Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Grambling State Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening Statement –
“Yeah, a little bit better start tonight against Grambling. I was obviously pleased with that; 28 assists is fantastic. We had 22 the other night, that's fantastic. Keep sharing the ball. We shot the ball pretty well tonight, which is nice, but I was really really pleased with is we made some strides to turning the ball over. We had 12 turnovers, which is not the number we want. We want it to be 11 or less but we're trending in the right direction. It's one game but did a better job there tonight. Overall, the only thing I was disappointed in tonight was our second half defense. I thought we got a little soft and kind of got into trading baskets mode with them but you know, give Grambling credit, those kids never quit. They kept coming at us and Moton is a heck of a guard. They really made some tough shots. Even their other guards made some tough shots. So watch the film but overall I'm pretty pleased with our performance.”
How is Cody doing/Thoughts on Eddie starting -
“Cody's gonna be fine. You know, he just had a nagging injury that has been bothering him, so we didn't want to risk anything. It's a long season. He didn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday. If you can't practice, you don’t play. Even though sometimes, game day comes and they want to play, practice to me is just as important as games, especially this time of year so we're being really cautious with that, but I expect him to be back next week and hopefully practicing on Sunday. With Grambling's starting lineup, you know, easily could have gone with Ju, although Julian Hammond to me is the consummate sixth man I mean, he brings so much to this team. To me, he's a sixth starter. I'd be comfortable starting Julian, any night of the week. I think he's really embraced that six man role and he's really good at it. He comes in and gives us a punch off the bench. There's always been a philosophy that I've adhered to and that you don't always want to start your five best players. Because you want to substitute strength, you know, off the bench, and I think that Julian gives us that but Edie matching up with their bigs made sense, and I thought he had some good things, he's still coming he's been off almost the whole summer. He doesn't quite have the lift, he gets knocked off balance a little bit. So he's still playing himself into shape with a lot of room for little things for Eddie to do to improve himself but, man, the kids got the heart of a lion. He plays so hard. He plays with energy that, you know, forget what mistake he made. But man, he dove on the floor for that loose ball and kind of got the crowd into it. Those are the kind of plays that Eddie Lampkin makes and why he's so special.”
How important are these wins in March? -
“A lot of it depends on how Grambling does their league? How do they perform as the season goes on? How does Towson do and they're like, you know, we don't know the answer to that right now. What we've tried to do with Towson, Grambling and Milwaukee is identify teams that are going to play at the higher end of their conference, be in the top if not two to three, top four or five. Rather than play somebody that's at the bottom of their league. And so, great question. We'll find out the answer as we get closer to March, but the key is you have to win these games, take care of business, be efficient doing it. I thought we were efficient tonight, and I'm hopeful I'm always pulling from Grambling even after they beat us last year. They had a great year last year, I think they won 24 games. So they had a good year, and that makes that loss maybe less embarrassing when they have a great year but hopefully they have a great year. I have a lot of respect for their coach and their players played their hearts out tonight.”
Assists -
“Those are good numbers. Obviously you have to make shots to get assists, and we've made enough shots. These last two games especially against Townson in the second half the other night, but shot the ball well, we were 10 for 23 from three. We talked about last year we had shooting woes, but some of our guys have gotten better. Tristan ca Silva's jump shot. Luke's been making some J’Vonne Hadley has gotten better. KJ didn't shoot it well from behind the arc tonight but he's shooting it better. Julian was great 4 for 7 so we have guys who can make shots. And so that's why. We just move the ball and make plays for each other. We have a chance to be hard to guard.”
On the message coming into today after last year's loss-
"You know, I'm not a revenge kind of guy. Grambling's team last year was totally different from their team this year. Our team last year was totally different. I'm not a revenge kind of guy. Now we know if you're not ready to play against these dudes, they're gonna beat you. I think more from my standpoint, your antennas better be up, and you better be ready to play. All those guys that were part of that game last year, maybe they had it circled which is fine by me, but I didn't."
