Colorado-Oregon State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement“(It was a) much needed win for us mentally (and) emotionally. We caught a wounded Oregon State team. They didn't have their point guard tonight. They didn't have Warithe Alatishe (play as much as he usually does), but we needed this. We shot the ball well. We hopefully gain some confidence from this. I told our team after the game, ‘we’ve got to prepare ourselves for nights when the ball doesn't go in. When it does go in like it did tonight, it makes everything a lot easier and cures a lot of ills. Defensively I thought we did a good job. Ten offensive rebounds (by OSU) are too many. We did a much better job taking care of the ball after halftime. We only had five turnovers in the second half. That's been a bugaboo for us. (An) overall good effort.”
On Challenging the Team After Thursday’s Game Against Oregon
“I watched that game on TV the other night (due to COVID protocols), and I came in the next day in the office and talked to the staff because I've been out all week. They said we're really fragile mentally right now. I understand that. I think there's a balance that I had to strike between not coming down on them too hard because they're a fragile group, but also challenging them. We had a meeting at the end of last year with all the returning players – K.J. (Simpson) and Julian (Hammond) weren't in the meetings in the spring after the season -- I said, ‘Okay, as we turn the page next year, being this year, we've got two choices. Two narratives we can say (are) listen, we’ve lost all these good seniors and lost all this production (so) it is going to be a rebuilding year for Colorado. Or we can say no, forget that. We're going to keep the standards of Colorado basketball where they are.’ I said, ‘the choice is yours, guys.’ I'll do whatever you want me to do. To a man, they were like ‘No, we want the standards to be kept high. I told them after practice yesterday that they have not been doing that, flat out. The truth is something that you have to live in. If you live in a fantasy world, you don't get any better. I wasn't going to live in a fantasy world, so I did challenge him. Evan (Battey) mentioned before we took the court tonight, ‘Guys, we're playing for our former players that have worn this uniform.’ That's what I want them to play for because it means something to wear this Colorado uniform. It means something that this program has standards and expectations that we have not been meeting here the last two or three weeks. It's not just wins and losses. It's the way we play. It's our body language. It's our toughness. It's all the things that go into helping you win. The guys responded to that. Trying to find that balance between challenging and making them understand they're not as bad as they think they are and maybe the world thinks they are. (With) social media, -- I'm not on it – (and) everything I've gleaned (from it), it hasn't been real positive for our guys. Our football team went through that this year. We talked about that and said, ‘Okay, let's not let us get into that same mindset where we're letting it affect us.’ I don't know if it affected the football team or not. I just know that they were getting beat up like crazy. We were too (the past few weeks). You either have to shut it out or you have to accept the responsibility and the challenge that comes with playing at this level.”
On the Walk-Ons Getting Playing Time
“Tristan (da Silva) said in the locker room that it was great to have fun. Winning is fun. Losing sucks, we all know that. Those walk-ons work really hard, but Oregon State's scored on seven of their last eight possessions. That was before the walk-ons got in there so it's not all on them. We’ve got to do a better job down the stretch in terms of that. (It was great) to get Jack (Pease) in there (and) Cody (Mains) and Benan (Ersek) as well. I wanted to put Amando (Miller, Jr.) in but we're using this as a redshirt year for him to keep some flexibility with him and his career as it unfolds because he deserved to be in there as well. It was good to get those guys in. I wanted to get Benan in a shot (because) he's a senior. He's been with us for four years. It's a feel-good moment when those guys get in.”
On Keeshawn Barthelemy
“He did a good job in the second half of kind of relocating off some drivers. He missed a couple of shots he normally makes but the thing we want with Keeshawn and with all of our players is just consistent effort. It won't always be consistent production. Tonight he had 16 in the first half and didn't have any the second half. Sometimes the scoring will come and the score won’t go but what I want from Keyshawn is consistent effort defensively. He didn't get through a ball screen on (Maurice) Calloo there. He got to three. They ran a clear-out play. He got taken to the rim. He gave up five points defensively. That's what I want from Keeshawn. I'm not worried about the ball going in or not. I want him to take good shots on offense and I want him to guard. I think his challenge is having that defensive mindset because he's a scorer at heart, we know that about Keeshawn, I’ve been coaching him for three years now. I'm not worried about his first-half second-half scoring as long as he's taking good shots.
