Colorado - North Alabama Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
“Only the diehards are here tonight, I appreciate you guys. It was a workman like effort, I thought you know coming out of finals you never know what you're going to get from your team emotionally and how sharp they're going to be and not often do you win by 24 and statistically I think there's some really good things tonight but you feel like your team could have played better and that's how I feel about tonight's game. We failed way too much, 27. They struggled at the foul line worse than we do, so that helped us, but we got to learn how to play without fouling. We've got to be more disciplined on the ball and going vertical in the lane. Some areas for improvement for sure. We’re a feast or famine from the three-point line and tonight was another famine game relative to what we did last time out. Really good for Luke O'Brien, five offensive rebounds. He gave us great energy and played off the bench, I was really pleased with him and then KJ [Simpson] with six assists and one turnover, it’s kind of stuff we need from him. And then you know, Tristan [Da Silva], obviously played well offensively for us. It's good to get him 18 shots because he's a pretty efficient player. Overall, let's take it, let's move on, but we’ve got to be better than we were tonight in a lot of different areas. We know that, our players know that, I know that and we better be for Sunday because northern Colorado is coming in here with a chip on their shoulder, I'm sure.
On the defense
“I felt like we could have held them to 50. Our double teams in the post were atrocious. [Damian] Forrest split us like nothing. We came to double from the high side one time, we give a wide open three to a shooter in the corner and we foul so much that we got let off the hook for fouling because they didn't make foul shots. Sometimes you look at that. We held him to 39%, that's good but we made a lot of breakdowns that we can't have when we play in the Pac 12. Players need to understand that but yes, that's what I mean. Statistically, it was a good night for us defensively. Held them to 60 points, season low, that was good, but it wouldn't have been 60 if they shoot free throws so we fouled too much and we had some breakdowns that we can't have so I don't always judge everything by the field goal percentage.”
On this upcoming stretch
“This stretch is really important. I think this is a period of time as a college basketball team you can make huge strides. From the time, even during finals you can if you got a team that's mature enough to compartmentalize what they're doing on a daily basis, but some teams can some teams can't but certainly now that finals are over with, between now and Christmas time, we can make a lot of strides. We don't have a lot of practice time because our games are kind of two days apart, three days apart. We'll have two days of prep for UNC and two days of prep for Southern Utah. Those two days of prep are really important, but they got nothing else to do now. They got 24 hours in their day, they can be sleeping eight or nine, maybe ten hours but the rest can get the gym, get a lot of shots up, we can improve as a team, and we need to do that.”
On Luke O’Brien
“Luke's not overthinking it. I think he's really matured from a mental standpoint. He was kind of wearing Lawson [Lovering] is right now earlier in his career mentally, where he’s struggling a little bit and tried to find himself, but I feel like Luke knows who he is and does what he does. We've been talking about having to drive left because he drives right a lot and that's in a scouter report. He drove left tonight and finished one coming back to his right, but he finished it in Lane. Jalen Gabbidon is the guy on the scouting report, Jalen is out now. He’s got 11 games of film they know he's driving it and looking to get to the rim so they're looking to take charges. He had two offensive fouls tonight, so those are the little things I think our players need to understand. We do scouter reports on our opponents, but other people do scouter reports on us and when they're scouting you, they're looking for your weaknesses and they will find them and so we’ve got to try to stay away from those and just play the game the way it's supposed to be played.”
On Jr., F Tristan da Silva
“Tristan didn't get sped up. North Alabama tried to speed up our guards a little bit. We got sped up at times. It's hard to speed Tristan up because he plays with a great pace about him. I know that Tristan can score the ball and 18 shots is a really, really good number to get him because he's so efficient. But I'm really proud of the other rebounds because that's something we've been really challenging him with and to be more active on the glass so nine rebounds is a good number for him. J’Vonne Hadley wasn’t feeling the best today. He was a little under the weather at shootaround but he played through it. He's a tough kid and shot 5-for-6 from the field. I thought J’Vonne, KJ [Simpson] and Tristan were kind of our three rocks tonight. This is a team that’s going to be like that. I think we need those three guys to be as solid and consistent as they can, and then hopefully the supporting cast can help them out at times like Luke [O’Brien] did tonight.”