On how good J'Vonne can be-
"Hadley is a special player. He really is. He does so many things for us. He rebounds, he can push it on the break, he's passing the ball better, and he's driving the ball better. He's shooting the ball better, he's finishing better, and he's not just a one-dimensional guy. His game has expanded from last year this year. He plays so darn hard, that's what I love about him. He's always around the ball. He just comes up with big plays. He's a great defender. He contests every shot. I love everything about his game and the way he's playing. Hopefully our young guys can see that and incorporate that into their game because he's special."
On if it was in the back of the Guard's mind to get Tristan the ball more-
"I hope so, I talked to Julian and KJ about it. I talked to Tristan about it and I wanted him to be aggressive. It doesn't mean he has to shoot it all the time, but he can be a playmaker for us as well. Teams are going to start scouting him and game planning to take him out of the game. The thing that makes it so hard to take Tristan out of the game, is that he's so darn versatile. He can shoot the three, he can put it on the floor. He can post up smaller guys and shoot it over big guys. He does so many things for us. We gotta get him involved in more ball screens. I talked to our team about both him and Cody. Tristan especially because Tristan can be effective setting ball screens, but also receiving ball screens. We need to get Cody more involved in receiving ball screens because he's so tall and can see over the defense and make plays. Not that KJ and Julian can't, but they don't have the size that Cody and Tristan have. That's the thing that I think makes this team so exciting to coach as this season goes on is our versatility."
Thoughts on the growth of RJ Smith playing over 20 minutes tonight-
"RJ got over 20 obviously because Cody didn't play. I was thinking going into the game, Cody plays 30 minutes, and that's 30 minutes that are freed up when he doesn't play. RJ I thought defensively did some good things. He rebounds the ball, he shoots the ball. He made all three of his free throws tonight which I think is huge. RJ is just going to keep getting better and better. I know our staff has a lot of confidence in him, and I think his teammates do too. RJ is going to be important to this team as this season unfolds, and his growth as a freshman is going to be key for us."
On how valuable having a good three point shooting coming off the bench is-
"It's so valuable. That's what we need for this team to be as good as we can be. We need Luke O'Brien to make open jump shots. We need Julian Hammond to make open jump shots. Those are the two things those guys can do to help this team and they've been doing that so far. I've got a lot of confidence in them. Even if they have a bad game, one thing I want our guys to understand is you're not going to shoot it well every single night. If you're not shooting well, that's okay. Do something else to help the team. Rebound the ball, defend, get loose balls. Set good screens, cut well, space the floor, and hopefully our guys are mature enough to understand that"
Colorado Players
J’Vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On going into today’s game –
“We've had this game marked on the calendar for quite some time. We’ve been counting on this one for a while. We knew that we had to come out there and punch them first before they punched us. And we know we always kept last year's game in our minds.”
On not getting enough credit as a player –
“People don’t see the way I hustle. I'm a hustler. I've been hustling since I was a kid. I just do the dirty work. I'm always getting rebounds and doing things that not everybody wants to do because it's hard, and it takes effort to do many things that people like me always do. So that's something that the team and I pride our game on.”
On Eddie Lampkin’s energy –
“The energy that he brings is one of a kind. You saw him dive on the floor for the loose ball. Not too many people are willing to do that. So that's something that we're grateful for. And that's something that we love having him on the team, but his energy, hustle, and grind just lifts everybody else up. And we're all grinding, hustling, diving on floors. We're going to be a special team.”
On what’s clicking for defense –
“I mean, just Coach Boyle's philosophies. To play at Colorado, you have to defend and rebound and that's what we do. And we do pride ourselves on that. And we will take pride in defending especially, and then boxing out and rebounding is another thing that comes with that. It’s something that Coach Boyle reiterates every single day of practice, so we're used to that.”
