got to keep our heads high and focus on what we need to get better and keep doing the things we did well.”
On if it matters if he starts or not
“I just want to win. I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to win. That’s why I came here. If I start or come off the bench, I’m just trying to make plays.”
So., F Jabari Walker
On what inspires the team to keep fighting after falling behind early
“It just shows us where we're at and where we can improve. We didn't play our best basketball but we're still right there with these teams and those are the teams projected at the top of our league right now. I just see us progressing every week. We have to get some away wins and then come back and get some home wins.”
On getting close and UCLA responding with big shots
“Those are the shots we’ve been giving up. The Jaime [Jasquez] three, we need to close out the shooter. I think it just comes down to everything that happened before and the transition buckets. I know those shots get highlighted after the game, but we put ourselves in that position.”
On CU having 21 turnovers
“It's crazy because I think against USC we gave up a record offensive rebounds and then we had a lot of turnovers tonight. How are we still even in the game if we're allowing things like that to happen, so just imagine if you eliminate that. I know we've got a young team but that can't be an excuse anymore. We have to gain more experience as the games come along.”
UCLA Head Coach Mick Cronin
On the Win
“(Buffs) Coach (Tad) Boyle does a great job. (Evan) Battey’s got a lot of heart. I told the guys at halftime the only chance we got for this being easy is to get up 20 (points). If not, the students are packed, you're on the road in conference play. I've seen that too many times. I'm getting too old, I’ve just seen it too many times. I told you guys we're not going to win in the teens. You're either going to get up 20 or it's going to be a bloodbath. It became a bloodbath. I was proud of our guys. We had the best half of my three years at UCLA in the first half. (We) forced 15 turnovers against Colorado, a well-coached team in their own gym. Our defense in the first half was unbelievable. It was equally as bad in the second. Give (CU) credit. They’ve got a “never say die” attitude. With that being said, Tyger had a rough road trip offensively, but he and Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) made some monster shots for us. I told the guys we started looking for Johnny (Juzang) too much. We’ve got too many guys. So, you know, we got to stay on the attack. I thought some guys got tentative for a little bit there.”
On Having to Work for the Road Win
“There’s no such thing (as an easy road win), (especially) not at Colorado. At no point did I think we were going to (win by 20). I told the guys ‘We better get up 20,’ but I didn't believe it was going to happen.”
On Players Making Big Shots Down the Stretch
“Players have got to make plays. You can't let the clock run out. We were sitting on 54 which was maybe 11 points in the second half with five minutes to play. We had to get the ball in the basket. We stopped attacking. We missed the easy (baskets). Things didn't go our way on a few plays or calls. It was a big shot by Tiger. Jaime made a big one as well.”
On Sweeping the Utah-Colorado Road Trip
“I'm worried about trying to win one (game) at a time. I’ve done this for a long time. People underestimate winning. Sometimes they look at a schedule and they think ‘Oh well, they're ranked high. They'll beat them.’ There's a reason we were only a 3.5-point favorite in the game. It was going to be a bloodbath. I'm worried about winning the game (we’re playing), that’s it. The least of my worries is Tuesday (against Arizona). Arizona has had a great year, but we play Thursday, and we play Saturday. The biggest game’s always the next game. What happens for you guys is the more a team wins, the bigger the games are in your mind. I've been on the other side of it in a rebuilding situation. I knew what was coming. I guarantee that (after CU) gave up 18 offensive rebounds they had a ‘World War Three’ practice on Friday. That's the reason Coach Boyle is such a good coach."
On C Myles Johnson
“We finally started looking for him on his rolls. We've really worked on that in practice. We've worked with him on being quicker in his role. We had some good passes, and he did a good job.”
UCLA Players
Jaime Jaquez, Jr., G/F
On UCLA Not Being able to Pull Away in the Second Half
“We have to take that next step as a team trying to expand on those leads. That's something that we weren't able to accomplish. Colorado wasn’t going to be a team that was going to roll over and let us do whatever we wanted. They came out aggressive following (halftime).”
On the Difference in the Game
“We turned them over a lot in the first half and we had that lead. We're a veteran team. (Leads) are not something that we're going to give up that easily, especially going on the road knowing when these games mean to our team going forward.”
Tyger Campbell, Jr., G
On His Three-Pointer Late to Give UCLA a 65-61 Lead
“I came off the screen and my man went under. I'm a confident shooter, so I just shot it and it went in. I'm thankful for that.”
On UCLA Winning Close Games
“I think it shows we have fight down the stretch. We didn't play the defense we wanted to play in the second half, but we fought it out and grinded it out and got a win on the road.”
Jules Bernard, Sr., G
On Playing Arizona at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday
“I’m super excited. It’s going to be a great game between two great teams. I'm super excited to have fans back (at Pauley Pavilion). Hopefully it's going to be packed and loud.”