On if the team is rounding a corner when it comes to limiting turnovers
I hope so. I hope so. We'll find out the next team that pressures us. North Alabama wasn't really pressuring us, they were trying to speed us up but they weren’t pressuring the ball and jumping at us so the next time we get pressured we'll find out if we can handle pressure. UMass pressured us and Boise [State] pressured us and we'll find out if we've turned that corner or not. But I hope it's a step in the right direction, there's no doubt about that.”
On going against former Buff, G Daylen Kountz, when CU plays Northern Colorado Sunday
“I think the world of Daylen and just because he left here doesn't mean I don't follow him and cheer for him and he's a great kid - young man now. He's talented, and we knew that when we recruited him. He found a place where he can kind of be the man so to speak, so I'm happy for him. I know he's going to come in here and he's going to try to roast us and give us the business, man. He's going to try to come in and get 40. He had 27 against Colorado State, so I know how talented Daylen is. We're going to have to have a game plan for him and the rest of that team. They've got some talented kids and UNC means a lot to me because they gave me my first start as a head coach when nobody else did. I grew up there, two blocks from campus, and my dad was an English professor. Greeley means a lot to me and UNC means a lot to me. I'm always cheering for him. Coach [Steve] Smiley is doing a great job and the pleasantries will be off for about two, two and a half hours on Sunday afternoon.”
On how he coaches Tristan da Silva on rebounding
“The longer I coach, it's really difficult to coach rebounding in terms of like technique. It's a nose for the ball and then just a habit of every time the shot goes up on offense, Tristan, assume it's missed and develop your habits of going to the glass. He got his hands on a lot of balls tonight. He had two offensive rebounds - that's a good sign - but defensively he should be a great rebounder because he's really smart and he's usually between him and his man in the basket. It's a mentality and so it's not teaching him rebounding technique as much as it is rebounding mentality. Some kids can figure that out and some kids can't. But it's another step in the right direction for Tristan in that regard tonight, hopefully that can continue and become a habit.”
Colorado Players
Tristan da Silva, Jr., F
On a career-high 25 points"Yeah, you could say so. I was just trying to make the right plays on offense. Since everybody was sharing the ball somehow it always came back to me and I got some wide-open looks. [I] Shot those and knocked them down."
On if he feels like the team has taken a stride in the right direction
"Yeah, I feel like we give and we need that. We've been really inconsistent the ten games -- nine games prior to that. It was good to get back-to-back wins where we kind of dictated [the game] without defense. [Head] Coach [Tad Boyle] always talks a lot about that. Making teams uncomfortable with our defense is definitely a strength of ours and we can get out and run on offense."
On if they felt like they could exploit North Alabama's defense
"I feel like they're switching defense. Definitely. They're disciplined on defense. But at the same time, we were really focusing on not settling for jump shots. Even if you get wide-open looks at the beginning of the possession. You can keep playing and keep attacking them. Create more mismatches and then eventually you get an even better shot later in the offense. So this was like the main focus."
KJ Simpson, So., G
On what the defensive gameplan was against North Alabama
"[We were] Just building off that Colorado State game. We realized the reason why we are able to win is because of our defense. We prioritized a lot of defensive things in practice and they have some good scorers out there -- some good playmakers. It was just important for us to lock in on defense, filling the gaps, things like that. That was pretty much it."
On if there was a different level of focus on winning back-to-back games for the first time all season
"I feel like our preparation has always been the same. It was just going out there and doing it. Instead of talking about it all the time, [it was about] going out there and actually doing it. One of the distinctions within the game is us coming out in the second half and getting key stops -- dictating a lot of things. I feel like our mindset and intensity has always been there, it was just a matter of going out and showing it and proving it."
On how important the next stretch of games are as classes are finished for the semester
"Coach Boyle talks about it. There’re two different types of teams around this time. There’re teams that can get a little lackadaisical because they just got done with finals and there's teams that are excited [because] now it's all about basketball. Now that classes and things are done, we have a lot more time like you said, to really lock in and get into watching film, working on stuff individually, have really good practices -- things like that. Taking care of your body. It should be good for us."
On if they're turning a corner by not turning the ball over as much as they have
"Yeah, for sure. I mean, like you said, it definitely helps because you don't want to run for turning over the ball in practice. It's good to see what we can do when we don't turn over the ball. I also think it's just a matter of playing more patient[ly] -- more in the flow of offensive instead of trying to get things on the first catch or the first dribble. I think when we play like that.”