On Grambling’s switch to zone –
“We realized that they started zone, and Coach Boyle told us that means they can't guard us man to man. Hearing that makes you feel good about yourself, and then he talked about patience. Be calm with the ball. That’s something big that we talked about coming into this game was turnovers. So, just be patient with the ball, even though we had some turnovers in the zone. That is something that we're still working on, and that's something that we're going to get good at. And turnovers, we cut it down on a lot this game. Our goal is 11 and under so we didn't hit that, but it’s something that we're continuing to work on.”
On playing a complete game –
“I don’t think we played a complete game in the second half. We got to work on closing a little bit better. I think they shot somewhere at high 40s or something in the second half, and that's not, and that's not what we pride ourselves on. We were suffocating them and locking them up defensively. And then in the second half, we kind of lit up a little on the gas defensively, which we're continuing to work on.”
Eddie Lampkin Jr., Sr., C
On starting or coming off the bench –
“For me, it didn't matter. If I’m coming off the bench or starting, I will give it my all, and when I get on the court and play hard no matter what, they don't even matter for me.”
On feeding off the fan’s energy –
“I love it so far. I love the fans. I feel like I've got the most energy in the country. And if I don’t bring that every day the fans don't come in. That's what will turn up our team, so I have to do that.”
On 28 total team assists –
“It means a lot just because, we are not selfish and team wise like that's how you win basketball games. You can't win by being selfish.”
Grambling State Head Coach Donte’ Jackson
On the loss
“We got smacked in the mouth early. Coach Boyle had those guys ready to play. Unfortunately, we lost four good seniors last year and we’re coming in with a new group. They don’t understand what the level of competition is. Welcome to big time basketball.”
On struggling from three-point range
“We got to take better shots. Some of the shots we’re taking are contested shots. We got to be able to move the ball and take open shots. Open shots are always better shots and they're high percentage shots. Right now we're taking contested pull-ups and that's not good basketball.”
On Tra’Michael Moton
“Tra’Michael's a fifth-year guy, we expect him to run the team and be the head and take care of the ball and make plays. But today he had to turn it on because we were just struggling and maybe throughout the year he may have to pick his spots earlier.”
Opening Statement –
“Yeah, a little bit better start tonight against Grambling. I was obviously pleased with that; 28 assists is fantastic. We had 22 the other night, that's fantastic. Keep sharing the ball. We shot the ball pretty well tonight, which is nice, but I was really really pleased with is we made some strides to turning the ball over. We had 12 turnovers, which is not the number we want. We want it to be 11 or less but we're trending in the right direction. It's one game but did a better job there tonight. Overall, the only thing I was disappointed in tonight was our second half defense. I thought we got a little soft and kind of got into trading baskets mode with them but you know, give Grambling credit, those kids never quit. They kept coming at us and Moton is a heck of a guard. They really made some tough shots. Even their other guards made some tough shots. So watch the film but overall I'm pretty pleased with our performance.”
How is Cody doing/Thoughts on Eddie starting -
“Cody's gonna be fine. You know, he just had a nagging injury that has been bothering him, so we didn't want to risk anything. It's a long season. He didn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday. If you can't practice, you don’t play. Even though sometimes, game day comes and they want to play, practice to me is just as important as games, especially this time of year so we're being really cautious with that, but I expect him to be back next week and hopefully practicing on Sunday. With Grambling's starting lineup, you know, easily could have gone with Ju, although Julian Hammond to me is the consummate sixth man I mean, he brings so much to this team. To me, he's a sixth starter. I'd be comfortable starting Julian, any night of the week. I think he's really embraced that six man role and he's really good at it. He comes in and gives us a punch off the bench. There's always been a philosophy that I've adhered to and that you don't always want to start your five best players. Because you want to substitute strength, you know, off the bench, and I think that Julian gives us that but Edie matching up with their bigs made sense, and I thought he had some good things, he's still coming he's been off almost the whole summer. He doesn't quite have the lift, he gets knocked off balance a little bit. So he's still playing himself into shape with a lot of room for little things for Eddie to do to improve himself but, man, the kids got the heart of a lion. He plays so hard. He plays with energy that, you know, forget what mistake he made. But man, he dove on the floor for that loose ball and kind of got the crowd into it. Those are the kind of plays that Eddie Lampkin makes and why he's so special.”
