Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-UMass Quotes
vs
Montana State
Nov 3 (Mon)
7 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
On Defense
“Nobody could guard Fernandes in the first half and nobody could guard (RJ) Luis and he’s a freshman. He’s a talented player but he hasn’t done that against anybody they’ve played but he did against us. Our first half defense was nowhere near where we needed to be. Our guys fight, they come back, they claw, they scratch. . . . we’re not good enough for 40 minutes. There are a lot of good players in college basketball. We weren’t ready to go from the get-go. I don’t know why but with that being said, we had a shot there at the end to win the thing. We had some good looks that didn’t. We had 20 more shots than they did and at some point you have to finish the shots that you have whether they’re at the 3-point line, whether they’re in the lane, whether they’re at the rim. And UMass did a better job finishing offensively than we did from every position.”
On Nique Clifford’s Struggles
“Nique has been struggling now for two or three weeks. He wasn't at his best tonight and I don't know the answer to that. I gotta try to help him. You know, I talked to him after the Tennessee game and said ‘hey, we’ve got confidence in you’, but at some point he's got to he's got to produce. You know when you have 10 guys, and you're relying on 10 guys, you need those 10 guys to give you what they're capable of giving you and it's not like they have to make every shot. But you have to be able to guard when you come in the game. You got to be able to make a play for a teammate you don't have to score points, but if you got an open shot, it'd be nice if it goes in. But he's been struggling for a while now. He's been struggling for a while we got to get him going. We got to figure out a way I’ve got to do something as a coach to keep trying to get him going.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Jr., F
On What Went Wrong
“Energy from the get go. We were lacking that and, you know, we had the same issue from Grambling to Tennessee. And, you know, we got to get that right. That's the main point right now.”
On Defensive Struggles
“Energy, defense, you know, pressuring them, getting up in them. That would have helped us a lot.”
On Second Half Scoring Drought
“On offense we kind of struggled to finish there, I guess. So they got the ball off the off the boards and ran us. You know, it's hard to not get into a run if you can finish for I don't know how long it was.”
On Still Having A Shot At The End
“It's from the get go you know, I mean, we wouldn't be in this position if we if we had max energy, max effort from the get go. And I mean, we put ourselves in that situation. So once again, it's all about energy from the get go. If we started picking it up five minutes before the end, then you know, it's not gonna end well for us. That's what it ultimately comes down to.”
UMass Coach Frank Martin
General
“Tad and I have become friends over the years because we serve on all these committees and all these boards. I remember competing against him when I was at K-State and he does an incredible job. His team’s good. I’m really proud of our guys. We made a lot of defensive mistakes defensively and as the game evolved, I thought we defended really well and then our offense let us down in the last five minutes of the game or so. That’s part of the learning process. The last four or five minutes of the game stopped listening and you can’t do that in this type of game. The basketball gods protected us because we almost messed that game up at the end.” (On his return to South Carolina): “We’ve got a lot to do but I’m extremely happy where I’m at right now. We’ve got unbelievable relationships with people in this state. This state was unbelievable to me and my family 10 years ago. My kids are pretty much South Carolinians and it’s a place that will always be special to us.”
“Tad and I have become friends over the years because we serve on all these committees and all these boards. I remember competing against him when I was at K-State and he does an incredible job. His team’s good. I’m really proud of our guys. We made a lot of defensive mistakes defensively and as the game evolved, I thought we defended really well and then our offense let us down in the last five minutes of the game or so. That’s part of the learning process. The last four or five minutes of the game stopped listening and you can’t do that in this type of game. The basketball gods protected us because we almost messed that game up at the end.” (On his return to South Carolina): “We’ve got a lot to do but I’m extremely happy where I’m at right now. We’ve got unbelievable relationships with people in this state. This state was unbelievable to me and my family 10 years ago. My kids are pretty much South Carolinians and it’s a place that will always be special to us.”
UMass Players
Noah Fernandes, Sr., G
General
“That was a good team win. We gutted it out. At the end we had some mental errors I think we could fix to put us in a better position to win but it’s always good to critique after a ‘W’ rather than after a loss. After playing against Towson it kind of opened up our eyes and our mentality like we’ve really got to bring it.” (On the number of minutes being spread around the roster): “We’ve got a lot of depth and talent and everybody on the roster plays hard. For a coach, it makes it hard to figure out who to put in the game and as a team I think that’s what you want to do to the coach. The fact we’re doing it will have a great impact for the future.”