Colorado-UNC MBB Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle 

Opening Statement
It was a good win for us. I knew coming in UNC had some dynamic offensive players,  and anybody who was at the game tonight listened to it or watched it probably knows why. I was a little nervous coming into tonight's game. Three Colorado kids came in here and tried to give it to us. I knew they would be tough to guard, and we didn't finish the game as I wanted, but we're doing some really good things. We were good again offensively tonight, sharing the ball efficiently on offense, and rebounded well. We can finish a little bit better than we did tonight. We took some bad shots down the stretch, and the defense got a little soft and started falling again, which was my fear going into this game. It's a good win against a team that will win many games in the Big Sky this year.
 
On Tristan da Silva
He's playing with a lot of confidence. Coaches love players that have confidence, and Tristan’s got it, know KJ’s got it, and you can never doubt yourself when you're out there. I think Tristan is playing himself into a confident player. Not that he wasn't before, but now you can tell his demeanor on the floor is slightly different. He's not gonna have 26 every night but boy, when he puts pressure on the defense. He's such a matchup problem. You can post them up against smaller players. You can stretch the floor and hit threes against bigger guys, shoot fake and put the ball on the floor, get by guys and make plays at the rim. And so he's a special talent. We knew that when we recruited him, and now it's nice to see his junior year he's starting to come into that player, and I mean. They're a talented offensive team is talented as an offensive team we've played all year long. 
 
On 261st win
Well, you know, Sox’s name is on the court. I never got the opportunity to meet him, unfortunately. Still, I've met many members of his family who are season ticket holders to this day have been since the day I got here and even previous to my being here. So the Walseth family is special. Sox was a special man. I'm honored to be in his company. We had five guys here from UNC, Neal Kingman, Devon Beitzel, Will Figures, Terry Anderson and Taylor Montgomery. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for those five guys and other guys who played their tails off for the Bears just like those kids did tonight. When you see players that you're thankful for having number one coach them, and now you see them all grown, and they've got wives, kids, have families, they're all successful, have good jobs, employed, got their degrees. It's heartwarming.  I got a little emotional on the radio. I'm getting emotional now, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Northern Colorado and players like those five.
 
On being without Luke O’Brien
We were without Luke O'Brien tonight. And Luke O'Brien brought a lot of energy to this team, and I thought he had two of his better games, but he was out, so we knew we had to pick up the rebounding, and Tristan has done that two games in a while row now. I hate to nitpick, but he only had one offense. I'd like that to be two or three or four, but when he's got nine or ten rebounds a game or eight to ten, it helps us. Rebounds are a big part, and we knew that we talked about it before the season with Jabari leaving, and even I think we've done a pretty good job on the boards. But we also know we'll play against bigger, stronger, more athletic teams. So we have to continue to emphasize it, and Tristan, we can incorporate that part of his game consistently.
 
On everybody contributing
"When KJ plays well, and J'Vonne Hadley gives us everything he's got every night and Tristan(da SIlva) and Nique(Clifford) and Lawson(Lovering) they're gonna have nights where they're maybe more productive than others. But when they're not have somebody come off the bench. The thing about this team is that it might be Julian Hammond and Javon Ruffin tonight, it might be Jalen(Gabbidon) and Ethan (Wright) the next game or somebody else. We need more than just two or three or four guys. It's a team effort and so our bench play. We talked about that before this game, the major advantage we had over UNC was our bench and we wanted to get into our bench."
 
On what is different about the team from the beginning of the season
"Part of it's our schedule. You look at our schedule early in the year and I've talked about our schedule a lot. I didn't know how difficult it was going to be until we actually experienced it. I wish I could have held some of those games. I wish we were going to Grambling now, rather than going the second game of the season when we obviously weren't ready for that. Today, we might be ready for that. I don't know if we would win or not. But that's not the way the schedule always works out. Part of this now is due to the schedule. So let's be real about that. Part of it is we're playing better and again, you expect your team to be better in December than it was in November. I think we are and I sure as heck expect us to be better in January than we are in December and that's hopefully in February as well. That's what I want from this team is continued improvement and understanding as the season plays out. Not that you're going to win every game but you're going to be rock solid in areas we need to be rock solid."
 
On the offense being more efficient
"J'Vonne Hadley was not as efficient tonight as he normally is, he's been shooting like 70 percent from the field. KJ (Simpson) has not been efficient night in and night out. He's seven for 10 Tonight, very efficient two for two from three. Tristan (da Silva) and J'Vonne (Hadley) are two most consistent and efficient offensive players. But when we get efficiency up and down the lineup, that's when we're pretty darn good. That's what we want. What we're shooting for is to take great shots for our team and take care of the ball offensively. If we can do those two things, get great shots for our team and take care of the ball will be just fine offensively."
                                                                                                                                                                                                  
 

Colorado Players

Tristan da Silva, Jr., F

 
On his career high in points
"Feeling good. We've been practicing really hard for the past couple of days and the past weeks. So, ultimately it comes down to preparation. Once again, my team tried to look for me on offensive day for me to be aggressive. So I tried to do that, and it felt good."
 
On Coach Boyle tying the all-time record for wins at Colorado
"It's definitely a testament to his coaching style. Being here for that long and being a successful program for that long."
 
On what has changed for him
"Just being aggressive. It starts in practice. I'm trying to be an anchor on offense, help my teammates out by being aggressive. Then when you practice like that, it also translates to the game. I think that's the biggest point."
 
On winning three in a row
"I would just say consistency, being locked in for 40 minutes, coming out strong in the second half till the first media timeout. Once again, that starts in practice. We've been trying to condition ourselves to not to not lose the ball on offense, take care of the ball, and apparently translate. So we have to keep doing that and one of our biggest keys is keeping the ball in our hands and making sure we get a great shot for the team."
 

KJ Simpson, So., G

 
On Coach Boyle tying the all-time record for wins at Colorado
"He's like that. It's special to be a part of that, he's a great coach. He's always hard on us, but he just wants the best for us. He really cares about us and we care about him the same way. It's really special, to be underneath a coach like that and have him guide us and teach us how to play the right way. It's really special to be a part of for sure."
 
On the improved defense in the second half
"Yeah, we have just been having that same mindset. Previous games we came out of the second half a little lackadaisical and let them get a hot start. Tonight I felt like we really dialed in and locked in mentally in the second half to take away those easy shots that we gave them in the first half and made their looks a little harder. They're great players, they hit tough shots, but we will live with those tough shots as long as we stop fouling and play with our feet."
 
On Julian Hammond and Javon Ruffin
"Everybody's capable of having a game like that. In practice we're working really hard, extremely hard, especially going up against those guys. It shows how deep our team is. They're capable of doing it on any given night, and it's good to see them get it going and then hopefully they can build off of it. But they're great players. and it's a testament to how hard we've been practicing."
 
On shooting over 50% from the field as a team the past three games
"Now that we don't we're done with school a lot of guys have taken the time out to come in the gym and work on themselves individually, shooting the ball, taking care of the ball and things like that. So it's a testament to how hard we've been working in practice and also in our free time getting in the gym, getting those reps up."
 
On beating Colorado State and Northern Colorado
"It's just great to have back to back wins honestly. Three in a row, but it is nice to get a little bragging rights."
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