How important are these wins in March? -
“A lot of it depends on how Grambling does their league? How do they perform as the season goes on? How does Towson do and they're like, you know, we don't know the answer to that right now. What we've tried to do with Towson, Grambling and Milwaukee is identify teams that are going to play at the higher end of their conference, be in the top if not two to three, top four or five. Rather than play somebody that's at the bottom of their league. And so, great question. We'll find out the answer as we get closer to March, but the key is you have to win these games, take care of business, be efficient doing it. I thought we were efficient tonight, and I'm hopeful I'm always pulling from Grambling even after they beat us last year. They had a great year last year, I think they won 24 games. So they had a good year, and that makes that loss maybe less embarrassing when they have a great year but hopefully they have a great year. I have a lot of respect for their coach and their players played their hearts out tonight.”
Assists -
“Those are good numbers. Obviously you have to make shots to get assists, and we've made enough shots. These last two games especially against Townson in the second half the other night, but shot the ball well, we were 10 for 23 from three. We talked about last year we had shooting woes, but some of our guys have gotten better. Tristan ca Silva's jump shot. Luke's been making some J’Vonne Hadley has gotten better. KJ didn't shoot it well from behind the arc tonight but he's shooting it better. Julian was great 4 for 7 so we have guys who can make shots. And so that's why. We just move the ball and make plays for each other. We have a chance to be hard to guard.”
On the message coming into today after last year's loss-
"You know, I'm not a revenge kind of guy. Grambling's team last year was totally different from their team this year. Our team last year was totally different. I'm not a revenge kind of guy. Now we know if you're not ready to play against these dudes, they're gonna beat you. I think more from my standpoint, your antennas better be up, and you better be ready to play. All those guys that were part of that game last year, maybe they had it circled which is fine by me, but I didn't."
On how good J'Vonne can be-
"Hadley is a special player. He really is. He does so many things for us. He rebounds, he can push it on the break, he's passing the ball better, and he's driving the ball better. He's shooting the ball better, he's finishing better, and he's not just a one-dimensional guy. His game has expanded from last year this year. He plays so darn hard, that's what I love about him. He's always around the ball. He just comes up with big plays. He's a great defender. He contests every shot. I love everything about his game and the way he's playing. Hopefully our young guys can see that and incorporate that into their game because he's special."
On if it was in the back of the Guard's mind to get Tristan the ball more-
"I hope so, I talked to Julian and KJ about it. I talked to Tristan about it and I wanted him to be aggressive. It doesn't mean he has to shoot it all the time, but he can be a playmaker for us as well. Teams are going to start scouting him and game planning to take him out of the game. The thing that makes it so hard to take Tristan out of the game, is that he's so darn versatile. He can shoot the three, he can put it on the floor. He can post up smaller guys and shoot it over big guys. He does so many things for us. We gotta get him involved in more ball screens. I talked to our team about both him and Cody. Tristan especially because Tristan can be effective setting ball screens, but also receiving ball screens. We need to get Cody more involved in receiving ball screens because he's so tall and can see over the defense and make plays. Not that KJ and Julian can't, but they don't have the size that Cody and Tristan have. That's the thing that I think makes this team so exciting to coach as this season goes on is our versatility."
Thoughts on the growth of RJ Smith playing over 20 minutes tonight-
"RJ got over 20 obviously because Cody didn't play. I was thinking going into the game, Cody plays 30 minutes, and that's 30 minutes that are freed up when he doesn't play. RJ I thought defensively did some good things. He rebounds the ball, he shoots the ball. He made all three of his free throws tonight which I think is huge. RJ is just going to keep getting better and better. I know our staff has a lot of confidence in him, and I think his teammates do too. RJ is going to be important to this team as this season unfolds, and his growth as a freshman is going to be key for us."