On Bench Players
“I think Luke O'Brien has given us great minutes. Look at his night and line tonight. Three for four from the field one for one from three, eight rebounds. He's really given us an energy boost off the bench. KJ (Simpson) does that as well obviously for us in our six-man. Nique has really made strides here last few weeks as well and he has now become that defensive guy. We put them on (Jarod) Lucas tonight. He did a pretty good job on him for the most part. We lost him a couple of times in transition. We've asked him before the season to kind of look at Eli's (Parquet) career and how it unfolded and how Eli became the player that he was in this program and it was all based on his defensive mindset. Eli didn't figure it out till he was a junior. Well, guess what, Nique you're really a freshman if you want to use your COVID year but you're certainly a sophomore at worst if you can take on that defensive mindset and continue to get better offensively. He can be a force in this league, and for our program.
On Turnovers
“The whole thing that I've tried to challenge our guys with when it comes to turnovers, just keep the game simple. Just simplify the game and when you're driving into the lane and the defense collapses on you, you’ve got to be strong with the ball. Gather it and hit the open man. If you're driving and the defense doesn't collapse, get to the rim and finish. It's really that simple. Rather than making the homerun play, is a point guard. Just make the simple play. It might be a pocket pass to the post guy. It might be a pass to the fill-up guy. Just make the game simple. When we make the game simple, it's a simple game. When we make the game hard, it's a hard game and we've been making the game hard on ourselves with our decision making. We did a better job of that in the second half.
On the Week Break
“We're going to take two days off which is unusual in the midst of a conference season. This week we have Utah and then we get the end of the season. You got to use it as a time to regroup mentally and physically. Guys are dinged up, get in the training room, get some rest, catch up on your sleep, and get your academics in order. We'll come back on Tuesday and get back to basics. Tuesday and Wednesday will allow us some time to iron some things out that we need to get ironed out as we get ready for the stretch run of the season here in February. This really comes at a good time for us to get some time off, to come off of a win where the guys are feeling good about themselves but we can't get too high with the win and we can't get too low with the losses. Hopefully, we can build upon this.
Colorado Players
So., G Nique Clifford
On scoring a career-high and getting into a rhythm offensively
“I just try to take what comes to me. Just just playing my game and being free. Not overthinking and playing confident. Coach emphasizes sharing the ball and whoever is open takes the shot and it fell my way tonight. A lot of my teammates were scoring the ball efficiently as well. I think it was a great team effort and it was a good win for us.”
On the team’s urgency to win tonight
“This was for our players in the past and from last year. Also just the rough patch we've been in, we needed to respond and come out and just get back on track. I think it was a good win for us and hopefully we can just stay on this track.”
On where he has improved and what he still has to improve on
“Since high school I have definitely taken more pride in defense and been trying to become a better defender. Also just being efficient on offense and being consistent. I haven't haven't done that as much this year as I need to, but it's never too late. I have to step my game up at the end of the year and in this stretch as we're trying to make the March Madness tournament. I just have to keep improving, stay in the gym and be locked in to help my teammates.”
On stepping up in the absence of Sr. G Elijah Parquet
“We’re a collective unit. We have to play team defense. But stepping into that role of defense individually, I do want to take pride in that and help in that aspect since we’re without Eli who is a big part of our defense.”
So., F Jabari Walker
On the win
“We've been in a rough patch. We've talked about it and just tried to gather a game plan and keep our heads together to stay strong. It's that time of the year where we just have to stay mentally focused. So I think we responded well tonight but we just have to keep it up. I think that that road trip was tough. A lot of people underestimate how hard a road trip like that is. I don't think we got any worse or declined, it's just mental fatigue and our body wear and tear. We just have to be more prepared when we go on a road trip like that, and I think we're still getting better as a team and tonight just kind of showed that.”
On having a good time playing the game of basketball
“That's what we emphasized today. Having a good time in basketball. Most importantly, you want to have fun and still be competitive at the same time. Getting guys like [Fr. G Jack Pease] in at the end of the game is amazing because they work so hard in practice and they're in the gym just like we are, so they get to show it off a little bit and it was just a great feeling.”
On 3-point shooting
It’s about getting good looks and we emphasize that in practice. We knew before this game our shots weren't falling. After every practice there's a set time for everyone to get shots up and a lot of the guys come back after practice to get shots up. So all the guys are putting in work and when we're open, we're going to knock it down.”
On the team’s urgency to win tonight
“Honestly, we talked about that in the huddle - I don’t know if a lot of people remember this - but last year they took the ring from us in the Pac-12 championship. I think that we kind of had a chip on our shoulder and we did this for our alumni. We tried to get them [Oregon State] back today.”
On resting and regrouping during the week before playing Utah next week
“Just recovering. We got two days off. This is the first time we've had that since the beginning of the season. I think we'll mentally prepare better for this road trip and now we know what to expect. Taking care of my body and not letting it get to me mentally.”