On how valuable having a good three point shooting coming off the bench is-
"It's so valuable. That's what we need for this team to be as good as we can be. We need Luke O'Brien to make open jump shots. We need Julian Hammond to make open jump shots. Those are the two things those guys can do to help this team and they've been doing that so far. I've got a lot of confidence in them. Even if they have a bad game, one thing I want our guys to understand is you're not going to shoot it well every single night. If you're not shooting well, that's okay. Do something else to help the team. Rebound the ball, defend, get loose balls. Set good screens, cut well, space the floor, and hopefully our guys are mature enough to understand that"
Colorado Players
J’Vonne Hadley, Sr., G
On going into today’s game –
“We've had this game marked on the calendar for quite some time. We’ve been counting on this one for a while. We knew that we had to come out there and punch them first before they punched us. And we know we always kept last year's game in our minds.”
On not getting enough credit as a player –
“People don’t see the way I hustle. I'm a hustler. I've been hustling since I was a kid. I just do the dirty work. I'm always getting rebounds and doing things that not everybody wants to do because it's hard, and it takes effort to do many things that people like me always do. So that's something that the team and I pride our game on.”
On Eddie Lampkin’s energy –
“The energy that he brings is one of a kind. You saw him dive on the floor for the loose ball. Not too many people are willing to do that. So that's something that we're grateful for. And that's something that we love having him on the team, but his energy, hustle, and grind just lifts everybody else up. And we're all grinding, hustling, diving on floors. We're going to be a special team.”
On what’s clicking for defense –
“I mean, just Coach Boyle's philosophies. To play at Colorado, you have to defend and rebound and that's what we do. And we do pride ourselves on that. And we will take pride in defending especially, and then boxing out and rebounding is another thing that comes with that. It’s something that Coach Boyle reiterates every single day of practice, so we're used to that.”
On Grambling’s switch to zone –
“We realized that they started zone, and Coach Boyle told us that means they can't guard us man to man. Hearing that makes you feel good about yourself, and then he talked about patience. Be calm with the ball. That’s something big that we talked about coming into this game was turnovers. So, just be patient with the ball, even though we had some turnovers in the zone. That is something that we're still working on, and that's something that we're going to get good at. And turnovers, we cut it down on a lot this game. Our goal is 11 and under so we didn't hit that, but it’s something that we're continuing to work on.”
On playing a complete game –
“I don’t think we played a complete game in the second half. We got to work on closing a little bit better. I think they shot somewhere at high 40s or something in the second half, and that's not, and that's not what we pride ourselves on. We were suffocating them and locking them up defensively. And then in the second half, we kind of lit up a little on the gas defensively, which we're continuing to work on.”
Eddie Lampkin Jr., Sr., C
On starting or coming off the bench –
“For me, it didn't matter. If I’m coming off the bench or starting, I will give it my all, and when I get on the court and play hard no matter what, they don't even matter for me.”
On feeding off the fan’s energy –
“I love it so far. I love the fans. I feel like I've got the most energy in the country. And if I don’t bring that every day the fans don't come in. That's what will turn up our team, so I have to do that.”
On 28 total team assists –
“It means a lot just because, we are not selfish and team wise like that's how you win basketball games. You can't win by being selfish.”
Grambling State Head Coach Donte’ Jackson
On the loss
“We got smacked in the mouth early. Coach Boyle had those guys ready to play. Unfortunately, we lost four good seniors last year and we’re coming in with a new group. They don’t understand what the level of competition is. Welcome to big time basketball.”
On struggling from three-point range
“We got to take better shots. Some of the shots we’re taking are contested shots. We got to be able to move the ball and take open shots. Open shots are always better shots and they're high percentage shots. Right now we're taking contested pull-ups and that's not good basketball.”
On Tra’Michael Moton
“Tra’Michael's a fifth-year guy, we expect him to run the team and be the head and take care of the ball and make plays. But today he had to turn it on because we were just struggling and maybe throughout the year he may have to pick his spots earlier.”